由于摄影视像作为个例很好地说明了视像如何能被工业化生产和传播,我打算特别参照它们来开始讨论视像文化。正是摄影的发明——从静止的、活动的到电子的,经常被看作是当代视像文化的基础。人们完全能够证明,今天生活于典型的工业化社会的人们一小时内所能看到的视像,比生活于前摄影文化中的人们一生内所能看到的更多。巴特(Barthes)已经论证,摄影视像承载着与现实、意识形态和其它意义系统的独一无二的关系。就这方面兴趣而言,巴特远非孤立。学术理论甚至已经发展到探索这些关联关 Since photographic images serve as a good example of how video can be produced and distributed industrially, I intend to refer specifically to them to begin the discussion of video culture. It is the invention of photography - from rest, activity to electronic - that is often seen as the basis of contemporary visual culture. One can well attest that more people see images in an hour than those who live in a typical industrialized society today, compared to the lives of people living in the pre-photographic culture. Barthes has argued that photographic images carry a unique relationship with reality, ideology, and other systems of meaning. In terms of interest in this area, Bart is far from isolated. Academic theory has even been developed to explore these relationships