Dwayne Johnson Image Analysis

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Task:  Dwayne Johnson Image Analysis

Many people and brands have embraced the use of images and photos in social media as a way of gaining attention, increasing engagement, and communicating vital information with their audience. The visual information projected using photos and imagery communicates a lot to the audience. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are the most commonly used platforms by individuals to express or communicate their views, feelings, and experiences as well as their lifestyle to their followers or audiences. Dwayne Douglas Johnson an American actor, producer, and retired professional wrestler who is popularly known by his stage name "The Rock", is one of the people who use social media as a marketing tool to sell His brand to the audience. The actor has over 114 million followers on Instagram, over 58 million on Facebook, and over 12.8 million followers on X thus his recognition on social media sets up his brand marketing to the people. Therefore, this paper analyzes five photos of Dwayne Johnson's posts on the Instagram platform page.

Social Media Image Analytics

The first photo presents an image picture of the rock inside the gym working out while bending over and holding a dumbbell in his left hand while the other hand is resting on his right knee with a lot of muscle exposed on his body. In the text below the picture presents the connection between the physical activity being carried out in the photo and the brand marketing, for example, the underarmuor handle, through an advertisement of their product in the photo. The photo was taken in the gym to signify the lifestyle of Dwayne Johnson. To show the audience or his followers what he does apart from his appearance on the big screen. It also demonstrates how he maintains his physical appearance. The activities that seem being undertaken in the picture by Dwayne Johnson inspire and motivate his followers to engage themselves in physical workouts to keep fit as well as advertise his brand through social media passing the information on his post. The post shows the number of likes he has received on his photo which constitutes 2.6 million likes which represents huge social media recognition. In addition, the features of Instagram platforms provide the space frame for uploading pictures, a column for text information, and accessibility to all people around the world who are being motivated by Dwayne Johnson to have the opportunity to access his profile. Regardless of where they are they can view his status and have an understanding of how he carries out his activities.

The second photo presents Dwayne Johnson standing in front of the wall wearing his wrestling attire that exposes his masculine body raising his fists. The attire consists only of a pair of black armbands and a black wrestling under pant wrestling boxer with the name tag "The Rock". His body flexing represents his masculinity and his strength. The image color appears to be black and white which brings out the quality of the post and gives the audience to follow well when it is used simply with an intention to pick out the principal figure of the body image (Baxandall 11). The post represents 4,144 likes of the people who have viewed his Instagram post and a total of 86 comments about his post. The Instagram comment feature allows the audience to react to the information posted on the profile which is significant for understanding what the audience wants and what they criticize most. The Instagram platform also has a feature that allows the audience to save posts or photos in their profile for future reference. In addition, it also has a feature that can change the original aspect color of the photo to change to other colors such as the second photo of Dwayne Johnson which appears to be black and white.

The third Instagram photo shows Dwayne Johnson standing carrying a glass of his tequila brand in his right hand while the left-hand holds his waist. A table is in front of him full of bottles of tequila. His smile and facial expression in the picture describe his happiness during the time the photo was taken. The bottles of tequila in front of him represent the brand he is marketing to his audience in his profile. In addition, the text phrase on the platform text column reveals a message he is communicating to the audience. The text provides information on how he spent his weekend taste-testing every batch of his new tequila brand fresh from the barrels of Mexico. This information helps the audience to understand what the image communicates and to enable the audience to understand his lifestyle, such as the alcoholic drinks he takes. Behind the image of Dwayne Johnson photo, there is a white wall with two-sided chandeliers inserted on the walls thus, representing the kind of prestige of Dwayne Johnson to his audience. The features of Instagram in the profile of Dwayne Johnson indicate that 75.7k people have reacted to the post with a total of 5.2k comments in the text column below the picture. The feature also indicates a column for sharing the picture, comments, and space for liking the page. This gives the audience a chance to react to the activity shown on the post.

The fourth image shows Dwayne Johnson's Twitter handle ‘'The Rock'' and his picture profile with a statement text below communicating to his audience about his whereabouts at the time the statement was tweeted. The image, also shows how his audiences have reacted to his tweet, which indicates the Twitter platform features showing the number of people who have reacted to his tweet by retweets are 257 with 4,547 likes on his profile post. Below the post, there is a woman's profile page with a reply to Dwayne's tweet statement. This shows the significant features of the Twitter platform that enable the audience to react on the same platform where the statement is tweeted.  The reaction feature enables the audience to express their views about the post tweeted to help in determining what the audience requires and prefers the statement made on the post. The social media platform feature enables users to get inspiration and motivation from quotes and statements made through tweets from other people who inspire them. For example, in the post, the lady who reacted to Dwayne's tweet expresses how she feels inspired by the activities carried out by Dwayne Johnson. Thus, it signifies the importance of social media as a platform where people from all corners of the world can engage themselves in one platform and communicate and understand each other as well as express how they feel about a certain person that motivates or inspires them from all corners of the world.

