The Photograph Of The Tank Man

Within a painting, the watercolors and each discrete stroke of the brush gives each element a diverse connotation. The Parade By Abraham Rattner, was painted in 1969 to illustrate the protests of the Vietnam war that the United States was involved in.This exceptional piece of art work exhibits the warm colors of the crowd and the fiery blazes colored across the skies, highlighting the widespread conflicts the nation had against this horrendous battle. During this time, individuals were protesting against the government’s actions in order to conserve tranquility. This painting captures the scenery that had taken place during these frightful days of war and the disputes happening internationally.

The setting is in Muji, China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The leader of the communist party at the time is Chairman Mao and ruled based on a Marxist model by the story mentioning the concrete statue of him in the center of the square. The author states that “the Cultural Revolution was over already, and recently the Party has been propagating the idea that all citizens were

When it comes to China, they have banned popular websites such as Facebook, Youtube, Google and many more (Denyer). “Google is still blocked in China, and local search engine Baidu has its results heavily censored. But the difference between Baidu searches in Chinese and in English if for the word “Tiananmen,” or the phrase “Tiananmen tank man,” is revealing: The Chinese searches yield no links to the pro-democracy protests in 1989 or the lone man who tried to prevent the tanks; advance into the square-just to the vast square’s virtues as a tourist attraction” (Denyre). If they do search those kewords and “tank man”, “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, some results are not displayed” (Denyer), would show up. China created a firewall and a policy for the internet where they can not go on certain social media and/or search up the Tiananmen tank man because they do not want Chinese citizens to get exposed to the Tiananmen Square massacre (Denyer). Tiananmen Square massacre was where “China’s People’s Liberation Army gun down hundreds of civilians in a brutal crackdown on protests against government corruption, lack of transparency and freedom of speech” (Saul). The word “tank man” came from that one student protester, Wang Weilin (Saul). He was the brave student who stood in front of a line of tanks to stop them from coming (Saul). He stopped the tanks, climbed up and into the cockpit and told

In Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War, the haunting image “Harvest of Death” catches one’s eye with the seemingly endless field of corpses. The jarring facial expression on the figure in the foreground draws one into the narrative of the piece. However, our initial understanding of the image’s narrative is limited to what we can see and what we know of the circumstances surrounding it. While we know it was taken during the American Civil War, by simply looking at the photograph, we cannot know who is depicted. In black and white, it is difficult to even tell what side of the conflict these fallen soldiers fought for. We can interpret the image for our own readings, but we cannot tell what the artist intended us to see or what message he wanted to impart with it. These unknowns, however, are addressed in the related text associated with the image. These short passages can tell us a great deal about the photographer’s intentions and influence the way we read the image. Through the excerpt, we not only learn the intended meaning of the photography, but we also learn about Gardner’s political intentions and the key points he wanted his viewers to note within the image. Published as a pair, Gardner used his text to contextualize his images and inform the way we perceive them. This is clearly illustrated in “A Harvest of Death” and its accompanying passage.

Everyday men and women die in the most brutal way possible away from their family either killed from gun shots or landmines and they do come back. But in caskets, as images like these emphasize the destruction of war and these snaps just show the side effects of humankind's worse anger being shown. In the Article “The Stranger in the Photo Is Me”, Donald M. Murray expresses how harsh it really was in the war and how it changed himself forever and not in a good way. Not to mention, that he describes the way he felt ready to go to war, maybe even excited, but he wishes that horror on no one “I would not wish for a child or grandchild of mine to undergo the blood test of war” as the sacrifice these men and women go through is undeniably tremendous

In the photographs Tank Man by Jeff Widener and Falling Man by Richard Drew there are similarities allowing both of these images to have a powerful impact on the viewer. Even though these photos were taken many years apart and across the world, they leave the viewer wanting a better understanding of the events that occurred when these photos were captured. Many people might have questions wondering why they did what they did. Many people question how the two men in the photographs decided what they did was right . When people view these photos, it is easy to connect them with one another; the emotion, the use of lighting and the simplicity bring the tragedies to life. The similarities between Tank Man and Falling Man connect these two photos by representing the power to viewers, where both of the men chose to take control of their own lives and accept the fate that is upon them.

