Entry on Susan Sontags Regarding the Pain of Others - Literature review Example

Entry on Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag begins her essay Regarding the Pain of Others with a question that says “whatdoes it mean to protest suffering, as distinct from acknowledging it?” (Sontag 36) What she actually means by this is that individuals, who view the works of art that portray the sufferings of people, whether past or present, should not only appreciate the message for its truth. Instead, they should not just concede about its reality but should react against it. The painters, film-makers, and all other visual artists, after all, who produce artworks that depict the pain of their subjects may have the intention of not just expressing the fact. They also intend to gain sympathy for the subject in pain. Such sympathy, therefore, can only lead to protest against the suffering imposed on the subject. In this regard, Sontag explains that “the only people with the right to look at images of suffering of this extreme order are those who could do something to alleviate it - say, the surgeons at the military hospital where the photograph was taken - or those who could learn from it.” (Regarding the Pain 37-38) (5) The point that she wishes to expound is that only those who can liberate the subjects from their suffering have the right to be witnesses or audience of their plight as depicted in any visual art form. In relation to the answer to her opening question, she maintains that the only individuals who can appreciate fully the meaning of images of people in pain are those who do not just watch passively but who would raise protest over it and, in fact, will put such protest in liberating action. (2) It is clear that the intentions of the artists who produce works with human suffering as the central theme are to rouse people about its existence, to excite them with gravity of the issue, and to make them sympathize with the victims. Unless these three are met, the next intention, which refers to the role that the viewer must play, cannot be achieved. This is when the viewer is moved into action, to seek ways of freeing people from their pains. This is what Sontag means when she wrote that “the ghoulish cruelties in The Disasters of War are meant to awaken, shock, wound the viewer.” (Regarding the Pain 40) (3) As mentioned previously, the role of the viewer is no longer to just appreciate the aesthetics employed or even to comprehend the message of the visual art. The role of the viewer is to seek ways in liberating the sufferer. (4) The main difference between invented horror and real horror lies in the means in which such suffering or pain is captured and presented. A painting can most likely fall under the category of invented horror. However, this depends much on the reality on which the painting is based. Therefore, as long as it captures real events of real people in torment, these may still be considered as real horror. Cameras, on the other hand, may be able to capture what is actually real. Nevertheless, these can still be used to produce a certain slant or bias depending on the angles or frames taken. Sontag pointed out that “it always the image that someone chose; to photograph is to frame, and to frame is to exclude.” (Regarding the Pain 41) Therefore, a photographer may have in his hands the means to capture what is real but he may also take a certain angle to deny other aspects of reality. In effect, he creates his own fictitious version of real horrors. (6) Sontag thinks that the effective representation of war is the image of destruction and death. Because of this, photographs of men in uniforms fighting or having short moments of fun while on break from the fronts do not provide the real picture of what a war really is. Despite the taboo on pictures that can violate the sensibilities of others, Sontag claims that “in the name of realism, one was permitted - required - to show unpleasant, hard facts.” (Regarding the Pain 47) (7) The caption can produce its own effects that can either improve the visual message of a photograph or can place entirely new meanings. This would make the photograph subject to the comprehension of the printed caption by the viewer. Sontag mentions about Fenton’s photograph on the Crimean War. With its caption “the Valley of the Shadow of Death”, she explains that “Fenton’s memorial photograph is a portrait of absence, of death without the dead.” (Regarding the Pain 45) Entry on the The Time We Killed by Jennifer Reeves The Time We Killed excerpt seemingly described the pain suffered by the animals in a rapidly modernizing world that threatens their natural habitat and existence. The first scenes showed birds perched on TV antennas, while being shot with a smaller frame of black. In this regard, Sontag’s idea of framing to exclude is applied. This utterly represents how the animals experience less freedom as they try to survive in a strange urban set-up. As the film progresses a poem is read while the previous sounds of birds are no longer heard. The poem narrates how the animals desire to be freed from the intrusion of men in forests, their natural habitat. This intrusion has disturbed the usual peace and serenity that are conducive for their reproduction. With man’s activities, the animals no longer find the comfort necessary for procreation. Entry on Brutalitat in Stein by Alexander Kluge Brutalitat in Stein is a film critical of the policies of Nazi Germany. Although it does not use any actor in depicting the criticism, Alexander Kluge’s shots of the Nazi buildings accompanied with sound and narration relays its message to the viewer. This piece is composed of four parts. The first showed the Nuremberg rally site and buildings accompanied by the sound of the rally itself, in which Hitler and the Nazis rose to power. The second part which showed the dark of halls of a Nazi building was accompanied by an Auschwitz commander’s narration of how the mass killings of the Jews were done. The third part was on the construction of buildings and the reconstruction of Berlin as envisioned by Nazi leaders and by Hitler himself. The fourth was, ironically, on Hitler’s instruction to build shelters for bombed out citizens and later footages of the destroyed building. The sound all while played a major part in making the narrative effective. On the first part, on orchestra plays marching music along with people saluting the Nazis and Hitler. While Hitler is shown drawing plans for buildings, the sound contradictorily that of explosions, denoting that while construction is being carried out, bombings are also taking place. Kluge’s anti-Nazi position may not be explicitly seen in the film alone but the narration makes it easier to comprehend. Entry on An Experiment in Love by Alexander Kluge The film does not employ so many human characters. Instead, it uses big bold print characters flashing on the screen in order to narrate the story. In An Experiment of Love, visual representation of such pain and suffering may not be as explicit. However, its lack of graphic explicitness is precisely why its implicit message is easier to discern. The first part of the film is about the medical experiments that took place in Auschwitz regarding mass sterilization. The second was on the experiment to find out about the prolonged effects of x-ray to the reproductive organs. The third part narrated who the test subjects are and what are their backgrounds. The fourth part is on the experiment’s failure, which resulted in the shooting of the subjects. Kluge, at first, made use of heavy metal music for the part when the experiment is explained. This must be to awaken the viewer at the issue. In the second and third parts, the sound employed is disco-techno music to add suspense why the experiment is being carried out. In the fourth, the sound is orchestra instrumental, which played up to emphasize the failure and to build up the suspense towards the death of the subjects. As Kluge continually developed his craft in making films, many of his themes often revolve around his ideological and political beliefs. With the Frankfurt School as most influential in this regard, Kluge’s scathing criticisms of certain aspects in modern societies are often tainted with humanist perspectives and, in some cases, with neo-Marxist undertones. An Experiment of Love was made at a time when there was a resurgence of neo-Nazi organizations and movements in Germany. Entry on Guitar Drag by Christian Marclay Guitar Drag shows nothing most of the time but of an electric guitar being dragged by a pick-up truck. The guitar is dragged through all sorts of roads, from dirt road to asphalt pavements. Consequently, the guitar ends up heavily damaged at the end of the film. Although, the guitar is not a living object, one would probably feel no mercy when it gets damaged. Guitars being thrown in the air or smashed during concerts actually do not get as much attention as to act and the artist doing it. However, a guitar being dragged and gradually getting damaged makes the viewer imagine if a person takes the place of the guitar. The slow death and the entire torment would surely be horrible to look at. Susan Sontag wrote that “there is satisfaction in being able to look at the image without flinching… there is pleasure in flinching.” (Sontag 37) I indeed flinched while watching the guitar’s suffering because he tries to personify the object. In this regard, there are moments when I, as the viewer, sense the urge to untie the guitar and free it from its pain. In this regard, I consider Sontag’s notion that “the only people with the right to look at images of suffering of this extreme order are those who could do something to alleviate it” as valid and true. (Sontag 37) Work Cited Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. London. UK: Hamish Hamilton, 2003. Read More