Mass Photography in the Mass Media and its Impact on the Masses

Throughout modern day history, there are a few images that stand out in our minds as iconic. These images stand out to use because of their political stance and what the picture is actually trying to portray. There’s a saying that pictures are worth a thousand words; but some pictures are worth much, much more. Examples of this would be “The Afghan Girl”, photographed Steve McGurry for The National Geographic magazine in 1985 or the picture taken in the Security Room of the White House while Osama Bin Laden was found. These pictures have been imprinted into the minds of many, but it’s their deepest meaning that gives them more value.

            The woman in the picture entitled “Afghan Girl”, Sharbat Gula, lived in a Refugee Camp in Pakistan when the picture was in 1985. Sharbat was 12 years old at the time of the picture. She was placed with her family in that Refugee camp during a war, and the dirt on her face and the holey rags she is wearing in the picture really show that. But the reason this photograph has become world-renowned is because of her eyes. They are a bright green that almost scarily pop out at you. Your eyes are naturally drawn to them, and similar to the Mona Lisa by Vincent Van Gogh, you make eye contact with the photograph no matter what angel you look at it. Sharbat Gula is a beautiful girl in this picture, but you can see that she does not have great living conditions. You can also see from the facial expression that she is scared, nervous and intimidated. This picture was able to add personality to the political issues in Pakistan. People were drawn to that edition of National Geographic because of this iconic photo, and they wanted to learn more about this girl. People began to have sympathy for the issue in Pakistan, and this picture will go down in history.

            If you type “Afghan Girl” into Google images, you will come across many replicas of this picture. From completely different women, to paintings, to toys, the replicas are endless. And it is this type of reproduction that Benjamin believes takes away the aura of the art-work. The beauty is lessened by this mass reproduction.

            Another picture that comes to mind when thinking about iconic photos is the photo of President Obama with his National Security team inside the Situation Room in the White House. The photo was “taken during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, immediately became a photographic “icon”. It drew 1.6 million views in 38 hours on Flickr — making it one of the website’s most popular photos ever” (Iconic Photos). Just by looking at the stoic faces of every person in that room, you can see why this moment changed history. President Obama has an almost crazed look on his face. There are not many pictures of Osama and what happened that night, but this picture explains in all. This picture will be forever remembered as iconic because of the emotion is catches and the importance of the moment behind it; this picture went viral for a reason.

            There are many pictures that we can think of that stand out in our minds. The media has a way of enchanting the public with images, by mass producing and replicating.  But this replication also takes away from the aura of the art. One picture can change the way the world looks at a situation. One picture can leave an imprint in one’s mind. And one picture can become the symbol of an era.

A Bird’s Eye View of the Pelican Brief

Pelican Brief was released in theatres on December 17, 1993, grossing $195,000,000 worldwide.  Alan J. Pakula, who is also known for Sophie’s Choice and All The President’s Men, directed the movie. Alan J. Pakula based The Pelican Brief on the novel by John Grisham. The movie was nominated at the1994 MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Male, and it won the ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films in 1994. This jam-packed, 141-minute thriller starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington will keep any viewer on the edge of their seat. Just make sure you pay attention!

The Pelican Brief starts off by showing the assassination of two Supreme Court Judges. This assassination angered the entire nation, including a young aspiring lawyer by the name of Darby Shaw, played by Julia Roberts. This character is a 23 year-old law student at Tulane University. Darby is actually having an affair with one of the law Professors at Tulane, Thomas Callahan, played by Sam Shepard. When news venues are buzzing about the assassinations, Darby decided it was worth investigating. She speaks with her lover Thomas about the connection these two judges may have to each other. Thomas points out that they did not agree on many cases and that it would be incredibly difficult to find a substantial connection. The news was making it out to seem like these two assassinations may not have been correlated. However, Darby relentlessly researched until she found the tie, and once she did, there was no stopping the aftermath.

The audience will spend about half of the movie wondering about the connection that Darby discovered and why she entitled it “The Pelican Brief”. I sat there wondering what birds could possibly have to do with the assassination of two Supreme Court judges. Thomas passes on the brief by Darby to his friends in the FBI, and it eventually gets into the hands of the President of the United States. Although you don’t yet know what “The Pelican Brief” is, you are told that it is far fetched. In fact, the FBI did not even take it seriously in the beginning because it was such a conspiracy. But as the main characters are put in more and more danger, the brief gains more and more credibility.  

For the remainder of the movie, Darby stopped at nothing to see if this theory was true or fallacy. As Darby’s life became more and more dangerous, she did not know whom to turn to. She decided to turn to a news reporter that works for the Washington Herald. Gray Grantham, played by Denzel Washington, did not originally trust Darby Shaw either, but once he realized the truth behind her statements, he joined her for an amazing journey.

Given that stating the conspiracy theory itself would ruin the movie for any newcomer, it will remain secret. I can tell you, however, that I, along with millions of other moviegoers experienced an “AHA!” moment, when it all tied together. I really enjoyed how they broke the secret to the audience, while still leaving some information for the audience to figure out themselves.

The genre that The Pelican Brief categorizes with is drama, due to its twist-filled plot. It is rather typical in containing protagonists, Darby and Grey, and antagonists, the government conspirators. Having sectors of the government on the negative side really draws in an audience. In real life, we are told to believe that the government always has its people positively at the epicenter of its rulings. And although there have been history-making scandals in the United States, such as Watergate, we would still like to believe that the men in our government have the correct moral. Due to the audience's intrigue growing by the antagonist, the plot appeals more to the general public. We all hope for stories like The Pelican Brief to be completely fictional, but unfortunately, this has not always been the case.

