Mitchell posits that contemporary culture has undergone a where visual images have become as significant as language in shaping human experience. He challenges the traditional critical approach—which often treats images as "signs" to be decoded—suggesting instead that images possess a form of "vitality" that exerts power over the living. Key Themes & Concepts
: Rather than asking "What does this picture mean?", Mitchell asks "What does this picture want?" . He suggests images might want to be seen, touched, or even to trade places with the viewer.
: He introduces the idea of images that reflect on their own nature, effectively "self-theorizing" through their own visual language.
: The book re-evaluates these "primitive" concepts to explain modern behavior toward images, such as our reactions to offensive symbols or the cultural obsession with clones (like Dolly the Sheep).
What Do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Images, Mitchell
: Mitchell uses the figure of the dinosaur as a "totem animal of modernity," representing both the fascination with and the fear of species extinction in a post-human world.
: Mitchell explores images as "pseudopersons" that can speak, seduce, and even demand things from the beholder.