Tarby+Rough+Draft




 * || **NOTE: I have not written an intro yet** ||  ||

When first looking at this photo, one’s first thought may be that of awe or amazement because of the fire coming out of the guns, the size of the guns, the background of the gloom sky, etc. Also, the thought of death may come to mind because the connotation of guns is killing or injuring. The picture may also bring back memories for some veterans or may make one think of someone they know who is in the military. Looking at the background, a conclusion can be made that the soldiers are in a helicopter or some sort of aircraft shooting at enemies on the ground. The sky looks rather dark which could be an indication of a surprise attack from the air. The guns pictured are known as AC47 Tracer guns, which are extremely powerful and deadly. Aircraft fire was a big part of the war for America because the Vietnamese did not really have the luxury of fighting from the skies. Fighting from the skies allowed cover to those soldiers on the ground and also kept fewer soldiers on the ground. Shooting from aircraft was an advantage that America had in the war and this photo captures the soldiers in action. As depicted in the lower left hand corner of the photo, this was a photo in LIFE magazine, which is a very prestigious, popular piece of reading. LIFE covers every aspect of history and for the magazine to feature this photo must mean that it has some very important meaning behind it. LIFE magazine’s audience is those who want to be caught up on all the latest news and information that is happening in the world. This photo shows the audience of LIFE just some of the intensity that was happening during the war. Because most people don’t know just how extreme war can be, featuring pictures such as this in a magazine can start to give them a sense of what’s happening. Noticing the angle of the photo, a conclusion can be made that Larry Burrows was practically hanging out of the helicopter to snap this shot, which shows how dedicated he was to getting photos like this for the public.

Looking further into the text of the photo, different questions (logical, ethical, and emotional ) come into mind. Some logical questions that may come into one’s mind may be, “Why be in a war that’s so gruesome and intense? What’s our reasoning for fighting? Why would we put all this money, time, effort, and lives into a war that wouldn’t produce much for us?” When looking at war photos, ethical questions always come about, and are pretty obvious. For example, “Is it ethical to waste hundreds of thousands of lives for a war? Is it ethical to even show pictures like this?” etc. Based on the previous claim that Larry Burrows took these photos to show the public how gruesome and intense the war was, this picture has some signs that support that claim. The fire coming out of the guns looks like a small explosion; not much is more intense than an explosion. The pure size of the guns shows just how powerful those guns were and one could only imagine what those bullets would do to the human body. This picture also supports the claim that Burrows wanted to raise support for the troops, but not for the war because it shows how hard these troops are working and how brave they really are.

There is iconic message in this photo as well. It’s an icon for the great effort that was put into the Vietnam War and the great lengths that some soldiers and Larry Burrows were willing to go to. So much work goes into making one helicopter and hundreds, if not thousands were deployed. So much time, effort, and money goes into them as well, and the military was willing to risk putting them into battle where they could crash and be destroyed. Also, the soldiers being brave enough to get into a helicopter and shoot down at the enemy. The only barrier between the soldiers and enemy fire was the distance from the ground to the aircraft. It shows that the soldiers were fearless, and so was Larry Burrows for going along with them.

Death, blood, horror, sorrow, panic, intense, frightening, powerful, and reality are words that come to mind when first looking at this photo. This photo is titled //One Ride with Yankee Papa One Three (YP-13).// It refers to the name of the mission and helicopter on which this photo was taken. Unlike the first photo of the AC47 Tracer fire, this photo shows a lot more gruesomeness. Before Larry Burrows boarded the helicopter, the pilot told him they were about to enter ‘hell’ in Vietnam. He wasn’t lying. Burrows reported that as soon as the helicopter entered the battle area, they were getting shot at in all directions. Also, in the AC47 Tracer photo, the soldiers were stationary at their positions. In this photo, the soldiers have regular military rifles in their hands which suggests they were about to get dropped off in the middle of a war zone. Before YP-13 even hit the ground, one of the soldiers was shot several times and killed instantly. Seeing the blood on the lifeless body and floor and also seeing the panic in the face of the other soldier makes this photo so powerful. Examining this photo further, it looks as though the panicked soldier is about to jump out of the helicopter or jump away from the open door. His hand moving and his mouth open suggest he is yelling something to the pilot or the other soldiers in the aircraft.

There are many signals in this photo to support the claim that Larry Burrows wanted to show the public how gruesome and intense the war was. Just looking at the photo, there is a lifeless body, blood on the floor of the helicopter, panic in the eyes of the other soldier, the gun being in the soldier’s hand. This photo was again featured in LIFE magazine for the public’s eyes. For the public to see this type of image in a magazine is very powerful. Some may have cried and some may have been angry because lives are being wasted. Either way, this photo can also gain support for the soldiers and demote the war because the American people would see this and want the war to end so that no more people have to die. At the same time, American’s would view this and see once again how brave the soldiers are and that they are not afraid to lay their lives on the line for their country.

