Has Television Taken Over Photography?

Has Television Taken Over Photography? In the age of television and internet streaming videos, photography is no longer as pervasive a tool of social control as it used to be. Its golden age is now over, since it flourished and died along with the great dictatorships of the 20th Century. In fact, the most eloquent examples of the use of photography as a means to seduce people and annihilate their ability of a critical analysis of reality (in order to submit their will to the goals of a governing elite) can be found in the period between the 1920’s and the 1950’s. It was in such period that the fascist, nazi, and communist propaganda saw in photographers the perfect craftsmen who could transform images, often fake or posed, into messages to convey a particular information about what was going on in their country. In Italy, it was through the pictures taken by anonymous photographers that Benito Mussolini managed to give the people the idea of being part of a great nation, where everybody (intellectuals, sport smen, the Church, the unions, the common men) were proud to demonstrate their faith in the fascist regime[1]. It was through them that he was able to depict the country as a plentiful land, led by a good-hearted man embodying the virtues of the great Roman emperors. Most of those photographers were working for the same institution, the Istituto Luce, a formally independent organism that was actually controlled by the fascist regime. Its purpose was to operate as a modern news agency, but any proof of the disastrous economic and social conditions of many areas of Italy (such as Sicily, Veneto or Sardinia) was withdrew from the press. So, there were no news, if they had to be bad news. Another example of Mussolini’s attempt at distorting reality was the photographic book Italia imperiale (Imperial Italy), published in 1937. The author, Manilo Morgagni, wrote a visual elegy of the virtues of the dictator. In the same period, Adolf Hitler was making a similar use of photography in Germany, especially thanks to the collaboration of Leni Riefenstahl, who later would become one of the most famous artists of the world. The book Schoenheit im Olympischen Kampf (Beauty in the Olympic games), published in 1938, was a collection of her shots of the German youth, taken during the Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936; it was an instrument of Hitler’s propaganda aimed at celebrating the perfect bodily features that only the pure Aryan race could boast[2]. In this way, German population was given an amount of visual messages that confirmed the superiority of their race, so that there was no questioning about the crimes their leader was committing in foreign countries. On the other hand, Hitler wie ihn keiner kennt (The unknown Hitler) was an homage to the Furher from his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, and was completely dedicated to him and his private life. It showed a leader ca ressing children and enjoying mountain resorts, depicting him as father and protector on the nation. In the USSR, Iosif Stalin reduced the avant-garde photographer Aleksandr Rodchenko to a mere instrument to convey the perfection of a state working in the best imaginable way, where every movement was preordained and nothing could go wrong. In fact, the usual subjects of Rodchenko were military parades and public meetings, during which everybody had a specific role to play and a proper place to fit in[3]. Moreover, Stalin made a wide use of photomontage to insert his figure in all the topic moments of the October Revolution of 1917, so that the people were induced to think that it was him who actively participated and fought in the process that led to the creation of a land that was supposedly governed by them. Another famous example of the way photography and its manipulation were used to attain the consent of the people is the picture taken by Yevgeny Khaldei in Berlin on May 2nd, 1945. It is the image of a soldier of the Red Army raising the communist flag on the roof of the Reich stag[4]. Since Khaldei arrived too late, when the action had already been accomplished, he asked a soldier to repeat it in order to fix the moment on film, and give Russian population another proof of the power of their leader. Further east, Mao Tse-tung was acting in the same way, one of his preferred photographers being Li Zenghshen, who took also many shots of the atrocities committed by the regime but hid them until the late Nineties, when he thought it was safe to show them to the public without risking to be prosecuted by the communist regime. The above mentioned examples are taken from the major dictatorships of the past century; nonetheless in the 1930’s the greatest democracy of the world, the USA, had a similar approach to photography, although lacking the militaristic vision of the country that characterised the totalitarian regimes. The American government did not make a wide and evident use of photography to make its citizens agree on its political and financial behaviour, but in some occasions documentary images were used as proofs of the necessity of its decisions. The Farm Security Administration, for instance, was founded in 1935 by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of his New Deal program aimed at rescuing the nation after the great depression of 1929. Its goal was to relieve the rural populations from their poverty and many famous photographers (Russell Lee, Jack Delano, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans among the others) were hired to document their situation, in order to inform about it people li ving in the urban areas. But this project was also meant to provide a visual justification on how and why the government was spending public money, preventing any questioning by the richest part of the population[5]. The best output of this policy was a book compiled by Archibald McLeish, titled Land of the free and published in 1938. In the meanwhile, another way to use photography in order to exert social control was beginning to see the light in the USA. But this one was completely different from the propaganda experienced in Europe, since it was focused on not showing, rather than on showing. It is the case of the 216 nuclear tests held by the Army between 1945 and 1962 (in the desert in the state of Nevada or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean). They were documented by anonymous officials mainly through aerial photography, but the pictures were kept in secret archives till very recently, because the government thought that such experiments might arise doubts in public opinion about nuclear power and the cold war[6]. This attitude quickly developed and expanded to the majority of the nations, prompting governments to prevent their people from looking at what might endanger their consent. A form of undeclared censorship has been watching over photography all the time, and war reporters have been its principal t argets. One of the most recent and outstanding case is the story occurred to a now famous picture taken by Kenneth Jarecke during the first Gulf War (1991). He shot the body of an Iraqi soldier, burnt to a cinder by American bombing while he was retreating with his troop on the Basra road[7]. This picture was published abroad but not in the USA until the war was definitively over, since it might counter the Pentagon’s notion of a technological a war amended of all the atrocities of the previous ones. Nonetheless, nowadays television has taken over the role that was played by photography, and it has become the principal tool to exert social control. Probably, this function is still accomplished by photography only through commercials, but in this case the aim is altering people’s perception of reality in order to influence their needs. The most interesting aspect of this function is that who is sending the message to the public usually does not depict a fake situation as it were real, nor does hide a particular side of it. Most commercials evoke a hypertechnological world or a lost one, like in Marlboro Country’s advertisements, where values and lifestyle are as simple and good as in the good old days[8]. Two opposite worlds that have just one feature in common: they can be reached through the product advertised. This kind of social control is very different from that exercised through propaganda and censorship, but it must be noted that its target is not the citizen as a political individual, but the consumer as a participant in the local and global market. Moreover, there is not such a monopoly of the mass media as the one that is proper of a governing institution, but all the organs emitting messages to control the public are constantly competing against each other to be most visible. Consequently, this particular use of photography requires bigger and more accessible platforms wherefore communicate, such as glossy, fancy magazines and huge city billboards. Bibliography Michael Famighetti: Underexposed, Aperture 173, winter 2003, pages 14-16. Marshall McLuhan: Understanding media, Routledge, 2002, chapters 2 and 20. Martin Parr and Gerry Badger: The photobook: a history. Volume 1, Pahidon, 2004, chapter 6. Ian Jeffrey: Photography, Thames and Hudson, 1981, chapter 9. Li Zhensheng: Red-color news soldier, Phaidon, 2003. Michael Light: 100 Suns, Contrasto Due, 2004. 1 Footnotes [1] See picture 1 [2] See pictures 2 and 3 [3] See picture 4 [4] See picture 5 [5] See picture 6, by Dorothea Lange [6] See pictures 7, 8 and 9 [7] See picture 10 [8] See picture 11

