Synopses & Reviews
A gaunt woman stares into the bleakness of the Great Depression. An exuberant sailor plants a kiss on a nurse in the heart of Times Square. A naked Vietnamese girl runs in terror from a napalm attack. An unarmed man stops a tank in Tiananmen Square. These and a handful of other photographs have become icons of public culture: widely recognized, historically significant, emotionally resonant images that are used repeatedly to negotiate civic identity. But why are these images so powerful? How do they remain meaningful across generations? What do they exposeand what goes unsaid?
In No Caption Needed, Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites provide the definitive study of the iconic photograph as a dynamic form of public art. Their critical analyses of nine individual icons explore the photographs themselves and their subsequent circulation through an astonishing array of media, including stamps, posters, billboards, editorial cartoons, TV shows, Web pages, tattoos, and more. As these iconic images are reproduced and refashioned by governments, commercial advertisers, journalists, grassroots advocates, bloggers, and artists, their alterations throw key features of political experience into sharp relief. Iconic images are revealed as models of visual eloquence, signposts for collective memory, means of persuasion across the political spectrum, and a crucial resource for critical reflection.
Arguing against the conventional belief that visual images short-circuit rational deliberation and radical critique, Hariman and Lucaites make a bold case for the value of visual imagery in a liberal-democratic society. No Caption Needed is a compelling demonstration of photojournalisms vital contribution to public life.
Review
James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address
Review
James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address National Communication Association - James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award
Review
and#8220;I was truly astounded by the intelligence of the analyses in No Caption Needed, and the authorsand#8217; refusal to either over- or underestimate the power of these iconic images. Beyond that, Hariman and Lucaites engage in a profound reflection on the role of iconic journalistic photographs in modern democratic societies, the way they become ideological totems, or provocatives to further controversy.and#160;This book will be the starting point for any future attempt to deal with the problem of the iconic photograph and its social uses.and#8221;--W. J. T. Mitchell, author of What Do Pictures Want?
Review
andquot;[The book] provides a dynamic and much-needed contribution to debates concerning the value of visual representation and its relationship to implicit tensions within liberal democracy. The book arrives on the heels of current efforts within an expanding field of visual studies to push for full understanding of the technological and cultural (and not strictly textual) processes through which meanings are made for images.andquot;
Review
and#8220;No Caption Needed is a fascinating study of why a photograph is successful and what happens to that image once it enters America's collective conscious as an icon. Hariman and Lucaitesand#8217;s exhaustively researched book provides thoughtful insight into how some photographs have helped shape America's cultural identity, and explains how one image can be used by different parties to fulfill different agendas. I recommend this book to anybody interested in the history and development of visual culture in the United States.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A penetrating and provocative analysis. . . . The authorsand#8217; analytical achievement is enabled by an extraordinary feat of research and reporting.and#8221;--James Rosen,
The American InterestReview
"An admirable study."
Review
"[The authors] make an eloquent and compelling case, in print, for the centrality of the photographic icon to American cultural debate."
Review
"Historians of photography will want to read No Caption Needed not only for its insightful examination of individual photographs but also for its sophisticated analysis of the role of photography in a democratic society."
Review
and#8220;This authoritative, thought-provoking book analyzes the genesis and reception of key American images from Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' to pictures of the Challenger disaster and 9/11. Drawing extensively on the recent scholarly literature, it demonstrates the pivotal position of the still photograph in modern visual culture. It will be essential reading for students of 20th-century photojournalism, propaganda and mass media. Highly recommended.and#8221;
Review
"An admirable study." --James Rosen - The American Interest
Review
"What especially distinguishes this work is the authors' discussion of the myriad ways iconographic photographs are used, transformed, and appropriated, thereby creating a dynamic rhetorical presence that continues to influence memory, thought, and behavior."
Review
"An admirable study." The American Interest
Synopsis
A gaunt woman stares into the bleakness of the Great Depression. An ecstatic sailor plants a kiss on a nurse in the heart of Times Square. A naked Vietnamese girl runs in terror from a napalm attack. An unarmed man, alone, stops a tank in Tiananmen Square. Immediately familiar, each of these photographs has become an icon, galvanizing emotions and shaping public life. But why are these images so powerful? How did they become so prominent in the fast-changing worlds of popular culture and political debate?
In No Caption Needed, Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites explore how these and other photojournalistic images have achieved iconic status. The authors’ in-depth examinations consider both the images themselves and their circulation over time. They demonstrate how the decisive moments captured in these individual images are later reproduced in billboards, cartoons, posters, tattoos, Web pages, and other media to influence political beliefs, attitudes, and identity. Iconic images are shown to be models of visual eloquence, signposts for collective memory, and means of persuasion across the political spectrum.
