Protest of War in Media

War is protested against in many different forms of media. Some of the most powerful and effective forms of media are song and image. In our oral we will talk about the war that war is protested against in the song ‘not in my name’ by John McChutcheon, and the image of civilians putting flowers in the guns of soldiers.

This image shows a group of protesters being surrounded by soldiers. Almost in the centre of the image a man is placing a flower into the hole of a gun. The subject confronts the camera, it can be easily seen and the main meaning is obvious “ peace not war”. The people on the right side are definitely resisting, soldiers are pointing guns at them and they are standing their grounds, and even brave enough to place flowers in the holes of the gun. No face can be seen only chins and often cheeks. The soldiers are hidden under their helmets and the Protestants under their hair. The face of the man in the middle that can be partly seen, his jaw clenched and his eyes staring into the gun shows that he and his supporters are not giving up. The subjects gaze and the definite separation of the ordinary people and the military men suggests that there is tension between these two groups…

This photo was taken at a high view point, looking over the scene of people. The subject matter or the focal point which I believe to be the hand that is inserting the flower is framed by the use of space. Everywhere on the image but the flower is crowded with people, therefore the eyes look to the only place that is not crowded.   The photo was taken in black and white, there is nothing compositionality confronting about the colour. I believe that the photographers view agrees with those people on the right of the image, and so do I, therefore my gaze of the picture seems to overlap with the photographer’s gaze.   The camera does not give a sense of communication and intimacy between the viewer and the subjects. The viewer feels as though they are also looking over this...