Thursday, November 11, 2010

the start of my draft


Lavaisha Moore
Eng 101
Paper # 2
Images of War
Anthony Swofford writes “Vietnam war films are all pro-war, no matter what the supposed message” and I agree with him, however different people inturpit things differently. Some people would agree with him and some people would disagree with him.
I think what makes images pro-war are when the images show soldiers smiling and enjoying themselves like they are in a secret brotherhood. I also think showing images of our soldiers killing from the other army and making it look so simply and easy. Another way that images are seen as pro-war is when people see images of soldiers holding an American flag because that makes a lot of people feel patriotic and want to fight for their country.
Images that are seen as anti-war are usually the images that actually factual. Images such as babies that are burned and dead are the main pictures that are seen as anti-war. Images of non soldier men and women being killed for no other reason except for the army’s body count can also be seen from an anti-war perspective. More anti-war images include whole villages being bombed and shot up. When people see these types of images they feel sad and make them feel like America have no shame in the things they are doing to these innocent people.
I think what shapes the way individual viewers are likely to respond to images of war, are the way they were raised or their personal beliefs. If a person was raised with family and friends whom promoted or supported former wars and soldiers, than that person is more likely to view images of war are pro-war perspective. On the contrast if a person wasn’t raised that way then they are probably going to view the images in an anti-war perspective. In the story On The Rainy River Tim O’Brien said “ I feared losing the respect of my family. I feared the law. I feared ridicule and censure. My home town was a conservative little spot on the prairie, a place where tradition counted, and it was easy to imagine people sitting around the a table down at the Old Gobbler Café on Main Street, cups poised, the conversation slowly zeroing on the O’Brien kid, how the damned sissy had taken off for Canada” ( Tim O’Brien, On The Rainy pg.45). In this story the young man was drafted to war and didn’t want to go, however I feel it is a great example of how a person up bringing can influence their out look on war and images of war. This man didn’t want to go to war but feared how he would be looked upon by his family and friends, therefore he went. I think many people would view images of war in an anti-war perspective but some how feared how they will be looked upon if they disagree with the majority.

The impact of images are always going to be different when you see images of war and suffering on the news, documentaries and fictional films. In fictional films, American soldiers are always seen or displayed as heroes or patriots. However on the contrast in documentaries, Americans soldiers are usually seen as terrible people. When it comes to how images from the news impact people, it can go either way because the news sometimes don’t give enough information for a person to really have an impact from the images.
Since I wasn’t around when the Vietnam war going on, and the only way I can judge the war is by are the images and those images lead me to believe that the war was terrible and grucial. The different images of the Vietnam war shaped the way the war was seen because people seen pictures on innocent people being killed. These images have gave the Vietnam war a bad name even if the soldiers were fighting for a good cause.
I personally think that the only time it is ethical to show graphic images of war and suffering is when a individual person decides to look at those images. I don’t think that these images should be all over the media because they are to gruesome. I don’t think that anyone has the right to decide what images are shown to other people. I think as an American citizen a person should have the freedom to look at what they please however they shouldn’t show other people.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Lavisha - Good start & good use of O'Brien. Bring in more evidence, especially in your second and fourth paragraphs, to support the idea about the disctinction between fictional films and documentaries - an interesting point!

    Also, in your first paragraph, present your own idea in relation to Swofford's: no need to talk about 'what everyone thinks". Notice how this is different from what you do in your third paragraph, talking *specifically* about how different people might react differently to these films, which is great.

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