Photos make the actions of the past timeless. It is a medium in which one could gaze into what has happened and interpret for oneself instead of having the story “tainted” per se by another person if that other person told one what happened orally. What makes this set of photos intriguing is the ugliness of it–the ugliness that existed in America during the mid 1900s and what still exists in the U.S. as well. Photographs are amazing in power in that they allow people to be moved in a way that words cannot. Emotions sometimes cannot be framed by words.
The two photographs that I found to be the most disturbing were the photo of the white man “soiling” glory as he viciously tried to stab a “black” man with the oh-so-glorious American flag and the photo of the woman and child falling from a building as they tried to escape the fire. An interesting thing to not about why these photos are interesting is the fact that they are close up–closer to the action. When one rids a photo of negative space, one makes the picture more capturing–and sometimes in effect, scarier as well. When people look upon the photo of the American flag being used as a weapon, it instils a sense of horror and shock. So many people esteem the country to be the “land of the free” or the “land of opportunity”…just althemore better than other countries, correct? Though how could people much such claims when an atrocity as such is held before ones eyes?
Another aspect of the series that piqued interest was the fact that many of these photos showed up in newspapers. Oddly enough, this entire week in Mrs. Bonner’s social psychology class had we been going over how there is so much violence in the media. This only supports such claims. Does America wish to instil fear among its citizens or does she merely wish to inform? Who knows…