Protest_of_War_in_Media

War is protested against in many different forms of media. Some of the most powerful and effective forms of media are song and image. In our oral we will talk about the war that war is protested against in the song ‘not in my name’ by John McChutcheon, and the image of civilians putting flowers in the guns of soldiers. This image shows a group of protesters being surrounded by soldiers. Almost in the centre of the image a man is placing a flower into the hole of a gun. The subject confronts the camera, it can be easily seen and the main meaning is obvious “ peace not war”. The people on the right side are definitely resisting, soldiers are pointing guns at them and they are standing their grounds, and even brave enough to place flowers in the holes of the gun. No face can be seen only chins and often cheeks. The soldiers are hidden under their helmets and the Protestants under their hair. The face of the man in the middle that can be partly seen, his jaw clenched and his eyes staring into the gun shows that he and his supporters are not giving up. The subjects gaze and the definite separation of the ordinary people and the military men suggests that there is tension between these two groups… This photo was taken at a high view point, looking over the scene of people. The subject matter or the focal point which I believe to be the hand that is inserting the flower is framed by the use of space. Everywhere on the image but the flower is crowded with people, therefore the eyes look to the only place that is not crowded. The photo was taken in black and white, there is nothing compositionality confronting about the colour. I believe that the photographers view agrees with those people on the right of the image, and so do I, therefore my gaze of the picture seems to overlap with the photographer’s gaze. The camera does not give a sense of communication and intimacy between the viewer and the subjects. The viewer feels as though they are also looking over this scene, only watching it not being involved in it. The flower represents peace while the gun represents war. Inserting the flower in the gun shows that peace is not earned by violence. There is no colour in this image only tone. The men dressed in army clothes are noticeably darker than the other people. This suggests that they have bad intentions while vice versa for the others. The image doesn’t have a caption, but it does have a story. It’s a story of civilians trying to stop the shooting in a peaceful way. By putting flowers in the ends of the soldiers guns. Putting flowers in the guns isn’t going to prevent them from being fired in any way, because the flowers are so much smaller and weaker than the gun and its bullets. Although the guns could destroy the flowers easily they probably wouldn’t because they are so symbolic of peace and innocence. The subjects gazes are at each other as their ideas clash, and it a confrontation of their clashing ideas of peace and war.