Activity p. 132

THE TERROR OF WAR

Huynh Cong Ut

“THE COMMITMENT OF THE AP REPORTERS WAS TO THE TRUTH OF THE WAR ITSELF.” -PETE HAMILL

Where did the visual first appear? Who is the audience? Who is the speaker? Does this person have political or organizational affiliations that are important to understanding the text?

Huynh Cong Ut’s photograph, The Terror of War, first appeared in 1972 during the Vietnam War. It was widely reproduced in the United States and is said to have played a substantial role in the movement to end the war. Ut has works as a photographer for The Associated Press, an American multinational non-profit news agency. His affiliation with this agency sheds light on his motivations for taking a photograph that exposed the horrors of the war. In 1972, The Associated Press was committed to uncovering the truth about the real war in Vietnam and gathered a group of photojournalists to execute this mission.

What do you notice first? Where is your eye drawn? What is your overall impression?

The first thing I notice is the naked little girl in the picture who seems to be screaming due to the unbearable pain and heart-stopping fear she is experiencing. The agony on her face contorts her features in a horrifying way that makes me stirs my insides and makes me feel revulsion for that ugliness of warfare. My overall impression is that there is so much more to war than people like me, who have not seen its terrors, realize. It’s one thing to read about the injured in a newspaper. It’s a completely other thing to see people running for their lives, struck with naked fear. Also, the children in the photograph are so innocent that it breaks my heart so see them as some of the victims of mechanized warfare.

What topic does the visual address or raise? Does the visual make a claim about the topic?

The visual shouts out against the Vietnam War, condemning its deceptive motives and its marring consequences on an entire nation and its people. It exposes the ugly truth of the war – its murder of innocent children – in order to call for its end. It makes a claim of value that the war is purely wrong and calls for its end.

Does the text tell or suggest a narrative or story? If so, what is the point?

The photograph tells a story about Vietnamese children fleeing a napalm attack in Vietnam. The story reinforces the purpose of the text – to denounce the war. It also uses it to connect with viewers more easily by depicting raw emotion in order to elicit raw emotional responses from viewers. The narrative behind the picture compels viewers to place themselves in the circumstance of the children – to empathize with them – in order to truly understand the horrendous nature of the war.

What emotions does the visual text evoke? How do color light and shadow contribute to evoking emotions?

This photograph evokes three distinct emotions: horror, fury, and compassion. When people see this image, they are primarily horrified by how these innocent children are being terrorized by warfare and destruction. They are then inclined to feel furious towards the governments who were responsible for starting and continuing a war with such merciless crimes against humanity. Finally people feel compassion as their hearts reach out to those helpless children and become filled with an urge to bring them hope. The photograph is in black and white, which gives it an ominous tone, emphasizing that the ugliness of the war is not something joyful and filled with color. It is a bleak, dark, and reprehensible part of human history and the lack of color makes it clear that this is not something that should lift the soul.

Are the figures realistic, caricatures, distorted? What is the effect?

The figures in this photograph are realistic, which mirrors its purpose to expose the realities of the Vietnam War. It does not use cartoons or distorted images to create a comical or exaggerated effect. Rather it exposes the truth of the war, serving as a snapshot of a very real situation. The photograph essentially tells viewers, “What you see is what you get,” with no attempt to sugarcoat the blunt truth or to mislead viewers into thinking it is less serious than it actually is.

Are any of the images visual allusions that would evoke emotions or memories in viewers?

The photograph features three fundamental things: (1) helpless and scared children, (2) soldiers, and (3) fumes. These three aspects could make different allusions for different people. For viewers who have witnessed warfare or experienced its brutal consequences, the horror in the children’s face could remind them of how they felt when they heard the explosion of bombs falling on the ground, when they struggled to breathe as fumes invaded their lungs, or when they observed the soldiers from afar preparing their weapons to retaliate. For viewers who have seen scenes of war on television or through other forms of media, the sight of the children, the soldiers, and the smoke could remind them of other wars that broke their hearts or made them question their government’s ruthlessness. For viewers who have experienced other types of disasters – like the bombing of the World Trade Center, for instance – the scared expression on the children’s faces could remind them of fear they witnessed on other people’s faces after a disaster. The fumes could remind them of the bombs that fell so unexpectedly and wreaked havoc all around them.

What cultural values are viewers likely to bring to the images?

Viewers are likely to associate cultural values of justice and humanity to the photograph. In terrorizing innocent people, especially children, the Vietnam War was a blatant demonstration of the injustice that exists in the world and of the inhumanity with which different countries in the global community class in order to “resolve” their differences. The photograph brings about a bitter aftertaste of disgust as people abhor war fare and would prefer to see their governments deal with their issues in a more diplomatic fashion that brings about the mutual construction as opposed to destruction of their people and their countries.

What claim does the visual make about the issue(s) it addresses?

The Terror of War argues that warfare does not bring about peace, but rather destroys the prospect of peace while bringing the human race closer and closer to self-destruction. The governments who approve and fund wars drown countries and their people in terrorizing circumstances of inhumanity, death, and deep-rooted destruction. It has no benefits and only proves the extent to which larger, more powerful countries are able to bully smaller nations into submission. More importantly, it calls for the end of the Vietnam War by exposing the ugly truths that make ending it critical and necessary.