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Images that shock and provoke ; Pictures of violence and suffering endure a multitude of uses
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Newspaper Article
Images that shock and provoke ; Pictures of violence and suffering endure a multitude of uses
2003
Overview
At every level, \"Regarding the Pain of Others\" is a fiercely challenging book. [Susan Sontag]'s main theme is the imagery of atrocity. Her earlier book \"On Photography\" (1973) remains immensely thought- provoking on its subject. In this new work, she concentrates specifically on the images of violence to which we subject ourselves, and she is again immensely thought-provoking. In the modern world, according to Sontag, the most indelible horrific images (principally of war, the \"largest crime,\" but also of terror, famine, pollution) are likely to be photographs. Photographs shock. They accuse. They assault. They haunt. And they also document. Photographs are, or can be, detachedly objective because they are mechanically instantaneous. But at the same time, they indicate the presumed authenticity of a personal witness. Finally she points to profound hypocrisy and double standards in the way photographers are expected to be more discreet the closer they are to home. Suffering children in Africa, for example, are photographed with a degree of frank exposure that is unlikely to be applied to similar subjects on home soil. The victims of war in a distant country are treated with less respect photographically than innocent victims of terrorism at home. Troops, if \"enemies,\" are treated by photographers with far less \"dignity or compassion\" than our own. Excruciatingly, Sontag refers to \"the wounded Taliban soldier begging for his life\" pictured in a major American paper, yet points out that he \"also had a wife, children, parents, sisters and brothers\" who may one day see these photos \"if they have not already seen them.\"
Publisher
The Christian Science Publishing Society (d/b/a \"The Christian Science Monitor\"), trusteeship under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Subject
