This week in class we talked a lot about the use of violent images in literature and in news. In literature it can be used as a tool to show the extent of an event. An example of this is in Maus when Spiegelman draws the pile of dead bodies. This shows how horrific the Holocaust was and although they were bodies of rats to represent humans it still had a great effect on the reader. Although we talked about violent images in literature, I took away the most from the conversations about the use of violent images in the news. The role of the news is to inform the public on current events, such as war and tragic incidents. The public will take these horrific events and learn from them and try to prevent them from happening again because they see how terrible the events are. "We live in a graphic society, whether we choose to or not," (Mendoza). If this is true, then there has to be some sort of change to prevent tragic events from happening as often. This is why news needs to show graphic images. They need to show the truth. If news doesn't show graphic images that came from an event they are reporting it portrays the event differently. Not showing graphic images allows for the audience to assume that the event wasn't that bad and they will pay no mind to it. But if the news shows these graphic images then society will try to prevent events like this from happening again.
This week in class we read a piece called Show and Tell by Scott McCloud. This piece showed (and told) the importance of pictures in readings. It started off with a short anecdote of this kid in front of his class explaining how his robot toy transforms into an airplane. He uses a mixture of words and plain showing how it does what it does. This develops the author's main argument that "words and pictures have great powers to tell stories when creators fully exploit them both," (McCloud 809). I believe that images in books don't make a work of literature any less intellectual. If the content is meant to be intellectual, pictures aren't going to make it any less. Actually, images bring a different dynamic and can allow for more intellectual content. If an author were to include a statement where there could be many interpretations, that would be considered intellectual, but if you add an image to that and turn it into a comic, there could be an infinite amount of i...
This is a good description of the reasons for which images depicting violence should be shown. It demonstrates the purpose that violent images have despite their labeling by some as inappropriate to show to the public.
ReplyDelete