Standards+and+Trends

02-24-12 "Standards" Using my earlier claim of Larry Burrows wanting to show the average person how gruesome and intense the Vietnam war was, I can pick out signifier's in each picture. In the picture of the AC-47 Tracer, you can see in the intensity of the fire coming out of the guns and the seriousness on the men's faces. In the second photograph (where one of the helicopter shooters is lying dead) it shows the panic in the face of the man who had just witnessed his partner being shot to death. In the third photograph, of the Vietnamese man seemingly begging for his life, you can see the urgency and sorrow in his face while the soldier holds a knife up to him. It shows how gruesome the war was because the man was already in captivity but the soldier was showing no mercy and holding his knife up to threaten him. "Trends:" All three of the images chosen can shape our views of the war itself, how we understand the war, and our world. As stated previously, the photos shape our view of the war by presenting intense and captivating moments. From these pictures we can start to get an idea of just how gruesome, intense, and serious the Vietnam war really was. It does not come close to how intense and gruesome it really was, but it can give us a sense of it. The pictures also show that our world is not a loving place and it is filled with hate, violence, and war. It shows that humans are not capable of settling an argument without some sort of violence and it shows that our innate instinct is to fight. Also, as stated before, I believe these photos were/are meant for the average citizen who has not seen war first hand. Larry Burrows wanted to give the American people some sense of what is happening overseas and just how gruesome it was. I believe his photos were went to say this "Even if you don't support the war, support the troops because look how hard they are fighting and look how gruesome it really is".

"The Claim" My argument for these photos is this- The purpose of these photos is to show how intense and gruesome the Vietnam war was. The photos were meant to be showed to the general public so they could get some idea of what was going on during the war. Even today, as we know the outcome of the war and all the statistics on it, we still don't know just how violent it was and these pictures give us some sense of that. The pictures were also meant to raise support for the troops. For most of them, it was not their choice to go over and fight but the least we can do as citizens is support them.