Arguing against the conventional belief that the emotional power of iconic photos is dangerous because it short-circuits rational thought, Hariman and Lucaites instead make a bold case for the necessity of visual imagery in modern democratic life. No Caption Needed is a powerful demonstration of the vital role of photojournalism—and the emotional responses it triggers—in a healthy democracy.
Synopsis
In
No Caption Needed, Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites provide the definitive study of the iconic photograph as a dynamic form of public art. Their critical analyses of nine individual icons explore the photographs themselves and their subsequent circulation through an astonishing array of media, including stamps, posters, billboards, editorial cartoons, TV shows, Web pages, tattoos, and more. Iconic images are revealed as models of visual eloquence, signposts for collective memory, means of persuasion across the political spectrum, and a crucial resource for critical reflection.
Arguing against the conventional belief that visual images short-circuit rational deliberation and radical critique, Hariman and Lucaites make a bold case for the value of visual imagery in a liberal-democratic society. No Caption Needed is a compelling demonstration of photojournalismand#8217;s vital contribution to public life.
Synopsis
Liam Kennedy here takes as his focus the ways in which selected photographers have sought to frame the activities and effects of American foreign policy, often with a critical perspective, and how their work engages the dynamics of power and knowledge that attend the American worldview.and#160; What is at issue in this book is understanding relations between the geopolitical conditions of visuality and the particulars of the image.and#160; andldquo;Conditions of visuality,andrdquo; for Kennedy, are the ideologies that determine certain ways of seeing, that support actions and representations which establish (in)visibilities and which police the relationship between seeing and believing the American worldview.and#160; The individual photographers whose work Kennedy so insightfully dissects are those who have pushed the boundaries of photographic practice and who reflect critically on the contexts and scenery of war:and#160; Larry Burrows and Philip Jones Griffiths in Vietnam, Gilles Peress covering the Iranian Revolution, Susan Meiselas in El Salvador and Nicaragua, Ron Haviv and Gary Knight in the Balkans, Ashley Gilbertson and Chris Hondros in Iraq, and Tim Hetherington and Lynsey Addario in Afghanistan.and#160; These individuals expanded the conception and technical repertoire of photojournalism, receiving critical acclaim, provoking public and professional controversy, and often incurring great personal cost to themselves.and#160; Afterimages presents us with a revisionary understanding of the art of conflict photography.and#160; The images are often searingandmdash;they sometimes demonize and dehumanize the enemy, but also humanize friend or victim:and#160; a focus on the human roots the range of feeling in such imagery, from horror to pity.
Synopsis
In 2005, photographer Chris Hondros captured a striking image of a young Iraqi girl in the aftermath of the killing of her parents by American soldiers. The shot stunned the world and has since become iconicandmdash;comparable to the infamous photo by Nick Ut of a Vietnamese girl running from a napalm attack. Both images serve as microcosms for their respective conflicts.
Afterimages looks at the work of war photographers like Hondros and Ut to understand how photojournalism interacts with the American worldview.
Liam Kennedy here maps the evolving relations between the American way of war and photographic coverage of it. Organized in its first section around key US military actions over the last fifty years, the book then moves on to examine how photographers engaged with these conflicts on wider ethical and political grounds, and finally on to the genre of photojournalism itself. Illustrated throughout with examples of the photographs being considered, Afterimages argues that photographs are important means for critical reflection on war, violence, and human rights. It goes on to analyze the high ethical, sociopolitical, and legalistic value we place on the still imageandrsquo;s ability to bear witness and stimulate action.
About the Author
Robert Hariman is professor of communication at Northwestern University and the author of Political Style: The Artistry of Power. John Louis Lucaites is professor of communication and culture at Indiana University. He is coauthor of Crafting Equality: Americaand#8217;s Anglo-African Word.
Table of Contents
CONTENTSLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
1
INTRODUCTION
2
PUBLIC CULTURE, ICONS, AND ICONOCLASTS
3
THE BORDERS OF THE GENRE
Migrant Mother and the Times Square Kiss
4
PERFORMING CIVIC IDENTITY
Flag Raisings at Iwo Jima and Ground Zero
5
DISSENT AND EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT
Kent State
6
TRAUMA AND PUBLIC MEMORY
Accidental Napalm
7
LIBERAL REPRESENTATION AND GLOBAL ORDER
Tiananmen Square
8
RITUALIZING MODERNITYand#8217;S GAMBLE
The Hindenburg and Challenger Explosions
9
CONCLUSION
Visual Democracy
NOTES
INDEX