redue-Kissing the War Goodbye; Iconic Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-J_Day_in_Times_Square

Kissing the war goodbye photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt is a symbolic image of a young sailor kissing a woman in a white dress on August 14, 1945. It was taken on V-J day, which was near the date of when the formal signing of surrender was completed. This picture is represented as an iconic image because it represented as a symbol of love, peace, and happiness that has been recreated over and over.

            As for the golden rule or mean, some say it is just a number, just like they would say about a picture but there is more to a picture and more to just a number. Even if just a number or picture, to others it can mean much more, as quoted, “life is irrational and yet beautiful; complex yet apparently orderly. And some of the works of man can take my breath away”( http://www.thegoldenmean.com/why.html). What the golden rule is, is a mathematical concept that expresses “the relationship of two parts of a while with each other and with the whole”. Where this number comes across as an abstract and irrational number, many iconic pictures represent similar attributes. The golden mean relates to the world of photography because it is stating a “singularly pleasing visual balance.” Within this photograph Eisenstaedt took, some may see it just as two young people kissing but to others there is a story and a war behind it. In fact many people believe that the sailor didn’t even know the nurse he was kissing but the atmosphere and the current mood at that time didn’t matter because he was “kissing the war goodbye”, he was saying goodbye to pain, loss, battles, and hello to blissful happiness.

            Now by applying the 6 ethical perspectives to a photograph, such as the example I provided above, the image through personal, historical, technical, ethical, cultural, and critical, “these perspectives will encourage you to base conclusions about the images on rational rather than emotional responses” (http://www.comm165.ecommhawks.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/lester-6Perspectives.pdf). Each one of these perspectives looks at how we understand the image and how it represents more than what our eyes see. These perspectives involve our own personal reaction, the analysis of the symbols, the moral and ethical responsibilities “that the producer, the subject, and the viewer have of the work”, the relationship between colors in the images, elements based on the medium’s time line, and any “reaction to the work based on subjective opinions.

            One perspective I will further investigate is the ethical perspective and within this perspective there are elements that explain this perspective, almost as if a guideline. This perspective focuses on how we analyze a picture, while looking at the categorical imperative, utilitarianism, veil of ignorance, and hedonism. When Paul Martin Lester discusses categorical imperative, he describes it as “right is right and must be done even under the most extreme conditions”. When he states that, I quickly think back to when we were discussing the picture of the men holding the flag near the 9/11 wreckage because to get the same iconic feeling as the old one, the photographer ultimately had to get the same scene consisting of the same angle, light, position, and height. This is a sense of consistently and without it, the picture would be completely different and not possess any iconic qualities. Next guideline would be utilitarianism, which is the idea of portraying the truth in a photo to help others. Kissing the War Goodbye stated many hardships but the photographer wanted to capture the truth. Lastly, Veil of Ignorance can “become much more aware of meanings and motives that may lie hidden below the surface of any image.

            Furthermore, iconic pictures can be seen as one thing but mean another. They represent hardship, love, culture, and much more. From back in the day they have continued to be duplicated to symbolize similar qualities.  

Lester, Paul. Visual Communication; Images with Messages. http://www.comm165.ecommhawks.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/lester-6Perspectives.pdf

The Golden Mean. http://www.thegoldenmean.com/why.html