Susan Sontag's "America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly" seems to depict a small snippet of photograghy's history, especially in regards to "Whitmanesque" (105) photograghs. Yet, the article seems to really be about Diane Arbus and how her pictures, depicted something deep within herself but also displayed many similar feelings of many Americans at that times. It comes off as though Arbus' rich and privileged life really led to some sort of a revolt within herself, that led to her "Turn against what was public, conventional, safe and reassuring-and boring- in favor of what was private, hidden, ugly, dangerous, and fascinating" (113). She, along with many other Americans, felt as though her life thus far had been protected by her well-off, white family and that it was her time to really look at the world as it is. This ties back to her style of "Whitmanesque" pictures which depict everyone equal because of the fact that everyone is constantly changing. She now looked upon the ugly and grotesque as exciting and rare because of her sheltered childhood.
Also, Sontag makes it quite obvious that Arbus purposely chooses her strange characters and her settings in such a way that it draws in the viewer. The fact that she uses such alien people for her photographs but places them in such a light where there miserable lives are hard to be seen, causes the viewer to be slightly puzzled and therefore more curious. The picture above illustrates this perfectly in that such an unusual person seems to be surprisingly joyful, yet many Americans would think this little-person would be displaying a sorrowful gaze. It is clear at the end of the article that Sontag seems to be totally pro-Arbus' unique photography style and can appear that she wishes more artists were "against-the-norm" like Diane Arbus.
After reviewing my post, it was much more evident to me that my post was actually about how Arbus was being able to emotionally connect to her viewers with such stragne-looking characters in her photographs. I also noticed that Arbus really seemd to establish her crebibility and legitimacy through the very close-up and intimate photos of such unique people. Looking back now, after the class discussions, I can finally verbalize the two methods that Arbus is really using to make her point: pathos and ethos.
ReplyDeleteInitially I was very uninterested in Arbus' photographs. But after truly understanding her work and her passion, I now really like her photographs. It is quite uncommon to actually want to photograph such unique and disturbing people, and so my curiosity is greatly enhanced because of this. It was also interesting learning about how she actually went about capturing such powerful images. I would never have thought that Arbus being so privileged as a child, would lead to such interesting work as an adult.
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