Censorship in Nora Ephron’s The Boston Photographs Essay

For this essay the works of Robert Draper, author of “Why Photos Matter,” and Fred Ritchen, author of “Photography Changes the Way News is Reported,” will be analyzed. Though both deal with the topic of photography, their take on the matter is very different. While Ritchen is a photographer who writes on “what professional photographers will be doing in the future,” Draper is a writer for the National Geographic writing on how the photographers of the magazine share “a hunger for the unknown.” Both writers, however, write on the topic of photographers having a deeper understanding of their subjects, Ritchen due to research and practice, and Draper because the photographers “sit [with] their subjects, just listening to them.” In both essays the need for a deeper understanding of the

In her words, the controversy came a few weeks later, when “a pseudonymous photo blogger – a banker by day – discovered the work online and wrote that I should be ‘arrested and charged with child abuse’ for my techniques” [1]. While these sorts of claims often come from emotional origins, and the blogger was likely very concerned about the wellbeing of the children in Greenberg’s photos, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of child abuse and the accusation seems entirely unsubstantiated. On the phone with Paper Mag, Greenberg said “It was really hurtful and upsetting…People want to explain why the images make them feel something, and they assume that feeling is bad” [2]. To me, Greenberg seems to believe that critics felt the emotion in the image but were unable to tie the emotion to her political

Before starting this project, I knew very little about photography, photographers, or exactly how much impact photographical images have had on our society. I have never taken a photography class, or researched too in depth about specific pictures or photographers. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the world of photography in order to understand just how much influence pictures can have over society’s beliefs, emotions, and understandings’. I have have chosen two highly influential photographers, Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, who I have found to both resonate with me and perfectly capture human emotions in way that moves others.

This was a famous photograph by Diane Arbus which created much controversy in the 60’s. These photos even today still have the power to cause disturbances in different viewers and create controversy amongst the media. Her relationship to her subject has always been the biggest question amongst all critiques. As compelling and hard to resolve as it is, the greatness of the photo should not be dismissed. As Lawrence Frascella asks in “Photographer Diane Arbus: A Slow Motion Analysis”; “are her photographs examples of exploitation?

Judy Blume talks about the problems with censorship in her article, “Censorship: A Personal View”. Blume speaks of the troubles she has gone through due to the extreme censorship from teachers, administrators, and parents. Blume also speaks of all the importance that was banned along with these books. Many books have material that is “questionable” to certain viewers.

The violent markings of the photo album and its images, however, produce an equally powerful message that jars the memory as it disrupts and distorts the photographic chronicle of her life and that of her family and friends. The result is a complex visual experience that addresses the use of images in producing knowledge and making history.

By starting the volume with Evans’s photographs, and then labeling the text that follows “Book Two,” the reader realizes that the photographs were supposed to be “read” as closely as text. Perhaps that is what the authors wanted to their readers to do – to look over the photographs, read the text, and then go back and review the photographs and make connections between the two. However, this demands much more of a reader than a regular photo essay. Mitchell states that the odd format “resists the straightforward collaboration of photo and text.” He attempts to explain the separation between the images and the text by labeling it “an ethical strategy, a way of preventing easy access to the world they represent.”

When I first heard the word censorship, I did not know what to think really. Censorship to me was like R-rated movies, limitations in school and certain government rules. I knew that censorship had a negative meaning behind it and that its popularly practiced in other countries. When I looked more into censorship, I had no clue how much of our world actually provoked it as well. I began looking into the definition of censorship and a light bulb went off in my head! I realized that in high school, I learned about the censorship of journalism in America. With that and the help of our professors writing outline, I was able to begin the idea process of this essay. This essay allowed me to push my limits as a writer and make my writing even better!

Federal Law states that freedom of press cannot be taken away from you. Thomas Jefferson states in 1786, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” A speech delivered by Erskine Halls on June 5th 1931, “….the U.S supreme court overruled the lower courts’ decisions, recognizing the gag law for what it actually is: Censorship.”

In New York Times journalist Susan Jacoby's essay, "A First Amendment Junkie," Susan Jacoby makes an argument against the censorship of pornography. She mentions at the beginning of her essay that the majority of those who support censoring pornography are women, often feminists, and that these women generally consider themselves supporters of the First Amendment. Those who would usually support free speech, but will change their minds when it comes to pornography, are certain that pornography is more damaging than other controversial expressions. Jacoby finds it rather ridiculous that these feminists hold the belief that pornography is the most offensive example of free speech, when neo-Nazis are marching through neighborhoods inhabited by

The photographer of this photograph was working with the Federal Government when she came across a mother trying to live during the hard times of The Great Depression. This mother, who’s name is unknown, was living in a migrant camp with her children. The family was dealing with many hardships like famine and inequality along with many others during that period. This image has caused controversy ever since it was published and reproduced. Some say Lange lacked compassion of the mothers feelings when it was published and brought forth. Overall, the image helped in an enormous way by bringing awareness to the struggles of poverty and starvation to this

A man standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, a second plane crashing into the World Trade center, a group of soldiers raising the American flag at Iwo Jima, all have one thing in common, they are all recognizable images captured in time through photography. Photography has challenged what was achievable numerous times, and now it is one of the greatest influential mediums of the modern society. Photography has advanced tremendously over time. At the beginning a person needed to stay still for several minutes for a colorless black and white image. Moving was never allowed permitted, for it would distort the image and result in it bury. Eventually, it would advance so that with only one flash, a person could see an image of that time. But still, it was black and white and, if a person moved, the image would come out blurry. Over time, the fluidity of what a camera can do and can now accomplish, have changed. This is tantamount to how challenges to uprooting the traditional the roles of women have led to changes and advancements in modern time. Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play, A Doll’s House, leads the reader to challenge if and or how to challenge societal gender roles in society.

Introduction: The introduction states the position that Greenberg's use of photography is ethical. It is said clearly and succinctly. The writer gives good background information on Greenberg and explains why she has started to become the center of this controversy.

Pictures displaying nudity of any kind are offensive to some viewers and readers. This becomes a difficult ethical decision for media practitioners.

Things are heating up in America. People are protesting outside of the movie theaters, concerts, and book and record stores of this great nation everywhere. What is all the fuss about? Censorship, Government officials and raving mad protesters alike have been trying to stop the expressive creativity in everything from Marilyn Manson to Mark Twain. One of the biggest shake-ups happened in museums all over the world recently that would have made Michelangelo and DiVinchi’s hair stand on end. In the Constitution of the United States, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, religion, press, the right to assemble and to petition the government; the Ninth Amendment says, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights,