Sontag's Literary Analysis : 'Regarding The Pain Of Others'

Taking a normative standpoint, Silverstone maintains that the media should function as a ‘public space that works for the human condition and not against it’ (2007: 33), a ‘moral space’ that promotes the inclusion and care of the other. This cosmopolitan disposition towards the other, especially in the context of distant suffering, can then become the foundation of transnational solidarity and of the pursuit of justice overall (Silverstone, 2007). Silverstone advocates for the media to adopt specific representational principles that foster this sort of cosmopolitan engagement. In particular, he proposes the notion of ‘proper distance’, a theoretical principle that captures the dialectical coexistence between the ‘common humanity’ of the other and his irreducible difference (Silverstone, 2007). ‘Proper distance’, in other words, identifies the degree of proximity that presents the other as ‘other with humanity’ (Chouliaraki and Orgad, 2011); who deserves the dignity that is to be accorded to all humans but is also unique and implicated in specific geopolitical

Tragedy is a complex word that can be found in the most medial of tasks. Children filling up bottles of water in a refugee camp is horrific but in Africa it’s not that shocking. Susan Sontag’s “double message” (263) from her essay on “Regarding the Pain of Others” is shown in the CNN.com article “U.N. declares famine in Somalia; makes urgent appeal to save lives” due to the known situation of poverty, corruption, and a weak government. In this essay, I will address first the image and its connection to Sontag via censorship, and the shock value of the photograph. I will then address how the article complicates the photograph by deviating from the “double message”. Finally, I will address how both the photograph and the article complicate

Critics of the rise of violence on television today decry the images of murder, rape, abject violence, and even torture to which we are exposed. They reason that as we are subjected to more and more violent images we will necessarily become desensitized to them and even accepting of their place in our society. What then would these modern day critics think of the piles of corpses, body parts, and violent assaults on the human form that littered 16th century English stages performing William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus? Everything old is new again. The trope of violence to convey a message is not a recent invention. It is as old as the problems of society it means to

This bloodshed-saturated culture ridicules the importance of life itself by making into something we laugh at for our own entertainment. When My Bloody Valentine came out last January, I had several friends that went to see it in theaters. Many came back after the movie saying that they laughed throughout the entirety of it and thought it was very funny. A movie in which a man kills twenty-two people is found humorous and people try to say that there is nothing wrong with the amount of violence being shown. Value is robbed from life when someone can kill ten or twenty people in the movie and still be a likeable and fascinated character. People have become calloused to what death and pain really mean. They have taken movies as a removed from reality; however, they are only it is only beginning to effect this world where violence has real consequences.

The enjoyment of violence can be seen throughout theatrical history from Greek tragedies, where it was used as a way to encourage society to obey the gods through scare tactics, to medieval theatre, where it depicted hell to encourage the audience to live a good sinless life, Shakespearian plays, where it was used as a plot element to add to the tragedy, to the Theatre of Cruelty, where Artaud used it for subconscious enlightenment, and now to filmmakers, using it to create action and comedy. Violence has been present since the beginning of theatre. The question is why is the exploitation of violence so popular and furthermore, why do we enjoy watching it so much. One of the reasons suggested by Margaret Ervin Bruder is that it is a “cathartic or dissipating effect ... providing acceptable outlets for anti-social impulses”. Throughout theatre, the aestheticization of violence has become increasingly popular.

The visual created by Nate Londa shows that violent media has negative effects on children and is worsened due to how accessible it is. This visual makes a powerful statement about violent media’s influence on young children since it comes in many different forms and due to the young age at which children begin to feel its effects. The image depicts a child turning on a television and being bombarded by a slew of violent weapons, such as grenades, guns, and swords, as well as a fist, which refers to fighting. It is difficult to tell but the background is varying shades of white circles that grow smaller until they center on the image of the child and the tv. This creative technique draws the viewer’s eyes to the central image. The words “silence

