Megan Wilkerson
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SUSAN SONTAG
WILKERSON
Visual Literacy in the Digital Age
+PLATO’S CAVE IN
CONTENTS:
“IT ALL STARTED WITH ONE ESSAY—ABOUT SOME OF THE PROBLEMS, AESTHETIC AND MORAL, POSED BY THE OMNIPRESENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHED IMAGES; BUT THE MORE I THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT PHOTOGRAPHS ARE, THE MORE COMPLEX AND SUGGESTIVE THEY BECAME”- SONTAG
ONE
INTRODUCTION
TWO
PHOTOGRAPHY & EVIDENCE
THREE TOURISM &
PHOTOGRAPHY
FIVE
MEGAN WILKERSON PROFESSOR STEFANS ENGLISH 118C 14 DECEMBER 2012
SIX
PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORM OF NONINTERVENTION PHOTOGRAPHY & DEHUMANIZATION THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF DIANE ARBUS
SEVEN THE DESENSITIZING POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY
THE NEW GENERATION OF IMAGE-JUNKIES
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“PHOTOGRAPHY IMPLIES THAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD IF WE ACCEPT IT AS THE CAMERA RECORDS IT. BUT THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF UNDERSTANDING, WHICH STARTS FROM NOT ACCEPTING THE WORLD AS IT LOOKS”
-SONTAG
English 118
INTRODUCTION Susan
Sontag’s
collection
of
essays entitled “On Photography” has been accused of being everything from “prophetic genius” to “melodrama posing as criticism.” Many of the statements Sontag makes can be considered outrageous, offensive, and cynical. Critics have contemplated the reason Sontag entitled her collection “On Photography” as opposed to “Against Photography,” given the lack of
positive sentiment she presents on the subject, which she argues can be dehumanizing and desensitizing in some cases. Nevertheless, her innovative and controversial commentary on the subject revolutionizes the way we view photography as she expands on the ways in which the proliferation and popularity of photography has changed and continues to change the way we interact with the world and its experiences. 2
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Visual Literacy in the Digital Age
“HUMANKIND LINGERS UNGENERATELY IN PLATO’S CAVE, STILL REVELING, ITS AGE-OLD HABIT, IN MERE IMAGES OF THE TRUTH”
PHOTOGRAPHY AS EVIDENCE “The inventory started in 1839
way we view what is around
photographs
and since then just about
us, and even determining what
Holocaust victims from Nazi
everything
we choose to look at. One of
concentration camps. We have
photographed, or so it seems.”
the
of
learned about these atrocities,
Susan Sontag begins her essay
photography, Sontag argues, is
but seeing them has a much
by describing photographs as
its power to furnish evidence:
greater impact. These horrific
a collection of the world. This
“Something we hear about, but
images are now part of our
inventory
she
doubt, seems proven when
inventory
describes has taught us a “new
were shown a photograph of
evidence to these events.
visual code,” changing the
it.”
English 118
has
of
images
been
greatest
Consider
strengths
the
of
and
emaciated
serve
as
alarming
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Visual Literacy in the Digital Age photography
achievements and milestones
photographic project from the
should serve as evidence that
in life is something that we
1930’s would take dozens of
something
that
naturally want to savor. Sontag
pictures of their subjects until
something exists, or that it
argues that it is suspicious for a
they felt they had captured just
existed at one point in time.
family to not have a camera in
the
“The
their
upheld
To
Sontag,
happened,
camera
record
household,
namely
right
expression
their
notions
about
this reason,
families with young children.
poverty.
photography is detrimental to
The action of photographing
Lange’s “Migrant Mother”, is
Beaurocratic societies.
ceremonies and special events
the
has
images.
justifies.” For
become
one
of
the
most
Perhaps
that
prolific
Dorothea of
these
components of the ceremony itself. For example, it would be very uncommon to attend a ceremony today that didn’t include
some
photographing.
sort
of
Evidence
provides us with the truth, and while many photographers are concerned with the truth, they are equally concerned with the relationship between art and It serves as a form of control and
surveillance:
”The
camera record incriminates.” Sontag
describes
photography as “a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and
a
tool
of
power.”
truth. Sontag describes how the members of the Farm Security
Administration “EVEN WHEN
PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE
“In deciding how a picture should look, in preferring one exposure
to
photographers
another, are
always
imposing standards on their subjects.”
Sontag
explains
that, even though the camera
MOST CONCERNED WITH
serves to capture reality in a
MIRRORING REALITY,
sense, not merely interpret it,
THEY ARE STILL
photographs
can
be
Photography and family life
HAUNTEDBY TACIT
considered an interpretation of
go hand-in-hand, because the
IMPERATIVES OF TASTE
the world as a painting or a
memorializing English 118
of
AND CONSCIENCE.”
drawing would be. 4
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Visual Literacy in the Digital Age
“THE MAN ADJUSTING LENSE TO TAKE JUST RIGHT FRAME OF HER SUFFEREING, MIGHT AS WELL BE A PREDATOR, ANOTHER VULTURE ON THE SCENE.”
HIS THE JUST
(RIGHT) THIS POSE WITH THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA HAS BECOME PROLIFIC TO THE POINT OF CLICHE. HOW MANY PICTURES JUST LIKE THIS DO YOU THINK HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE INVENTORY?
TOURISM & PHOTGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHS AS A COLLECTION OF THE WORLD “A
way
of
certifying
taking
that comes with travelling. Many tourists,
photographs is also a way of refusing it—by
Sontag claims, feel more at ease when they
limiting
the
put a camera between themselves and what
photogenic, by converting experience to a
is unfamiliar to them. Photography is
search
another way to give shape and control to an
experience for
the
to
experience, a
photogenic,
search by
for
converting
experience into an image, a souvenir.” Tourism,
experience.
perhaps more than anything, adds to our
appeals to people handicapped by a
inventory of images. Yet Sontag argues that
ruthless work ethic—Germans, Japanese,
tourists don’t just take pictures while they are on
and Americas. Using a camera appeases the
vacation to use as indisputable photographic
anxiety which the work-driven feel about
evidence of their visit. Photographs “also help
not working when they are on vacation and
people to take possession of a space in which
supposed to be having fun. They have
they are insecure.” The act of taking pictures on
something to do that is like a friendly
a trip can alleviate some of the disorientation
imitation of work: they can take pictures.”
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“The
method
especially
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PHOTOGRAPHY & NON-INTERVENTION fact that the photograph exists, it is evident that the photographer chooses the photograph. “Even though incompatible with intervention in a physical sense, using a camera is still a form of participation.” By photographic a subject or situation, Sontag argues, the photographer is not just passively observing, they are encouraging whatever is happening to keep happening. Kevin Carter was a South-African photojournalist who took this picture of a starving child and vulture in 1993. Although he won a Pulitzer Prize for this photograph, he was harshly criticized for taking the picture rather than helping the girl.
“THE MAN ADJUSTING HIS LENS TO TAKE JUST THE RIGHT FRAME OF HER SUFFERING, MIGHT JUST AS WELL BE A PREDATOR, ANOTHER VULTURE ON THE SCENE.” -ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Sontag points out that photography is essentially an act of non-intervention. “The person who intervenes cannot record, the person who is recording cannot intervene.” In many cases, the photographer has the choice between the photograph and a life. Given the
Sontag essentially describes photography as having an inhumane aspect to it. ”To take a picture is to have an interest in things as they are, in the status quo remaining unchanged… including, when that is the interest, another person’s pain or misfortune.”