The arrangement of this photograph is not manipulated which makes its message stronger. Instead, the photograph was captured as the event was happening. This draws attention to the gravity of the impact of these protests. In the article, Preforming Civic Identity: The Iconic Photograph of the Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, there is an emphasis on the importance of this type of arrangement; the description the arrangement of the iconic Iwo Jima photograph is “there is no hint that anyone is preforming for the camera”. The authors go on the explain that the lack of acting in the photograph “the image can become a performance of war as a national event. By fusing a moment of military action with a sense of visual transparency, the photograph creates a truth effect; this is the image through which the meaning of war can be seen” (Robert Hariman, John Louis Lucaites 372). This concept can also explain the power of the ‘Flower Power’ image, and the message

This painting tells a sad story about a general who is willing to die for his citizens. This story also tells a hopeful story about unity between two completely different civilizations.

•Duke, Michael S. Iron House: A Memoir of the Chinese Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Massacre. Layton: Gibbs.Smith, 1990•Liu, Melinda, et al. Beijing Sprin

This shows that Vietnam changes people. The land was so different, and so were the people, which both influenced craziness. The soldiers had to withstand all hardships and mental distractions while fighting for their country.

The apex of Wong’s book is how she displays the emotional overtones in reciting her account of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. She tells of being holed up in a hotel across the street from the square and actually being able to see the violence between the protesting students and citizens, and the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army. When she describes bodies falling from gunshot wounds, people being squashed by tanks, and the bullets ricocheting off their hotel walls, it produces multiple senses of horror, sorrow, and absolute terror. She further hammers this point across by displaying two images taken from the scene (245). The first is of a PLA platoon leader who was beaten, set afire, disemboweled, and to add further insult, positioned so that he would serve as an example of what the proletariats were capable of. The second, was of PLA soldiers examining the destruction of Tiananmen Square after they seized the square. Smoke and debris from the protestors are widely prevalent, and the image was even used in a propaganda brochure for the government.

This image has many important elements. In this image the sunlight is shining on the boy making him brighter in contrast to everything else in the photo. This directs our concentration to his face and the emotion he is presenting. It shows how serious and sad the moment is as well. The image appeals to an audience of all americans in the sense that we all have something invested in war. It may be something as simple as money or more valuable such as family members, friends, and neighbors. The image appeals to emotions and uses somewhat of a shock factor to do so. It also uses

Chiu to “admit you are guilty” (351), a fake crime, the officers wants to be correct to support their god complexity’ to demonstrate the power and control the nation has given them. In the admitting the crime Mr. Chiu would succumbed to the powers of the corrupted police and ideology. The police is trying to prove their authority by disrupting and twisting justice. The regimen that once was seen to be powerful was now just corrupt individuals and systems in the eyes of the party member; Mr. Chiu. The Tiananmen Square massacre was in essence the doubt of the people on the party and fear of corruption that lead student to protest in Beijing, China in 1989; the protest was not taken lightly by the government, who send military personnel to get rid of the protesting students (Szczepanski). This opened the eyes of the author to understand the corruption and repression that the government had, especially the military personnel’s little remorse after the killings of Protestants and common

Images, such as paintings and photographs, are intensely visually striking and evoke strong emotions in those who view them.“Into the Jaws of Death” provides a perfect example of that intensity, having been taken by Robert F. Sargent during the early morning hours of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Even today the famous photograph evokes strong emotional reactions in many people who view it. This photograph served a purpose more significant than was realized at the time, to the point of becoming a pivotal point in support for the war effort. How was this accomplished? By conveying personal themes of heroism, patriotism, and mortality through devices such as angles, colors, uniforms, and proxemics.

The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 sparked a steady stream of political artwork showing scenes of battle and rebellious uprising. Eugene Delacroix’s portrait of Liberty Leading the People, 29 July 1830 reflects the events of the French banded together from varying classes in battle following a bare breasted Liberty. Ernest Meissonier’s painting The Barricade in Rue Mortellerie, Paris, June 1848 is a sad image of a drab Parisian street with dead revolutionaries as a result of social class fighting.