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moranguinhos's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
still so relevant, 20 years after being published. war and history is cyclical & people are still figuring out ways to compartmentalize the atrocities. Sontag’s predictions about the future of news and online information are spot on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
tailwhip's review against another edition
dark
informative
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
4.5
This was a look into war photography: the history, the reason it is made, and the reactions it elicits. There are so many points that Sontag makes throughout this. She looks at early military art, more staged photography of earlier history, and censorship that some photographers have been met with. She talks about the creator's intent and how that may be at odds with how it is presented in context or consumed by the public. One of the big points that really resonated with me was how different people and places were photographed and how those pictures were presented. Who is afforded dignity and who isn't? Whose tragedies are being broadcasted? Why is pain elsewhere viewed and memorialized, when atrocities within the US are ignored? She also poses and discusses the question: does sharing these photographs hurt or help the situation? There was mixed discussion about whether or not all images make the public desensitized, but one thing seems certain -- seeing an issue in print does not mean that someone understands or will work to fix the issue. Near the end, she also expresses the issue of perspective -- this is all a very middle to upper class western perspective. They are the ones who get to see pictures and decide whether or not to change the channel.
There are so many great point in here, I only wish that she would have fleshed it out a bit more and discussed more in detail. I think integrating her more philosophical commentary and history would have paired excellently with some social scientific research. I also would have loved to see her tie these ideas into her other work on illness and how that is perceived.
There are so many great point in here, I only wish that she would have fleshed it out a bit more and discussed more in detail. I think integrating her more philosophical commentary and history would have paired excellently with some social scientific research. I also would have loved to see her tie these ideas into her other work on illness and how that is perceived.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence