Visual Culture Art Education: Popular Culture Images and the Feeling of Pleasure

As an alternative starting point for delving into an effective approach to Visual Culture Art Education(VCAE), this article argues the need for inquiry into the feeling of pleasure that comes from the popular culture images we experience as well as the associated implications. To develop this argument, this article discusses Duncum, Hipfl, jagodzinski, and Lee who exhibit similar concerns about this feeling of pleasure. From this theoretical foundation, the next section makes a list of this feeling of pleasure. Guided by the examples of this feeling of the pleasure Duncum announced on the syllabus for his VCAE course, a revised list of the feeling of the pleasure is provided. The examples of this feeling of pleasure include the feeling of pleasure which is humorous, hilarious, kitschy, bizarre, fantastic, violent, massacred, spectacular, romantic, narcissistic, cute, exotic, imaginative, surrealistic, sexual, sensual, satirical, sarcastic, ironic, supernatural, and nostalgic. Note that the aim of this article is not to make the list itself, but to open a discussion that makes it possible for us to expand our insights into the research and practices of VCAE. At least three unique implications are discussed: 1) a quest for an alternative model of responsive approaches to VCAE so as to focus on specific reasons a person find the origin of his/her feeling of pleasure in popular culture images; 2) the need for our sophisticated understanding of the deeper impact of the feeling of pleasure on our emotional, affective, and unconscious level of understanding; and 3) the need for the sophisticated understanding as a starting point to enhance students' critical thinking and empowerment. In particular, this attempt proposes more holistic approaches to art education for significant challenges and changes in our recent approaches to VCAE.ope