Photography and Society

Photography and Society

Marcus Thompson
AP English 3
Ms. Spain
April 8, 2013
We live in a world where technology and different forms of media are the primary sources of news and entertainment. Among these media outlets is the use of photography; the most common way of sharing an image. While some may argue that photography can offer new insight on modern and historical aspects of culture, photography generally undermines these aspects and creates vague, inaccurate interpretations of a topic.
Photography is a “form of mental pollution…” says Sontag. Her statement proves to be valid since a still image only offers a still aspect. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if it takes a thousand and one words to fully describe a story? The point is that pictures cannot depict the full story of everything. Whether it be the lighting or quality, “The camera’s rendering of reality must always hide more that it discloses.” Keeping this in mind how can someone understand and know another person form just one glimpse of a photo? The photo may show qualities not regularly seen by the public. A celebrity caught yelling at their child is a bad mother, and a politician seen after dark is branded as indecent. “Photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is.”
Photography has enhanced the creation of stereotypes and prejudice in the world. News channels such as CNN and MSNBC show photographs of terrorist activity in the Middle East and other impoverish lands. In these photos there are people of Middle Eastern ethnicity who boast all aspects of their culture; turbans, long scarves that drape women from head to toe, and attitudes and emotions that other people are not accustomed to. Having never visited the Middle East and only using the information on the news, movies, and games, Americans label the Middle East as “Terrorist Territory” and all of its people terrorists. Little do they know that the people of the Middle East are facing their own...

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