A Too Perfect Picture By Teju Cole Analysis

People can have many different opinions depending on a topic, but what is truly difficult is getting a complete level of understanding from every opinion, or understanding the point of view of each opinion. Even accepting the points of view can be difficult for some people, who believe that their opinions are right. Luckily, people can learn about the other person’s frame of reference, and at the very least understand the topic or the person a little better. This particular topic is art, which is known for its multiple possible perceptions or its many different messages that it can send a person or group of people. In this way, people can learn more about the thought processes and feelings of others. Unfortunately, with differing opinions,

there are people who can completely disagree, agreeing with their opinion but tearing down those that oppose their opinion.
Cynthia Ozick’s “Highbrow Blues” certainly makes its points known and clear, with Ozick expressing her feelings regarding the way modern art is perceived and accepted. She believes that people have moved on entirely from the golden age, as she calls it, of art and literature, moving towards newer things that are not nearly on the same caliber as the original content. Ozick makes note of how there many different things that people often give the same amount of attention, which are not exactly the same. Ozick makes a few comparisons and notes how “[w]riters shouldn’t be mistaken for priests” (551) and that the concept of a hierarchy is difficult to keep up with and that some people even put categories together that do not really equate in her eyes. Adding onto this, she seems to have different standards for media and art, compared to many other people. Many other people seem to have a larger acceptance for art that is more modern, with fewer references to other media or literature. She finds that the best literature and art should have things referring to the previous “golden age, the one not ours, that one that once, was or will someday be”. (552) Unfortunately, Ozick’s thinking of being solely focused on the prior golden age is disagreeable, as many people and authors find the golden age forgettable, or find the more modern age more appealing.
With this, Emily Nussbaum’s “The Price is Right: What Advertising Does to TV” emphasizes a different point on the entire idea of modern art. Her point is that people who are involved in more modern media have more exposure and emphasis on the entire idea of advertisement. Nussbaum even points out a bond between time periods, as Ozick does, but is more positive. Nussbaum discusses how advertisement “is both a new crisis and an old one.” (914) She adds on, noting how sponsors and integration have become more and more overt and ostentatious, rather than staying more hidden. However, she does make an interesting point about how there is a large difference between being a spectator of a piece of art, and how there are many different ways for a person to respond to said art. In reality, though, the viewers or spectators, in the end, have little to no control over the project and product itself.
Teju Cole’s “A Too-Perfect Picture” is about the many different ways that art can be interpreted.

Though people can look into color and composition, others can still even look into the source of the art itself. Cole goes deeper, delving into the source of the art, looking in particular into the idea of cultural appropriation and the view a person can give others. Though it is good for people to be exposed to different opinions of a group or an object, sometimes people can find it difficult to tell the difference between the reality and the art itself. Sometimes art can be so powerful that its message stays and impacts its audience to the point where the viewer’s image of the subject of the art changes entirely. Cole brings up an important question about art, however. Art has become some kind of media for spreading awareness and even wisdom at times, but in reality, “there is also the question of what the photograph is for, what role it plays within the economic circulation of images” (973). Cole might even be implying that Nussbaum’s advertisement can sometimes be the point of some media, and that sometimes the different genres of art can just be to make someone with a particular interest happy. One more point that Cole makes is that “[a]rt is always difficult, but it is especially difficult when it comes to telling other people’s stories.” (974) Truthfully, awareness and other like-concepts are difficult to keep going when a person or a group is not directly involved.

Sometimes, people find it difficult to stay enthralled in a story of some sort when they do not have any frame of reference or any experience to compare it to.
Finally, the last text is Warren St.

John’s “Metrosexuals Come Out”, referring to the commercialism that has reached the idea of being metrosexual and entirely redefining it. Metrosexuals were once deemed embarrassing or strange, but when the fashion industry began to embrace it, a large number of men did as well. The idea of sensitivity or even femininity in regards to a man was seen as strange, until metrosexuals began to be more desirable, thanks to the fashion industry, who used the angle of these stylish men to make more sales and even go so far as to change the idea that men cannot and should not be feminine. The movement to accept metrosexuals went so far that “[w]ithin a few years, the term was picked up by British advertisers and newspapers”. (175) Art and advertisement changed in this way, allowing for men and marketing to enjoy something

new.