Icons of war photography : how war photographs are reinforced in collective memory : a study of three historical reference images of war and conflict

[摘要] There are certain images of war that are horrific, frightening and at the same time, dueto an outstanding compositional structure, they are fascinating and do not allow its observersto keep their distance. This thesis examines three images of war that have often beendescribed as icons of war photography. The images 'children fleeing a napalm strike by NickUt, 'the falling soldier by Robert Capa and Sam Nzima's photograph of Hector Pieterson arehistorical reference images that came to represent the wars and conflicts in which they weretaken. It has been examined that a number of different factors have an impact on a warphotograph's awareness level and its potential to commit itself to what is referred to ascollective consciousness. Such factors are the aesthetical composition and outstanding formalelements in connection with the exact moment the photograph was taken, ethical implicationsor the forcefulness of the event itself.As it has been examined in this thesis, the three photographs have achieved iconicstatus due to different circumstances and criteria and they can be described as historicalreference images representing the specific wars or conflicts. In this thesis an empirical studywas conducted, questioning 660 students from Spain, South Africa and Vietnam about theirawareness level regarding the three selected photographs. While the awareness level of theSpanish and the South African image was rather high in the countries of origin, they did notachieve such a high international awareness level as the Vietnamese photograph by Nick Ut,which turned out to be exceptionally well-known by all students questioned. Overall, findingssuggest that the three selected icons of war photography have been anchored in collectivememory.Ut, Robert Capa, Sam Nzima, semiotics,Spanish Civil War, the falling soldier, Vietnam War

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University