Visual Frame Analysis

Abstract

This article presents a project of methodologically applying and conceptually adjusting Goffman's frame analysis to studying visual social life: what is going on, and how, in the abundance of visual scenes that we increasingly navigate through in our everyday lives. Visual frame analysis is a methodological approach that addresses images as a part of the world people need to make sense of and proposes tools to address different sets of visual situations. Two examples from previous research illustrate this methodological suggestion: one analyzing dominant and secondary frames of gender representations in the covers of periodical magazines, and another analyzing keyings of visual politicization in activist website images. Finally, the article discusses further possibilities of applying such an analysis, e.g., combined with AI based tools, to the abundance of image flows on social media.