2RA+Final+Draft

2RA Final Draft

Jason Frey

Engl340 - Visual Rhetoric

Dr. Archibald

3/21/2012

Remnants of War In years following the horrific WWII many photos were taken to capture the dismal after effects of the war. Three photos by Ralph Crane, I believe, embody a remnant of darkness left by the war. These poignant photographs reach through multiple generations—permeating the young to the old. Crane was a staff photographer at LIFE Magazine until 1972 (Crane, 2000). He then freelanced for Smithsonian, the International Herald Tribune and many other publications. These three photos I will reference as; //Run//, //Stop// and //Hide//. All three photos were found in Google images and were taken for and published in LIFE Magazine between the years 1947-1950. These photos are different from LIFE Magazine’s usual happy go lucky photo style; their gloominess, I think, was used to spark the interest in the more cynical audience of that time. These cynical individuals would most likely have some connection the terrors involved in war and would be interested in photos that lean toward such a reality. The three photos have some commonalities such as the time period the shots were taken; they are all black and white, and a sense of darkness. During this time period (1947-1950) the world was recovering from the second world war, industry and technology was beginning to boom and there was a general desire for normal life to resume. These three photographs are rhetorical because they persuade the audience, which I have labeled //cynical audience// that the darkness they felt from the war lingered. Photos, such as the three I have chosen, that encapsulate the bad remnants of war tend to remind us of the horror that is war, ensuring we do not repeat our history. These are post war photos, different from a scene of a battle field now a grave yard or dilapidated buildings. . . these photos show the remnants of war through the paradigm of everyday life. The photo //Run// taken in 1947, was called “A Boy’s Escape.” The photo was a reenactment of a “disturbed boy’s escape from a children’s home” (“Shine Your,” 1). Crane used a perfect combination of high speed strobes, impeccable timing and drama to make the audience believe this was the real escape. The photo features two individuals, both mid-air and in long stride, down a dark hallway. Crane staged the photo to create whatever scene he thought would best represent and evoke emotion in the audience. He chose to strip the boy of his clothing; no sane person would run around naked. The man who is chasing the boy is well dressed—he has dress shoes and pants coupled with a fuzzy sweater. The man embodies the public servant who is doing his best to keep the peace. The man’s stride, fervent and strong, is a stark contrast to the boy as he runs for dear life. The photo could have been taken in color but Crane chose to display it in black and white. The shades of various grays and dark, sinister shadows enhance excitement of the boys escape and the persistence of the man chasing. The hallway is dark with light cast strategically on the boy and in front of the man, leaving the pursuer in the darkness. The child is also rounding the corner which convinces the audience that he has a good chance of escaping. His disdain for the children’s home, shown through his flight, urges him to escape. The cynical audience may have recognized this as a remnant of war in the way that many people ran away when the Nazis came into their towns. Harboring hatred for such dismal living conditions, many of them fled their homes. Viewed without text, one could easily come to the conclusion that the boy is trying to escape from this man. The absence of the texuality would leave the viewer wondering why. What did the boy do to deserve being chased? Why does the he want to abscond? Combining the text with this photo answers all these questions. Blakesly & Brooke state that, “we should bring textuality and visuality together, really together, before we pull them apart” (n.d.). The audience must connect these two concepts to get the full idea of what is happening in the photo. The idea of “spectatorship (the look, the gaze, the glance, the practices of observation, surveillance, and visual pleasure) may be as deep a problem as various forms of reading (decipherment, decoding, interpretation, etc.) and that visual experience or ‘visual literacy’ might not be fully explicable on the model of textuality” (Blakesly & Brooke, n.d.). The photo //Stop//, shot in February 1953, shows an automobile arriving from the Eastern Sector of Berlin being halted by West Berlin police. This photo portrays an overwhelming, lingering hostility that exists in Germany’s capitol, Berlin. This photo shows that although many years have passed since Germany lost the war, division and hostility still remain among the people. East Berlin construction workers went on strike June 16, 1953 which turned into a widespread revolt against the German Democratic Republic government the next day. With this context in mind we see the //Stop// photo and note this is most likely a border control guard performing his duty trying to maintain the peace and suppress the uprising. The oncoming car is far enough away from the guard that he probably would not know if this is a friend or foe. The barbed wire behind the border guard could pop the tires of any intruder on rubber wheels. The barbed wire portrays a serious situation, far more than a typical disagreement in the labor force. If the photo did not include the barbed wire, the policeman would look like a cross guard out on a rainy day directing traffic—the photo would lose much of its significance. The viewer of this photo could decipher a variety of different inferences depending on their current position. One of those in the uprising could view this photo as encouragement to keep fighting “The Man,” symbolizing a repressive government, holds them back and “stops” them from going were they want to go. This photo could also be viewed as a testament to the order that //does// exist. A single German policeman lets the world know that those who have started the uprising have not won. The cynical audience at the time this photo was published may view this photo as a remnant of WWII because Germany was still in its recovery stage from the war. They would see darkness in this photo—the war left a stain in the fabric of the German government causing division and distrust between the leaders and its people. This photo would reveal that the “stain” still remains and has yet to be washed away. We must view this photo accurately by first learning the history/ context and textuality. Just as Blakesly & Brooke have