Blog Post 2- Kevin Murphy

In the text, Fleckenstein talks about image events and how the life of Saint Catherine of Sienna is one extended image event. Image events are defined as "a visual performance, scripted or spontaneous, that carries persuasive power." (Fleckenstein). These image events are created within a certain context of what is called a scopic regime, which is "the tacit cultural rules of differing times, places, and people that enable a community to see some things and not others." (Fleckenstein) Scopic regimes dictate relationships between relationships of object and seer, word and image, as well as object and space.
The understanding of a particular scopic regime that is associated with the time period of what is being studied is something that should be attained before any conclusive idea is formed about a certain person or event. Context tends to be lost in much of what is shared and discussed in many aspects of society. This is usually intentional and done so in order for a certain way of thinking or argument to be better supported. With Saint Catherine of Sienna, we can see her as a vital contributor to rhetorical practice and a forerunner of female involvement in the field. However, within the scopic regime of her own life, her actions are radical and scandalous. However, certain aspects of Saint Catherine of Sienna could be considered questionable today and acceptable in her time. Her pious devotion to her religious practices and claims of visions directly from God would be looked at critically today, with such actions and claims being associated with one who is on the edge of acceptable social behavior. This is even as we continue to progress toward acceptance and celebration of all sorts of individuals, especially women. How a woman dresses, talks, acts was a topic of discussion which occurred mostly among men and then was dictated to women as instruction and command with biblical quotation being employed much of the time. This misogyny rooted in religion is now socially unacceptable and can sometimes cause women who continue to be involved in such religion to be judged as a sort of Judas. All of these perceptions continue to transform and evolve as our scopic regime does.