The last photo originates from the Instagram page, showing Dwayne Johnson on the cover of the Times publicity magazine of the hundred most influential people. The image is framed with his picture on the cover with black ink writing on the surface of the picture that consists of other names of people. This shows the audience how Dwayne Johnson is one of the most valued and influential people in the world due to the activities he engages in and his career which is an inspiration to others and a motivation to the young audience that follows the footsteps of Dwayne Johnson. The publicity presents to the audience how Dwayne Johnson is highly recognized due to the activities he carries out and the inspiration he gives to the world.

However, in the fifteenth-century paintings, the images were drawn by painters.  They used ultramarine which was considered to bring out a good quality of the picture (Baxandall 10). Most of the painters preferred the use of blue pigment or gold to present good quality artwork in their field of drawings. The colors were majorly used simply to pick out the principal figure of the characters such as the painting in Sasseta's panel of St.Francis Renouncing His Heritage in the national gallery where an ultramarine gown is discarded by St.Francis (Baxandall, 4).

According to Gombrich (2002,p.36), the author argues that black and white photographs only reproduce gradations of tone between a very narrow range of grays where each one of the tones does not correspond to reality. Therefore the scale depends largely on the choice of the photographer. Every painting and drawing and practically every piece represents an event description which is an illusion created in the minds of the viewers or the audience (Gombrich, 42). The item presented in the drawings is a representation of certain historical events that took place at a particular time. These events are transcribed by the painters for the audience to translate each piece of occurrence and sometimes with the help of text writing that gives the painting more detailed information about the theme of the event.

            The connection between the early paintings and the current social media images is represented by the intention of the painter and the photographer's main objectives for their audiences. The portraits in the early ages and the images currently present in social media platforms communicate a specific message to the audience (Freedberg, 48). The events presented in these images have a piece of historical information that is meant for the audience to recall or have any information about the ongoing or existing occasion (Wang, 205).

The Relationship between Image, Text, and Features in Social Media Platforms

The social media platform features, texts, and images complement each other. This is because the image portrayed on the page is well understood by the statement text written below it to engage the audience about the activity that occurred when the image was being taken. Features of the social media platforms, for example, the notification features provide alerts about the new posts in the media for the audience to be able to acquire the current activity that has taken place in a certain area they are not present in. In addition, the video features and stories provide more information about the event portrayed in the images (Alpers, Svetlana, & Jan, 73). Text statements provide the intended purpose for the image posted on social media. Publicities are clearly understood through images accompanied by brief text information that gives the audience a clear understanding of the message or information being passed. The comments sections on social media platforms allow the audience to react to the posted image to provide the brand owner with feedback about the image or their brand logo posted.

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media provides significant platforms that help people to explore more about other people that they believe and consider as their role models and motivators based on the experiences that those individuals have encountered. Many people possess the narrative that individuals are distinguished by their own unique story in which they are the central character, an individualistic history fabricated from their personal life history and experiences. However, social media only provides part of people's lifestyles since individuals have full control of what they want the audience to see, understand, and react to. Thus the social media platforms communicate this narrative to the audience since most of the influential people in the social media platforms are identified by their achievements and the characters that they portray to their audiences. The relationship between the image, text, and features provided by the social media platforms has complementary characteristics where one communicates more about the other providing detailed information to bring out a clear understanding of the whole picture or image.

Works Cited

Baxandall, Michael. Painting and experience in fifteenth century Italy: a primer in the social history of pictorial style. Oxford University Press, USA, 2008.

Baxandall, Michael. Patterns of Intention: On the historical explanation of pictures. Yale University Press, 2005.

Baxandall, Michael. Giotto and the orators: humanist observers of painting in Italy and the discovery of pictorial composition, 1350-1450. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Alpers, Svetlana, and Jan Vermeer. The art of describing: Dutch art in the seventeenth century. Vol. 73. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

 Freedberg, David. The power of images: Studies in the history and theory of response. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Gombrich, Ernst H. "Arte e ilusión." Barcelona, Gustavo Gili(2009).

Gombrich, E. H. "Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation." (2012).

 Wang, Yilin, et al. "Unsupervised sentiment analysis for social media images." Twenty-Fourth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 2015.