In
his article, “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” Errol Morris says:
But photographs are neither true nor false in
and of themselves. They are only true or false with respect to statements that
we make about them or the questions that we might ask of them.
Morris began his article refuting an old saying “a picture is
worth 1,000 words”. I was quite skeptical of this statement seeing that I never
question the validity of the phrase; I had always accepted it to be true.
Morris then presented a black and white image of a dated
ship. I then started to understand what he meant because if I had to write a
1,000 word essay on that boat I would definitely be pulling my hair out after
200. Some pictures are worth 1,000
words but Morris proves some are not.
He
also states:
All alone — shorn of context, without captions
— a photograph is neither true nor false.
When Morris gave a storyline (context) to the picture of the
Lustiana, I immediately understood what he meant by a picture means nothing
without context. I immediately formed the black and white image of the Lustiana
from bland to sad and depressing. After all, now knowing the context, this
picture depicts a ship that tragically drowned taking thousands of people with
it.
The above image a normal 1st grade picture right?
What makes this picture important? Is it my 1st grade class photo?
How do you know?
Doesn’t the kid in the second row, second from the left look
innocent? Normal? Does anything about him seem murderous?
Without a caption, it would be hard to know just what to
think of this photo.
The child in the white turtleneck is actually Adam Lanza. Now
I don’t need to go into much detail but Adam Lanza is now infamous for his part
in killing 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, 28 including his mother,
which he killed at home.
Maybe upon first look you though the image was sweet, or
maybe it gave you memories of your own childhood picture days.
Regardless, it is without a doubt that most of you will now
think differently of the picture above given the context. This proves Morris’s
assumption that a picture is nothing without context.
✌out
photo credit to PBS's Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/raising-adam-lanza/slideshow-adam-lanzas-path-to-the-sandy-hook-tragedy/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/raising-adam-lanza/slideshow-adam-lanzas-path-to-the-sandy-hook-tragedy/
Hayley, this is one of the better examples I have seen of what Morris was explaining. When I looked at the photo, I thought perhaps it was your first grade class. Then, you wrote that that was probably my assumption. As soon as I started thinking maybe someone in the picture did something to make me know them, you mentioned Adam Lanza's name. I love the way you wrote this entry, but am terrified of the way my brain interpreted the image at the same time!
ReplyDeleteWow, when I first looked at the picture I was trying to figure out what it meant. I was thinking along the lines of, someone famous is in the picture. No part of me though that one of those kids was a killer. This picture is a perfect example of what morris was getting at.
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