stated, “we cannot fully understand the deeper meaning of this photo until we have both the textuality and visuality,” (n.d.). The photo is dark, with many shades of gray—the perfect type of color scheme to represent sadness, division and turmoil. The buildings appear as shadows in the background, like a ghost town. There is no sunshine, only a dark gray overcast—this adds to the gloominess of the uprising that Berlin is going through. These seem to be depressing and bleak times for Germany, even long after World War II had ended. The dirt on the sides of the road and the tall, unkempt grass next to the sidewalks indicates a country out of order. Normally a major street like this would be clean and finely trimmed, but it is obvious that this has not been done for weeks or even months. Germany does not have the finances to clean main streets in their capital city—this indicates a lack of government power. Before the rise of Hitler; Germany was historically known for having many political parties and containing very outspoken rebel rousers. The dreariness of the photo seems to indicate that these were bad times—it’s not a colorful, hopeful looking photo that brings hope for a bright future. Looking at this photo today merely speaks of a snapshot of the dark days when Germany was trying to regain power and noble status among the nations. Since then Germany has become a thriving world voice. Yet, the people of today, 2012 can only read and see pictures of this dark Germany. The photo //Hide//, taken in Santa Monica, California 1950, shows a young couple sitting in a sand pit. This was a time for “sock hops, poodle skirts, going to the beach and drive-ins” (Gresham, 2003). The “Hide” photo shows a care free collection of beach goers. The shades of gray in this photo do not deter from the somber relaxation occurring on the beach. The shades of gray also help to keep our focus from being distracted from the two people hiding in the pit up front. One critic stated that this photo “captures our longtime love affair with the sea” (Gresham, 2003). This “love affair” is represented by the couple in the front. Of all the places this young couple could have been in 1950 these two lovers wanted to be at the shore, deep in the sand. Behind the couple there are people, shops and all kinds of activity. The couple receives the focal point of this photo. The woman is leaning on the man; his arm wrapped tightly around her. Maybe she is cold and tired so he holds her tight to keep warm in the cool sand. They are protected from the ocean wind, as well as the noise and commotion going on around them. They appear to be oblivious to all other activity--as if they are alone on that beach. The critic’s textuality “love affair with the sea” has a way of changing the way the photo could be perceived. The cynical audience of the time the photo was published may see this photo as a sad couple, a remnant of war. The way the mans arm is around her should could be seen as comfort in a dark time, maybe still morning over the loss of a loved one, caused by the war. But this comment the critic makes about the couple embodying our “love affair for the sea” makes the photo seem romantic. Interesting enough, one woman, located just above the center of the photograph, appears to stare directly at the photographer. She draws an ire attention to herself which takes away from the couple slightly. No one else in the photo appears to be looking at the camera but this woman. Crane did not use a different shot, he allowed this woman to look into his lens. This woman embodies a voice of reason, staring into the soul of the audience. She sees through the fickle love and temporary pleasure of life on the beach. She is not smiling. She remembers the not so distant past (WWI and II), is aware of the present (beginnings of the Korean and Cold war), and almost dreads any future calamity to come. I was personally attracted to the seriousness of this woman—which differs greatly from the rest of the photo. Once noticed, her eyes take most of the attention off the couple in the sand pit. These three photographs by Crane are a construction and representations of remnants of war. These three photos are typical of Crane’s photography—most of his photos I have seen are black and white and have some sort of underlying sadness or darkness about them. Although all three photos were published in LIFE Magazine, these are not LIFE’s normal type of photo. LIFE Magazine would typically have happy go lucky, head in the clouds photos that make you want to smile and dance—these photos carry a more serious weight to them. They give the viewer a taste of the darker realities happening in the world. These photos captured my attention because there were things I saw that were outside of what I normally see in my world. The boy being chased by the man, the huge barbed wire behind the border guard and the two adults in a pit at the beach were the main things that attracted me. Another reason I chose these photos was that they represent what I call “real life” or they show the darkness that many people try hide from or ignore—I am drawn to these “realistic” type of photos. The overall trend that I see in these photos is the “remnant of war” or the lingering shadows that the darkness of war leaves behind. There is a hint of these remnants of war in each of these photos which gives each photo a sense of realistic darkness.
 * [[image:http://muvisualrhetoric.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=252 width="200" height="252"]] || [I.Run] ||
 * [[image:http://muvisualrhetoric.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=202&h=245 width="202" height="245"]] || [II.Stop] ||
 * [[image:http://muvisualrhetoric.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=225&h=225 width="225" height="225"]] || [III.Hide] ||

References Barthes, Roland//,// The Photographic Message//, classroomsalon.org//, http://www. classroomsalon..org/viewDoc.aspx?id=12262&x=IgsvPrqgedAgtQpI6Dhpa7cDYlzpDLZ6Po%2bElwalbE%2fWcFRARUcmt8JdSo2aD8v974pPiKQQxJpcJoDkm%2b0pUg%3d%3d Blakesley, D., & Brooke, C. (n.d.) //enculturation.gmu.edu,// http://enculturation.gmu. edu/3_2/introduction.html Crane, R., (2000), My Father LIFE Magazine Photographer Ralph Crane, //Flickr//, http://www.flickr.com/photos/44548980@N00/sets/72157600287407882/ Gresham, A. L., (2003), LIFE at the beach, //coastalliving.com//, http://www. coastalliving.com/lifestyle/life-magazine-beach-images-0400000057361/ page8.html Ramage, D. J., //Rhetoric A User’s Guide//, New York, Pearson Education Inc., 2006, Print. Unknown Author, Shine Your Light, //Blogspot.com,// http://shineyourlight-shineyourlight.blogspot.com/2011/11/75-75-best-life-photos.html