Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Russell Klika, U.S. Army.DoD
In their book, No Caption Needed, Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites argue that images convey emotions by "activating vital repertoires of social behavior." People respond to images in which a universal human condition, such as sorrow, joy, or anger, is captured for the viewer to experience. For example, when we examine the image here the narrative being played out is persuasive because it activates feelings within us. As Hariman and Lucaites explain, "These emotional signs and responses operate reliably and powerfully because they are already presented within the society's conventions of display...." (p.35).
There are a wide array of emotions that may be triggered for us in such an image. The emotions that come to mind here are anxiety followed by sadness, disinhibition, and guilt. Although the natural way to analyze such an image is to describe or explain what is being shown, I liked go beyond this to explore the relationship I have with the image. It is through the relationship of the objects and emotions signified in the image that leads to meaning making for me, the viewer. We interpret the event through our feelings and beliefs based on our own experiences and cultural understandings. Even those the photographer plays a role in constructing the substance of our experience, it is still up to us to select out and make sense of the image. There is a powerful relationship between the image, the event, and our beliefs, emotions, and behaviors.
Now I should explain further how these emotional responses register within. The constructs of anxiety and guilt are to be found within the contextually broader framework in which the picture is displayed. Anxiety, sadness, and disinhibition, however, are more immediate, personal and visceral interpretations. These are my own emotions, which are projected through my interpretation of the image. The image cannot stand alone. It must be recognized has having several layers of meaning. First, there is the personal layer of meaning made -- the feelings I have concerning family and leaving home for the uncertainty of war. Secondly, there is the larger ideological context in when the image resides. After more than five years of war in Iraq, I have become desensitized to seeing such images. The pictures have become a naturalized aspects of my media landscape -- they are ordinary and predictable. It is through the naturalization of these images in my visual repository (my brain), that feelings of guilt and powerlessness emerge.