Dr.+A+Wk+10

Thinking about my VSP in terms of Ramage5's interpretive relationships.

[The purpose of this week's response is to think about your images in how you want them to be interpreted. You are the rhetor so you want to lead your reader/viewer in a particular way. And if you can control the interpretations they make thenyouI can control the (rhetorical) message you want to provide. In my reflections on the interpretive relationships below I reflect on my audience and how they might approach my work.]

1. "in terms of" something else My viewers may think about texts related to sacrifice. The New Testament story of Christ on the cross. Dickens' //Tale of Two Cities// Etc. I need to get out in front of this by layering in references to sacrifice and see where it leads.

2. within a particular genre First, the genre is photojournalism--see Morris. Also, It also fits int the genre of the protest photograph--the Vietnam monks of the Sixties and the Civil Rights protests with dogs and fire houses. Images of protest. But again the genre has to do with the audience. The Chinese want to put the photograph in the "terrorist" genre of images. I need to control these interpretation because I want my story to be securely in the protest image genre.

3. in light of personal observation When I use the images from Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement etc. I want to convey the message that I appreciate the sacrifice these figures made at the time but I am concerned by the way the photographs were and are being used. They convey to me the among other things the lack of value of human life

4. in the company of others Here I want to convey somehow (I don't know how right now) my antipathy when it comes to violent images--both photographic and cinematic. This has to be part of what I want my audience to see along with me. If they don't have the same aversion at least they will appreciate in some way my attempt to get them to think about how horrible violent images can be and how they have less redeeming value than most contemporary people believe.