Krukowski boils down this concept very simply by saying that “even yesterday’s hits end up in the dollar bin eventually.” Popularity is fleeting and the powerful will stick to whatever is popular and making them money. Most physical copies of the top ten albums from this year will probably sell for a few dollars in 2050, unless physical copies of music become a collector’s item in the future. Krukowski believes that by going back and looking at things that have been forgotten, we can reuse and reinvent.

Forced Exposure has all of its employees listen to every track on every album they have. This makes the employees experts at helping customers. They are better equipped to introduce something the customer may never have heard before. At Spotify, they are trying to make a “magic music player that knows exactly what you want.” They want the customer to have a continuous flow of music that is similar to what they might like without having to ask.

When I was twelve my TV broke and was unable to show picture, with the exception of a thin line in the middle of the screen. Lucky for me, the TV had a radio setting and I could faintly tell which station it was on based on the think line. For the next few years, whenever I wanted to watch TV I would listen to the radio instead. I was exposed to so much more music then than I am now. I was forced to listen to songs full through or constantly switch stations until I found something I liked, but it vastly broadened my music taste. I love Spotify, but I get tired of listening to songs that fall into the same genre. I do “discover” new music that is similar to my tastes, but it makes it easy to fall into a pattern. I miss hearing something totally out of left field on the radio that I wouldn’t have found if the DJ hadn’t spun it.

Noise is sound in the background, sounds that “you’re not interested in” according to Krukowski’s doctor. Signal is the main sound, the sound “you’re trying to pay attention to.” These terms are the difference between sound that someone wants versus sounds that they don’t.

The point of this episode is to show the significance of noise. We all know the importance of signal, because it’s what we actively choose to focus on each day. Krukowski talks about the background conversation in the Beach Boys song, which I think enriches the song and makes it special. He also talks about how audio engineers concern themselves with removing noise from songs and focusing on the signal as much as they can. In this way, they are controlling what they want us to hear.

Krukowski relates this episode back to each one before it. The imperfections of “real” time add more to the signal than the lack of noise in machine time. Headphones allow everyone to control the signal no matter where they are. Digital transmission on cellphones treats the voice as signal and removes all noise, which in turn removes depth of meaning in phone conversations. Similar to the first episode of Ways of Seeing, streaming strips music of context. Context is noise and the music itself is signal. Finally, in a world where corporations are catering to the individual, they have made everyone a signal, trying not to leave anyone out.

Krukowski describes real time as “lived time” and digital time as “machine time.” You can manipulate machine time in ways you cannot manipulate real time, like by speeding it up or slowing it down. Krukowski points out that when media went digital, it changed our way of sharing time together. Previously, everyone would have to tune into the radio at the same time to hear a new song or listen to the baseball game, but now we are able to listen and view at our leisure. This makes us all a little less unified in the way we share experiences. 

Moss mentions the rules now set in Astor Place, and the security guards there to enforce them. The space gives the illusion of being public, for everyone to share. In reality, it is only for certain kinds of people who are acting in a certain manner to share. The privatization dictates how the “public” space gets used.

The further you are from a sound, the harder it is to hear it. Thompson talks about concert halls as a refuge from outdoor sound. They filter out the sounds you don’t want to hear and amplify the sounds you do want to hear. She says that earbuds are an “auditorium without walls,” enabling the listener to hear the sound without noise pollution.

I was supposed to go to a concert in Radio City Music Hall in May, which got postponed due to the pandemic. I’ve been to many venues, but this podcast made me truly excited to visit Radio City. When you go to a concert, you want to be able to hear what is happening on stage just as much as you want to be able to see it. Thompson describes the venue as almost a chamber to reflect the sound of the stage back down to the audience, to try and filter out any other sound there may be. I hadn’t realized how much work goes into perfecting the sound in a venue before listening to this.

Berger states that advertising gives consumers something to envy in a time when status is not determined by birth. We live in a society that makes it feel like anyone can be a celebrity with the right tools, and advertising exploits that feeling for a profit. This is important because it puts extra significance on money, which can cause people to “scramble competitively to get more.” Berger also mentions people taking out high interest loans just to keep up the look of a certain lifestyle.

Oil painting and publicity photography both glorify money, but in different ways. Oil paintings show the wealth the subject of the paintings had, while advertising shows the wealth that the consumers want to have. These advertisements send the message that consumers are inadequate, but also offer a solution. If you buy what is being advertised then you will be, or at least feel, more wealthy. This is a false solution, as Berger mentions, because you will only be less rich once you’ve spent your money. It shows that these images reproduce what Western Europeans thought signified wealth, and use that to push the items they are selling in the present.

In the “dream of later tonight” that Berger talks about, the subject of the dream is alcohol. Berger says that everyone is smiling, and everyone is “surrounded by what brings pleasure.” Although you, the consumer, are said to be bringing the “greatest pleasure of all,” nearly every photo shows people with drinks in their hands. These people laugh, pour, clink their glasses, and share intimate looks. The following morning, the consumer’s pleasurable night is again attributed to alcohol. The concept of a “dream” contributes to the idea that advertisements offer something that will enhance the consumer’s life and increase their wealth. 

John Berger believes that the difference in nakedness and nudity lies in whether or not the subject is aware they are being seen. In a painting depicting the story of Adam and Eve, the pair eat the forbidden fruit and realize they are naked. Upon this realization, they hide from God out of shame for being bare. They go on to use leaves to cover themselves up from each other’s gaze, as well as that of the viewer. The moment Adam and Eve become aware of their nakedness, they become Berger’s definition of nude. They see each other differently, as something to be seen, and cover up as a result. I agree with Berger’s interpretation of these terms, being naked is to be free, while being nude is to be under a magnifying glass.

The Western works of art depicted in the second episode of Ways of Seeing generally show women in a submissive role to men. In the painting sent by the Grand Duke of Florence to the King of France, Venus is having an intimate moment with Cupid. Her body, however, is not facing him. She is facing forward, on full display for the King rather than Cupid himself. She is there solely for him to look at. This idea’s influence has lived hundreds of years beyond this painting. Until around the 1960’s the ideal woman in society was a housewife who was seen and not heard. In American Psycho, a movie set in the late 80’s, Patrick Bateman tells his assistant not to wear pants to work anymore. He tells her he likes heels, a subtle order for her to begin wearing those shoes as well. Bateman is meant to depict the average male working on Wall Street, signifying that the “seen not heard” mentality was still prevalent among the upper class in the 80s, and worth talking about when the movie was made in the year 2000.

The significance of the mirror in the paintings Berger talks about has been my favorite part of this special. He talks about how women look in the mirror and see a sight to be looked at rather than just themselves. Male artists paint a nude woman, looking at themselves in a mirror. This image of a woman with a mirror becomes a symbol of vanity. These men judge the women for worrying so much about how they look, while painting them for their own viewing pleasure. He relates the facial expressions of the women in the old European paintings to the ones of women in pornographic magazines. They both give the capturer a face they believe will be alluring for the man who views the final product. I particularly enjoyed the comment the women in the closing discussion made about intentionally seeing yourself in the mirror as opposed to catching a glimpse by chance. She says that when you look with intention, you go to the mirror in a pose, seeing yourself with a projected image in mind. However, when you look without intention you “see yourself as you are,” outside of the image you are trying to maintain. Whenever I see a reflection of myself in a glass storefront, I feel a small shock at my own face. I felt that this woman captured and explained that feeling very well.