Visual Analysis

Visual Analysis
Although the statement may be cliche, pictures can represent a thousand words. In the process of visual analysis, the audience uncovers these thousands of meanings within certain pictures to get a more detailed understanding of the images. Visual analysis incorporates methods like comparing and contrasting within different images to determine the underlying ideas represented in each work. Great pictures to use for analyzing visually are images of the Tank Man (one photo that depicts the actual event and the other that is animated). In order to fully comprehend the images of the Tank Man, one should know the history behind it. On June 5th of 1989, the Chinese government physically abused Chinese student protestors at Tiananmen Square. During this violent event, several hundreds of protestors were killed or wounded by the government. In order to stop this, the Tank Man blocked the route of the military tanks – all alone. His identity remains to be a mystery, but by stopping the war tank's tracks, he brought the uprising to an end and stopped the government from further harming students. Even though these two photos depict the same event that occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989, they differ in that the animated version illustrates the true spirits of the tanks and the man.
The two images of the Tank Man show the man standing in front of four massive assault tanks, preventing them from moving any further. The actualized photo delivers an objective tone; it simply shows the actual photo of the Tank Man standing in front of tanks. However, the animated picture conveys a more bitter message; it depicts the tanks as evil-looking creatures, while the Tank Man is represented as a white figure. By symbolizing the monsters as tanks, the illustrator demonstrates bitterness and hatred towards the Chinese government for their immoral and unjust act, while he/she portrays the alone rebel as a pure and clean hero (represented by the color white). By making such...