Popular culture 's obsession with morbid subjects is an amazing phenomenon. Each time a brutal crime comes to light or a country is struck by a natural disaster, the media flocks to document every aspect of the incident, trying to understand how or why this could happen. And, without fail, consumers of this media will feel the urge to educate themselves on all of the details. What fuels this fascination for war, gore, and more? Many believe that the interest comes from an existential standpoint—morbid curiosity is often based on empathy, as well as existentialism. People who, for example, view graphic images of a crime scene will often think whether this could happen to them, which sparks an inner acceptance of life 's fragility. Those who indulge in the macabre are generally not deliberately searching for things that will disturb them—rather, they are subconsciously checking how society is responding to the problem. By seeing volunteers help a country recovering from a tsunami, or following the progress of investigators as they work to track down a criminal, people are comforting themselves by seeing that society can still function as a helping community. In addition to viewing the event and its aftermath, the most interesting aspect of a gruesome incident is the factors that led to it. The most prominent examples of this are serial killers. With incredibly complicated psyches, childhood trauma, and a gradual development of violence, these murderers offer a

For centuries, human beings have been draw to the idea of violence, from beheadings to wars, video games to movies, as a species we seem to enjoy witnessing violence. This can be seen throughout theatrical history from Greek tragedies to medieval theatre, Shakespearian plays to Theatre of Cruelty; violence has been present since the beginning of theatre. The question is why is the exploitation of violence so popular and why do we enjoy watching it so much. The obvious reason is that the exploitation of violence is so popular because people enjoy watching it and people enjoy watching it because it is so popular, but there is much more to this than just that catch 22.

The media today is a very powerful tool of communication. It gives real exposure to mass audiences about what is right and wrong. With that comes the horrifying pictures of things such as earthquake aftermaths and disturbing videos such as the killing of Gaddafi. This poses the age-old debate of whether news organizations should publish graphic images, or err on the side of caution and withhold them. It is also questionable as to what is measured as disturbing. In this essay, I will explain what I feel is considered disturbing. I will also explain why we as citizens need to see such images, as well as why some do not.

Once they’re treated from their pain, their smiles cannot be described in words. They looked at food as if it was something coming from another world. “Happiness is the sole end of human action, and the promotion of it the test by which to judge of all human conduct.”(Standford Encyclopedia, Juan Mill, Happiness).It was so tragic, I couldn’t stop my tears from falling. What type of humanity is that? How could terrorism result in all these victims? Why? What is the purpose? Once we could see the happiness in their eyes this is like the feeling of owning entire world by itself.

Human suffering is a topic that has been going on for a long time all around the world but the people from our society tend to ignore it. Human suffering is something that many innocent people go through all around the world, and our society tends to become so numb on the topic that they don 't even care anymore but yet do they know, with them not caring all its doing is making the enemy powerful. It is cruel to go on with your daily lives knowing innocent people are dying out there and our society does nothing. Human suffering has been going around for a long time, many Documentaries, articles and films try to highlight and show the world what 's going on but many people turn their shoulders because of

For centuries ago, violence has been an entertainment success, drawing the greatest capacity of crowds gathering from afar, to see men and women of great strength and skill compete in violence. From the prisoners of war and crime in ancient Rome, collaborated in armor and dwelled with blood-thirsty weapons thrown into the great Coliseum to fight for their lives. As thousands of jubilant peasants and civil men watched, and screamed like barbarians as these beings thrashed and slashed for their own well-being, to live to see their family and friends and to live just one more day. Even now today, our most enjoyable and seen entertainment is of the violent nature. People have begun to watch football and wrestling religiously. As in comparison,

We have seen multiple images where war and catastrophic scenarios become a trend in the social media, news and more. Depending on media’s coverage and trends, people is impacted to a point that they feel touched and sensible to such chaos and then, there is a better incentive to contribute to certain problematic. However, it saddens me that most of us are getting used to seen tragedies in Syria and some other Middle Eastern regions, and, due to misconceptions and uninformed people, society somehow has accepted the poor conditions and hazards that they have been experiencing over the years.

Susan Sontag’s View on Interpretation and its Applications and Analysis Using Bedlam Painting Number Eight

Today’s children view vast amounts of violence on television. A steady diet of death, killings, torture, and other grotesque acts may be viewed on any day by vulnerable youth. When children are young, they are impressionable to all their surroundings, and especially vulnerable to what they see. Scientific