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War Is Hell Research Paper

1427 Words6 Pages

When you think of an iconic american image, you think of a picture that has been molded in the minds of americans, an image you 've seen on posters, in history books, in movies, and in song. Usually the image has history, and has caused an impact on the culture through controversy, or inspiration. The image, “War is Hell” was photographed on June 18th, 1965 by Horst Faas during the Vietnam War. He was an award winning photojournalist for the Associated Press, where the photo was first published. The picture was taken at the beginning of the anti-war movements, several months after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Additionally, this was the very beginning of widespread disillusionment in the United States (Vietnam War Protests). It helped reveal some …show more content…

Besides just the clarity, the fact that the image is so close up adds to its influence on the viewer. There is very little negative space in this image. The soldier himself is cut off so that most of what is taking up is from the neck up. You see the important things: his face and his hat. Again this creates a focus on the humanity of the subject, as well as allows for little distraction from the message the photographer is trying to send. If the image was pulled back to show his whole body, it may have had a different effect on people, as well as the words war is hell, wouldn 't have been so prominent and important, thus leaving the possibility that the image may not have been iconic if positioned any other way. The most eye catching part of this image is his “smile”. Is it a smile? We will probably never know. However, it has a resemblance to the “Mona Lisa” and her smile. She too has this smirk on her face as if taunting the public to interpret the meaning of her painting. Just like in Helmers and Hill’s article, people make connections between past photos or art to try to analyze a different photo, for example their comparison to Franklin’s 9/11 photo and the photo of “Iwo Jima” (Helmers and Hill). They

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