NBC: the war/ still photos vs video footage
c.n.
revealed in the realm of audio....you can look at pictures and video
footage all day long, but without the audio, you're missing the essence
of the experience.
I've been watching this unfortunate war, in horror, almost in the same way
that it's hard to not look at a terrible accident on the highway...and
before one of you Jump my ass demanding to know what I meant by "this
unfortunate war," all I mean is that they are all unfortunate, no matter
if they are/were avoidable, or not. My point in regards to photographs vs
video footage is that I have been noticing that after watching endless
video feeds from the Iraqi desert, every so often (and MSNBC has shown
some of the most poignant) they networks will show a number of still
shots, and in a way that I've never noticed before, the single frame
photo is almost always more moving than thousands of frames strung
together on film, or digitally, or however they do that these days.
IMO, they should take about 5 minutes at the end of every hour and just
devote, with NO inane commmentary, that time to photographic still images
of the battle. I think we would all have a little more time to set back
and reflect, and these strongest of images would be the perfect backdrop,
vs with video, where the poignant image is nearly whisked out of your mind
just about the time it registers.
I have yet to see any amount of video, in this war, that has spoken
louder, or more emphatically, than the photo (i'm sure most of you have
seen it) of the soldier running (for what looks like his life)--while
carrying a wounded soldier across his shoulders. It may not be, in the
end, the Pulitzer winner, but it'll be in the running. What it says to
your (or at least to my) inner being, is something I don't think could be
equalled by any amount of video, or audio for that matter (even though
the sounds of bombs falling on a city of 5 million, mostly innnocent,
civilians is mighty god damned poignant too).
I'm at odds over another issue related to images though, should we be
shown the most horrific images, of say those captured Americans who had
been shot in the forehead at pointblank range, or should we keep it
sanitized for dinner hour consumption, if not our unwillingness to see
war in the horrific light that it occupies. Most of today's generation
have done their fighting via the bloodless video game battle fields, where
groups of animated pixels get shot without their guts spilling out onto
the desert sands, without their children becoming orphans. They, the media
and their bosses (the Gov't), make it almost seem like just a really
complex reality series. That achieves two things; it attracts viewers,
and ratings on stupid-ass reality shows that we are a nation of voyeurs
more than ever before, and secondly, it keeps the public from seeing just
how REAL death and dying are, making them less likely to question just
what the real price/toll is when we decide to go overseas to "kick some
bad guy's ass."
Just an observation of the "less is (usually) more" phenom. No need to
start an endless thread regarding who is right, wrong, why we should or
shouldn't be there, etc.... chuck
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hoodoojimmy
pics is my son-in-law Ronnie on the USS John McCain.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/iraq/010403armedforces&a=&tmpl=sl&
ns=&l=&e=123&a=0&t=
I agree with what you say Chuck.....and agree that if we're gonna televise a
war, then it must show the war. War is the killing, maiming, and the
screaming of 19 year old kids. It is the fear and confusion in their faces,
and it is their lifeless bodies. IT IS NOT GEORGE BUSH WAVING FROM A
HELICOPTER, IT IS NOT DONALD RUMSFELD PAINTING NORMAN ROCKWELL PICTURES OF
THE GOOD GUYS, AND IT IS NOT THE PENTAGON TELLING US HOW GREAT EVERYTHING IS
GOING.
You want to start finding alternatives to war, then show people what war is
really about. Let people see the horror of young kids blown apart. Let
people see what a soveriegn country's regular people really think about the
United States coming to liberate them.
Think how each of us might feel if an army of Muslims invaded the United
States intent on freeing us from the idiocy of President Bush. Bullets
instead of flowers? I think we would react the same.
We are once again arming and supporting questionable factions, such as the
Kurds, in the same way we once armed and supported Bin Laden. In the same
way we once provided Iraq with chemical weapons. We don't learn!
We continue to stay well out of touch with I think a majority of the world.
Only we see this as an economic and secular war. To the rest of the world,
this is a religious war, as have been most all wars throughout history.
This is the sadness, everybody on all sides thinks there is some god up
there routing for them to win.
I had friends killed on 9/11. I have a son-in-law in the Persian Gulf right
now. I have been personally affected, and continue to be. In that light I am
still willing to listen to the rest of the world, and make compromises that
benefit the world community. I share my blood, I don't drive an SUV, I've
built and used several homemade solar heat collectors on my house. I recycle
fanatically. I've done volunteer work in drug rehab clinics, juvenile
detention centers, salvation army, blues in the schools, big brother/big
sister program, down syndrome group home and others. I was at the Chicago
anti-war demonstrations in 1968.I went to Kent State in 1970. I carried my
SDS card, and still have my draft card granting me Conscientious Objector
status in 1971.
Last trip to Memphis I spent a very early (sunrise) in front of Martin
Luther King's room at the Lorraine Motel. As much as Jesus Christ, here was
a man who gave his life to the understanding and compassion of humanity.
These are men who understood that non-violence is the only road to the
salvation of the human race. I'm not talking about some reward in heaven,
I'm talking about the heaven we have right here on this earth. I would like
to leave this earth for future generations to enjoy it as much as I.
Maybe just my humble opinions, but I believe in them strongly.
HoodooJimmy
Chuck Winans
> IMO, they should take about 5 minutes at the end of every hour and just
> devote, with NO inane commmentary, that time to
> photographic still images
> of the battle.
Maybe I have a death wish, maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm just a sick puppy, but there's a huge part of my photographic self that really want to be one of the people over there taking those pictures.
Chuck Winans, President
Portraits In Performance Photography, Inc.
Chicago, Illinois
EMAIL: UnoB...@aol.com
WEBSITE: www.pipphotography.com
Blue Stew
MM