Regarding the Pain of Others is an essay written by Susan Sontag that discusses images of war and some common issues with violent images. Sontag talks about how images of war are not always accurate due to them often being staged by the photographer for the purpose of creating a dramatic effect. There is a ton of violence that appears in our world that is seen through images which are often promoted by the media. Sontag analysis how images of war are often interpreted by the public and individuals that do not actually experience war other than through images. The way people understand trauma is often affected by their environment and social views. Sontag talks about how people don’t always register these violent images as being real and how the suffering of others should allow for people to reflect on their privileges.
One significant issue that Sontag addresses in her essay is that images of war are not always credible. Individuals that publish staged images of war will do something such as “create a scene — by posing bodies — and then draft a dramatic narrative to accompany the picture” (Gardner). They will do this and then advertise the image and depiction as non-fiction, fooling the public. This connects to The Danger of a Single Story by Adichie because when such an image is staged in this type of way it is done so to tell a certain story that is clearly not the truth. This can lead to a lot of controversy and even chaos as people tend to believe what they see in images even if the photographs are not proven credible. An example of this is when a Los Angeles Times photographer was found responsible for “merging two images of a British soldier and a crowd of Iraqis (in the altered image, the soldier appears to be pointing his gun at a man holding a child)” (Marlantes). As one can imagine this picture led to a lot of controversy and anger amongst the public, causing many issues.
Another idea that is a focus of Sontag’s work is the way that people interrupt images of war and trauma differently. Throughout the video “Watching Others’ Trauma” many different ways of how people view and react to seeing trauma are discussed. The video says how many of the images we see have visual narratives where we often assume a story of tragedy is related. Studies show that when people look at violent images “we continue to stare as a way to face our fears without risking immediate harm” (Page). There is clearly an attraction that humans have with images of violence, as they are constantly all over the media. In conclusion, Sontag gives very significant insight regarding images of war that allow her readers a better understanding of the overall concept.
Hansen, Claire, et al. “Where Is Marijuana Legal? A Guide to Marijuana …” U.S. News and World Report, 14 Oct. 2021, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-marijuana-legal-a-guide-to-marijuana-legalization. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.
Marlantes, Liz. “’Doctored’ War Photos Ignite Controversy.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 9 Aug. 2006, https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2288892&page=1. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.
Page, Danielle. “The Science behind Why We Can’t Look Away from Tragedy.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Sept. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/science-behind-why-we-can-t-look-away-disasters-ncna804966. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.
Hi! Great job on your context presentation about “The Pain of Others”! You did an awesome job at highlighting the key parts throughout the story that were made by the author, especially the details in regards to the photographs that were captured during this time. I enjoyed reading how you made the connection of this work and previous studied work from this course on A Single Story, I agree completely with this connection, and feel that a similar messages were trying to get across for both, once again, great job!
Your context presentation is great and persuasive. Your interpretation of the book Regarding the Pain of Others is very good, highlighting some common problems in the images of war and violence. Your focus on Sontag’s book is very good, which makes me understand the unreliability of war pictures, and also notes people’s different treatment of war pictures. War pictures are processed, so they will be unreliable. In addition, violent videos can always attract people’s attention, which is sad. Overall, it’s a good context presentation.
Hi! Great job on your post. Your summary of the book provides me with a brand view of the major idea of the book and will definitely help me to better understand it. I agree with you that journalists would use special effects or intentional arrangements to get a photo that is special enough to catch everyone’s eyeball. However, those enhanced photos are not real and would always convey the wrong information to the audiences. Your choices of using The danger of the single story to conclude it is reasonable. I admit that the connection between the theory and Regarding the Pain of Others is very strong. Knowing all those negative information about the industry, I do think they need more supervision.