{"id":424,"date":"2023-12-08T20:37:56","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T01:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/?p=424"},"modified":"2023-12-08T20:37:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T01:37:56","slug":"violent-imagery-from-liberation-to-weaponization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/uncategorized\/violent-imagery-from-liberation-to-weaponization\/","title":{"rendered":"Violent Imagery: From Liberation to Weaponization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My piece of visual media comes from a series of images published in a 1948 edition of Time Magazine which center the actions of Fawzi Bey Kaoukji, the leader of the volunteer army of Arab Nations during the 1958 Palestine War. The images show Kaoukji leading his forces across the northern Palestinian landscape, and standing amongst the ruins of towns scarred by the intense conflict. While there is nothing written on the motivations behind Time Magazine publishing these specific images, one can deduce that wartime images, such as the ones showing Kaoukji, were included in order to peak their viewers interest to such a topical event, and expose Americans to authentic images of violence, likely to help open up their hearts, as well as pockets, in support of the war. Images such as the ones featured in this magazine represent a continuation in the field of photojournalism, which became massively popular in America during WWII. The images of violence and destruction that were captured at that time, became a primary force for shaping public perception of events, and helped create an emotional connection between the American home-front and the atrocities being committed across the Atlantic. Understanding photojournalistic concepts at play, as well as our course readings, we can better analyze and understand these images, allowing us to consider both how its visual elements, and the context in which it was reproduced, can provide insights into how different our exposure is to violent images today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An analysis of the formal elements of these images can help decode the intentions behind the photographer, and speak to the power of this medium in shaping our public perception of events. What jumps out immediately to the viewer is just how focused all of the imagery is on Kaoukji as a leading figure. His body is placed at the forefront of every image, which helps convey his crucial role in this story. Audiences at this time were all too familiar with the dangers of war hungry men in positions of power, and thus seeing images of a popular foreign military leader, likely generated an intensely emotional effect on the American viewer. The images also show Kaoukji and his forces moving through the barren landscape, either walking through rivers, over rubble, or in old trucks. The focus on movement here helps convey a sense of agency on the side of the volunteer troops. These were men who had the capacity to organize and fight for a cause, capable of influencing the outcome of the war, even without proper equipment or sizable numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The concepts of photojournalism at play here, help speak to how these images work to produce a greater meaning. The notion of dialectical image, introduced by Walter Benjamin, comes into play here, in that the images of Kaoukji and his volunteer forces visualize an alternative historical perspective that the general population wouldn’t otherwise see. A particular interest of Benjamin on this concept was how images centering new perspectives could work to disrupt conventional historical narratives, and alter our perception of these events. The viewpoint of the volunteer forces of the Arab Nations is not a dominant historical perspective from which the war in Palestine is typically viewed, and thus centering their experiences with these images, affects how the viewer perceives the event, particularly its aftermath on both sides of the conflict. Bearing witness to images, is a central aspect of David Shneer\u2019s article: Is Seeing Believing? Photographs, Eyewitness Testimony, and Evidence of the Holocaust<\/em>, which focuses on the monumental impact that imagery of Nazi atrocities had on the general public after media outlets first began publishing them. Schneer focused on how the Red Army used images of the Holocaust to help sway the public in support of their war efforts. To Schneer, \u201cthe act of physically bearing witness, of seeing with one\u2019s own eyes\u2026\u201d was the most effective way of \u201cproving to a disbelieving public the veracity of Nazi atrocities\u201d (Schneer, 67). Much like the work of Soviet photographers, by including these images of violence and destruction surrounding the Palestine War, the photographers at Time Magazine were hoping to demystify the conflict, by forcing their audiences to bear witness to a perspective which was likely misunderstood or underrepresented.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the images of Kaoukji produced by Time magazine can demonstrate just how different viewership of violent images is today, namely in our intentions of viewership, as well as the technology that filters images for us automatically. On intentional viewership, back in 1948, people had much more control of the images they chose to view, as there was a requirement, or some sort of physical barrier to imagery. Most of the images people were exposed to were in newspapers and magazines, which require not only a purchase, but an extra level of intention for the viewer. Thus, the only people who viewed these violent images were people who intentionally sought them out in the papers or magazines. Contrast that to today, where violent images are shared constantly on social media, and due to the algorithms which sort the content that we see online, many more people are exposed to violence without the intention of viewing it. The danger of algorithms as filters for how we view and experience the world is a central concern in Lev Manovich\u2019s article Cultural Analytics<\/em>, which focuses on how the intersection of data analytics and computer algorithms can perpetuate stereotypes and biases when attempting to accurately represent cultures. Manovich warns of the danger of \u201cfilter bubbles,\u201d where he warns \u201cIf we rely only on our intuitions based on content we happened to see online, algorithmic recommendations, or intuitions about what is important, it is too easy for us to stay in our cognitive and historical filter bubbles, projecting our biases onto the world\u201d (Manovich, 17). In many ways, algorithms represent a reversal of the liberating powers of photojournalism, which exposed the public to images that they wouldn’t otherwise see. Because we live in a world where there is so much exposure to everyone’s perspective, algorithms have the ability to present images to us in a way that can shape how we view an event, and when they do so in a way that aligns with our pre-existing biases, our ability to see events as having various perspectives becomes increasingly difficult. This weaponization of imagery contrasts the liberalization of imagery made possible by photojournalism, and has led to the hyper-polarization and systemized control of imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sources: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin , Walter. \u201cA Short History of Photography* .\u201d Academic.oup.com. August 22, 2014. https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manovich, Lev. Cultural analytics<\/em>, 2020, 17. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7551\/mitpress\/11214.001.0001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shneer, David. \u201cIs Seeing Believing? Photographs, Eyewitness Testimony, and Evidence of the Holocaust.\u201d East European Jewish Affairs<\/em> 45, no. 1 (2014): 67. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13501674.2015.968827.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My piece of visual media comes from a series of images published in a 1948 edition of Time Magazine which center the actions of Fawzi Bey Kaoukji, the leader of the volunteer army of Arab Nations during the 1958 Palestine War. The images show Kaoukji leading his forces across the northern Palestinian landscape, and standing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions\/439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}