OUTLINE
Sontag starts off by addressing the changing notion of the responsibilities of someone who visually represents war, either in paintings or photos.
She addresses the unsettling possibility that pictures of war may themselves be beautiful.
More broadly, she addresses photos ability to transform: from bearable to unbearable and vice versa.
*The beautiful photo takes attention from its subject and onto the "art" of photography.
She discusses the subjective ways in which we assess the "authenticity" of a war photo.
To not include the name of a suffering victim, makes that person only a representation of suffering (p.259).
It used to be thought photos prompted viewers to FEEL MORE.
PHOTOS OBJECTIFY. "They turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed."
"They are prized as a transparent account of reality"
But, often, things look "better" or at least different in a photo...think of photos of yourself.
Beautifying "bleaches out" the moral response to what is shown...suggests no need for action.
Therefore, photos must SHOCK, but in the face of too much SHOCK, we become desensitized.
"Shock can become familiar"
What we remember is the photos...ex. concentration camp photos. (and, we don't remember what we don't see photos of because...)
Photos become memory, but they lack narrative, which is required for understanding.
Photos = what society chooses to think about... the history of lynching, as opposed to the use of the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima... photos stipulate THIS IS IMPORTANT
These icons become visual equivalent to the Sound-Byte.
we choose not to remember evil that happened HERE
The display of photos, rather than drawing us to action, makes us mere spectators
It all begs the question: Which atrocities do we think we have the responsibility to revisit?
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