Susan Sontag Essay

In 1972, sociologist Susan Sontag wrote an essay regarding, what she called, ‘The Double Standards of Ageing’. The phrase ‘double standards’ refers to a rule or principle that is unfairly applied to different people. In her essay, Sontag’s 'double standards' refers to older men and women and the inequality that appears to come with ageing, showing how some principles only affects one gender and not the other. There are several different types of double standards regarding older men and women mainly those towards appearance but also including, sexual feeling and class. In this essay, I will be discussing what Sontag’s argument appears to reveal about the relationship between individual agency and wider social structures when it comes to

It is said that “The true content of a photograph is invisible, for it derives from a play not with form but with time”. This makes me think that the real content of a picture, which is what the photographer tried to express, is not evident to perceive unless an explanatory text is provided. In fact, I believe that our perceptions of pictures changes over time as the historical context do. In addition, our opinions are never fixed as they are influenced by our environment. Therefore, when looking at a particular picture at a given time, it is certain that our perception of it will be different in the future based on what happen between the first time and second time we saw it.

According to Gefter, “Truth-telling is the promise of a photograph” (342), where we can witness an authentic moment with our own eyes “while not actually being there”. A photograph reflects not only the divergent issues of the prevailing society, but also serves as both documentation and verification of historic events. But is it a proof of what actually happened in reality? When we see a photograph, we try to judge its veracity by the context in which it

Photography gives you a small sample of reality, but these realities have been changed to what the photographer wants to present. However as Sontag stated, “Of course, photographs fill in the blanks in our mental pictures of the present and the past.” Pictures show proof that all of the history that we learn is true, but although it confirms that, pictures does not show us the entire picture of how people felt about the situation. For example, one might have a picture from WWII and show us the setting, but does that picture really show the feeling of the people? That is why we say that photography only goes as far as to how the photographer wants to show the

Sontag believes that photography limits the understanding of the world however, contrary to this claim, I believe that photography does not limit the understanding of the world, but rather enhances it.

In “Why We Take Pictures,” Susan Sontag discusses the increase use of technology and its ability to impact the daily lives of mankind. Taking pictures is a form of self-evolution that slowly begins to shape past and present experiences into reality. Sontag argues how the use of photography is capable of surpassing our reality by helping us understand the concept of emotion, diversity, and by alleviating anxiety and becoming empowered. Moreover, according to her argument, people are able to construct a bond between the positive or negative moments in life to cognitively release stress through reminiscing. Therefore, Sontag claims that photography itself can help with reshaping individual’s perspectives of reality by being able to empathize with the emotions portrayed through an image. Thus, giving

In "A Woman's Beauty: Put-down or Power Source," Susan Sontag portrays how a woman's beauty has been degraded while being called beautiful and how that conceives their true identity as it seems to portray innocence and honesty while hiding the ugliness of the truth. Over the years, women have being classified as the gentler sex and regarded as the fairer gender. Sontag uses narrative structure to express the conventional attitude, which defines beauty as a concept applied today only to women and their outward appearance. She accomplishes this by using the technique of contrast to distinguish the beauty between men and women and establishing a variation in her essay, by using effective language.

Photography and film are becoming more popular every day with people trying to one up each other and also trying to figure out new and inventive ways to use the camera. In Paul Strand’s essay Photography the New God, he wanted to make his point that photography was assessable to anyone and everyone and that man does all the work not the machine. In Extracts from the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin explains that works of art have always been easily reproduced for profit and how film will be the most powerful instrument when it comes to new forms of art. At one time to reproduce a work of art it was only to be used to practice the artist’s craft.

The photograph is a very powerful medium. The French painter Paul Delaroche exclaimed upon seeing an early photograph “from now on, painting is dead!” (Sayre, 2000). Many critics did not take photography seriously as a legitimate art form until the 20th century. With the

Sontag claims that “photography is, a social rite, but it can also be a defense against anxiety and a tool of power (page 130).” She backs her claim by stating “photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possessions of space in which they are insecure.” (Sontag page 131). In other words, having pictures allows people to tell stories that may not be exactly true. I agree with Sontag because I have witnessed and experienced how pictures can hurt someone emotionally while empowering others.

Susan Sontag, a contemporary renowned American writer and critic, gained good reputation for her exquisite writing skills and incisive human thoughts in different genres contributions. In recent years, the “Sontag Research” has gradually become a hot topic in western and domestic literary studies. “Dr. Jekyll” was an important short story of Sontag, collected in her short story collection I, etcetera, which also aroused wide attention around the world. This paper aims to analyze the similarities and differences between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and “Dr. Jekyll” in the aspects of creation background, character images, narrative skills and theme presentations, in order to obtain further exploration of Sontag’s unique writing skills and profound

Mohammed Alqarni “Desperately Seeking Susan” significantly fits into the conventions of the Hollywood cinema. The plot of the entire movie is profoundly centered on the main characters and popular stars play these. The film however does not provide with a consistent set of cause and effect of relationships. This is the point where the movie seems to be differing from the conventions of the Hollywood style of movie making. The movie however has the romance going on while a separate plot of crime and adventure as well hence this trait of the movie too fits rightly into the conventions of the Hollywood cinema.

Although Sturken and Cartwright claim it is quite easy to fall for the misconception that photographs are “unmediated copies of the real world” (Sturken & Cartwright, 17), this is no longer true, if it ever was. While cumbersome, even before the advent of image editing software, it was possible to modify photographs. Furthermore, in contemporary society, we have completely lost faith in mass media representation; rarely do people expect images to be completely unmodified anymore. This is especially visible in western culture since people are pressured to conform into highly specific aesthetics where even a “natural” look is artificially crafted with makeup and digital filters. Even disregarding direct manipulation to a print through methods such as Photoshop, photographs are manipulated in such obvious ways, it almost seems absurd to point it out. The framing, lighting, and positioning are always adjusted by the photographer. Therefore, people themselves are a type of manipulation; a representative filter through which biases are imbued. In effect, Sturken and Cartwright’s conclusion that all camera-generated images bear an “aura of machine objectivity” (Sturken & Cartwright, 16) stemming from “the … legacy of still-photography” (Sturken & Cartwright, 17) is

To be feminine is to be pretty, sexualized, and passive. “Marked Women” by Deborah Tannen, “Sexism in English: Embodiment and Language” by Alleen Nilsen, and “A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?” by Susan Sontag are three essays that show these negative connotations of femininity. Together, they exemplify that females are “marked” as pretty, sexualized, and passive.

However as the authors stressed, probably more significant than the change in how images are produced, distributed and used, are the ideas to which the changes are giving rise and how digital imaging is challenging and changing traditional ways of seeing and thinking. It seems that our traditional belief that ‘the camera never lies’ has been brought into question. It also appears important to consider who