Another interesting fact that I believe led to its box office success was its depiction of real life people and reality in general. The movie progressed at a pace that many audience members would say appeared realistic. It gets many thinking about if events like this are really occur more often than we realize. Plus, Darby, Thomas and Gray, for example, appeared so average in demeanor. Darby was also a character that many audience members could look up to. She had an idea that many became incredulous about, but she did not let that stop her. She believed in her hard work, and it was her determination and strife that made her admirable. Gray also had very similar traits. And it was their attitude, yearn and angst for the truth that gives the audience hope.

But I must warn you, if you don’t like conspiracy theories, you may not enjoy The Pelican Brief. This movie enthralls the thrill and suspense of uncovering the truth, while keeping the audience enticed. So if you are the sort of person that you rather sit back and relax, as opposed to being on the edge of your seat, The Pelican Brief may not be for you.

My basis for recommending this movie is based on more than the aesthetic beauty of the characters. The plot is filled with realistic twists and action, without incorporating too much gore. There are also surprises and periods throughout the movie where the audience is left guessing. When a movie brings out those sorts of emotions, I tend to enjoy it. And as a conspiracy theorist myself, the plot makes you wonder about this events potential. There is definitely a reason that this movie was so successful.

WORKS CITED:

1.     www.imdb.com/pelicanbrief

2.     www.netflix.com/pelicanbrief

Dwarf Tossing Leaves Little Person Paralyzed: Martin Henderson Demands Apology From Rugby Team

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/dwarf-paralyzed-after-bar-tossing_n_1204799.html

The reason I chose this article was because it really caught my attention. The title itself just sticks with you and draws you in. I actually like bizarre news, because it takes some light away from politics, war and fiscal drama, and shines it on the little guy. And in this case, I mean that literally.

This article really amazed me. I can't even fathom where one would come up with the idea to harm innocent people. Its news like this that actually gets a decent amount of attention because of the rarity of the situation. And cases like these make me wonder if people commit acts of stupidity for attention.

How The General Public Views Journalism

            Mark Twain is noted as one of the most prolific writers of the 19^th Century. Although he is most well known for his novels, Twain happened to be a fantastic journalist. His journalistic styles of writing are easy to spot in his novels and short stories. In two of his fictional works, “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once” and “Journalism in Tennessee”, Twain uses both his journalistic style of writing and irony to portray the negative view of journalism throughout the 19^th Century.

            “Journalism in Tennessee” is a fictional short story telling the tale of an editor in Memphis. The story is narrated from the viewpoint of the associate editor. Once the editor is done with his assignment, he goes to talk to his boss. For the remainder of the story, the Editor is having pain inflicted on him from others in the form of gunshots, bricks, and other violence. “Then the chief editor went on with this erasure; and interlineations. Just as he finished them a hand grenade came down the stove-pipe, and the explosion shivered the stove into a thousand fragments. However, it did no further damage, except that a vagrant piece knocked a couple of my teeth out” (Twain, no page). This section depicts a moment where people fight back against the journalists. They blatantly did not like what they had to say or how they said it. The part in which Twain writes, “…it did not further damage, except that a vagrant piece knocked a couple of my teeth out”, proves that journalists are used to the negativity they face. Getting a couple of teeth knocked out would definitely cause major pain; paradoxically Twain did not mention the pain and stated the occurrence very matter-of-factly.

            Twain used many similar instances in a blunt fashion to depict the irony of the situation. These situations were ironic because the journalists were not harming anyone in anyway. They were not threatening to do so, nor did their works call for that response. In fact, the journalists just sat there and allowed all the brutality as if it was nothing by a regular day. The regularity that Twain tries to create out of this situation makes the story incredibly ironic. He almost becomes hackneyed in his descriptions. These journalists were not literally getting beaten and bruised. The injuries and attempts at murder were rather a symbol of all the negativity that the journalists faced; proving the negative connotation that journalists had in the 19^th Century. The use of hyperboles and exaggeration is part of the irony. Twain used this style to make his point stronger and stand out.

Twain describes similar negative views of journalists in his fictional short story entitled “How I Edited An Agricultural Paper Once”. This story also tells the story of an editor who is given an agricultural paper to edit, without knowing anything about agriculture. Twain used a different approach to illustrate the views of journalism. The protagonist’s way of editing the agricultural paper was not only criticized strongly by everyone reading it, it was also viewed as not credible and lacking of useful facts. The words of the real editor prove that: “the reputation of the paper is injured – permanently, I fear (Twain, no page).” This statement, demonstrates the negativity that journalism faces and that there is an importance to uphold a good reputation.

This paper was not literally pertaining to agriculture. The journalist was looked down upon as not being a credible source for an agricultural journal. The agriculture was meaningless to the plot, and seen as ridiculous, similarly to how the readers of that journal would view turnips growing on trees. Twain was using this as irony to show that journalism is only viewed negatively, but also viewed as not credible. “I tell you I have been in the editorial business going on fourteen years, and it is first time I ever heard of a man’s having to know anything in order to edit a newspaper” (Twain, no page). This statement was made to show the lack of credibility that journalists held throughout the 19^th Century.

The above statement also highlights the idea of what criteria one would need to become a journalist. Twain uses irony in both “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once” and “Journalism in Tennessee to emphasis the thought that one did not need much to become a journalist. This, along with the negativity that journalist received, worked together to form the general connotation that journalists had. Journalists did not need a wealth of knowledge to get the job, and in turn, readers did not like the papers they were reading and claimed them to hold no credibility.

            All in all, Mark Twain used his short stories, such as “Journalism in Tennessee” and “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper” to express the viewpoint of the general public on journalism. Journalism has the profession of conveying the truth. This job, however, is often scrutinized by on lookers, so Twain used irony to portray this negativity. Twain also demonstrates the endless cycle of lack of credibility between journalists and the views of journalists, by using irony. Mark Twain wanted to show his readers the pessimism that journalists receive.