This photo is the epitome of the war. As horrible as it is, that is how much of the war was, and in most cases was way more gruesome than this. Imagining being there brings all the emotions that go along with this photo- bloodshed, panic, fear, and intensity. All of those are in this picture and throughout the whole war there was bloodshed, panic, fear, intensity, and so much more.

Imagine your life being in the hands of an angry enemy who has a knife in their hand and there’s nothing you can do about it. That is the first emotion that may come into one’s mind when they see this photo. Again being from the Vietnam War, this photo depicts an American soldier holding up a knife in a threatening position to a helpless Vietnamese prisoner. This picture may have been staged but most likely it was not, and as horrible as it is to say, this prisoner was probably executed because this war was so intense and gruesome that each side was relentless and had genuine hate towards each other. The thing that jumps out most from this picture is the pure horror in the prisoner’s face as he is in a life or death situation. This picture truly shows what a man’s face would look like right before his death. Looking closely at the picture, another man is tied up to the man in the picture. <range type="comment" id="683108">More likely than not, there are several prisoner’s tied up to each other <range type="comment" id="838361">and the horrible reality is that the American soldiers probably went down the line and executed each prisoner.

<range type="comment" id="322620">again, looking at the previous claim that Larry Burrows wanted to show the general public how intense and gruesome the war was and to raise support for the troops, this picture supports only the first part of that claim. In no way would this picture raise support for the troops because the general public would see this and probably think how horrible this is. But this picture does show how intense and gruesome the war was. The biggest signifier in this picture is the horror shown on the prisoner’s face. His face alone shows the intensity of the war and what soldiers on each side had to go through. The soldier raising the knife towards the prisoner shows the gruesomeness of the war and how relentless it was. It is almost guaranteed that this soldier would not be threatening someone’s life if it was not in a war situation. That goes to show that the troops were putting everything they had into the war and would take it to the extreme if they had to<range type="comment" id="765949">.

**Note-I have not written the conclusion yet**


 * Peer Review - Jessica Allebach**

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">1. Does the writer understand the concept of a rhetorical analysis and does the paper demonstrate its application? Why or why not. Give suggestions.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">Yes, I think so. He does a good job at breaking down the aspects of rhetorical analysis he is choosing to focus on. He does so in an organized fashion. He chooses 2 aspects to focus on with each photo. I would suggest a detailed look at the photographer and the way in which his background might effect how these photos work in rhetoric. I would also suggest going into a bit more detail.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">2. What argument / communicative purpose does the paper describe for the photographs it uses. Is it appropriate? Effectively presented? Why or why not. Give suggestions.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">The argument the paper describes is that these photos work to create public awareness of the atrocity of war. It is quite appropriate, one that I would I have chosen myself. I would say that it is a good beginning to being effectively presented. Everything within the paper supports this purpose/argument. I would suggest that more detail would strengthen this argument. I would also suggest that greater detail to the background of the images, the audience, the photographer himself, and some greater exploration of elements of the photos might also help. I was convinced of the argument, though, without these things.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">3. What is the argument claim put forward for the photograph(s) under analysis in the paper? Is it appropriate? Effectively presented? Why or why not. Give suggestions.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">I'm not sure how this is different from the question previous, but I think he wants us to realize that the purpose of these photos is to reveal to people past and present what war was truly like. It is an appropriate and effective argument. I think that designating a section to connecting these photos together would help create a more clarified claim of these photos as a whole.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">4. What did you like about how the various visual/rhetorical theorists (Berger/Faigley/Ramage/Blakesly&Brooke/Barthes) were used in the paper? What could be improved about how the paper uses these theorists? What suggestions do you have for the writer? Be as specific as possible by discussing each theorist one at a time and how the paper uses them. Also, give suggestions of theorists that the writer does not use but might be useful in his/her rhetorical analysis.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px;">I liked the way he used specific terms - such as ethos, pathos, iconic image, etc. He did not directly cite these authors and their ideas and though I could identify some ideas he mentioned, the actual rhetorical term was not identified. This is something I failed to do in my own paper, it is difficult to incorporate. He clearly uses Ramage's ideas of ethos, pathos, etc. as we discussed them in class. He uses Berger's idea of an iconic image. It is difficult to pinpoint who he uses exactly, as they aren't mentioned.