Regarding the Pain of Others
Sontag's book takes an intimate look at the way we chronicle war anddeath in our society. Her essays on photography have become legendary, andthis book is no exception. Sontag believes that seeing graphic displays ofthe horrors of war have left us jaded and unemotional about what we areviewing. As she notes late in the book, "To speak of reality becoming aspectacle is a breathtaking provincialism. It universalizes the viewinghabits of a small, educated population living in the rich part of theworld, where news has been converted into entertainment" (Sontag 110).Sontag discusses photography from as far back as America's Civil War, anduses the thoughts and writings of others to help make her case, that modernphotojournalism has numbed us to the horrors of war, and as such, actually It is quite clear Sontag is a fan of photography and what it cancapture, and that she is not a far of war or terror. She notes, "Eversince cameras were invented in 1839, photography has kept company withdeath" (Sontag 24). This is an interesting and compelling look atphotography. People tend to think of photography as a means to captureoccasions to remember - birthdays, ann
War is hell, but we have forgotten that in our struggle to ignore thepain of others, because it makes us think too much about ourselves. We cocoon ourselves awayfrom the real world, while we watch "reality" television and game shows. She writes, "Photography is the only major art in which professionaltraining and years of experience do not confer and insuperable advantageover the untrained and inexperienced" (Sontag 28). Sontag notes, "So far as we feelsympathy, we feel we are not accomplices to what caused the suffering. It just does not seem real, so it does not register with viewers,ultimately, it does not matter to them, and even worse, they have littlesympathy or empathy for the victims. This is the foundation of Sontag's thesis, that photography canelicit violent emotions, but that society has become so used to seeingviolent photography, that we are immune to the horrors, and out of touchwith the violence and terror of war. They do not have the luxury of patronizing reality" (Sontag111). The photographer was in the right place at theright time to capture the image, and this is part of Sontag's reasoning,some of the best photos often happen purely by chance, and training is notan issue in these instances. Running down the road completely naked, the younggirl's grimace of total pain is everything the viewer needs to know tounderstand the photo, yet it was clearly shot on the run - it is softlyfocused and a bit grainy. Oursympathy proclaims our innocence as well as our impotence. Surely there arenumerous highly trained photographers who would take Sontag to task forthis statement, but ultimately, her analysis is solid. At one point she writes, "The lynching pictures tell usabout human wickedness. Bombarded withviolence and death on the nightly news, in the newspaper, and on theInternet, we have become a society that ignores the horrors of war andterror. They force us to think aboutthe extent of the evil unleashed specifically by racism" (Sontag 91).
Common topics in this essay:
Civil Rights,
Trade Center,
Civil War,
,
horrors war,
civil war,
war terror,
real world,
sontag's book,
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Acceptance Essays