Early Puritan and Pilgrim Literature Essay

The Puritans and the Pilgrims both migrated to North America to escape religious persecution due to their views about the Church of England. They created very little literature because writing was viewed as satanic in both cultures. All that was written in Puritan New England were works to glorify God and record journeys for historical purposes. The most famous poets of this period include Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor. William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth Colony, kept a journal of the events that took place on the journey over on the Mayflower and life within the colony. Jonathan Edwards, a minister during the Great Awakening wrote the sermon â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.† These authors illustrated the following religious beliefs in their works: natural depravity, irresistible grace, and unconditional election. Puritans believed that all men sinned and that all men were of an evil nature. Ministers instructed them to search their souls for sins and ask God for forgiveness. In the 1730’s and 1740’s the Puritan religion began to lose followers. Several ministers went to extreme measures to get their followers to adhere to the teaching in the Bible more sternly. â€Å"There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God’s restraints.†(101). The prior excerpt demonstrates the natural depravity of men. Puritans were instructed to frequently search through their souls for instances of which they had done evil doings. The act of constant soul searching wore many puritans down and caused them to convert to a different faith while others were driven in to a psychotic state. Edwards also stated that â€Å"Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead and to tend downwa rds with great weight and pressure towards Hell;†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (103). The passage refers to the wickedness of men. Hearing every Sunday that you possess natural wickedness which drags you down towards hell is one of the reasons the Puritan faith became unpopular and eventually died out. In his sermon, he also stated â€Å"So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of Hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it;†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (103). Edwards and other preachers of the Great Awakening depict God as an angry and cruel man and end up losing many followers of the Puritan faith in the end as members of the faith viewed God as mean and inhumane and  they felt he was inaccessible to them. Another Puritan belief that was prominently displayed in their literature was unconditional election. Unconditional election states that God decides whether a man will go to heaven or hell before he or she is even born. The poet, Anne Bradstreet illustrates the theme in her poem â€Å"Upon the Burning of Our House† â€Å"And, when I could no longer look,/ I blest His name that gave and took,/ That laid my goods no in the dust:/ Yea so it was, and so ’twas just./ It was his own: it was not mine;/ Far be it that I should repine.†(53). This example states that even though her house and earthly possessions are ruined she can take comfort in the fact that the Lord has a house waiting for her in heaven. In another one of her poems,† To My Dear and Loving Husband†, Anne represents the same theme â€Å"Thy love is such I can no way repay;/ The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray./ Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,/ That when we live no more we may live ever.† (51). Edward Taylor, another poet of the colonial era, writes poem in the mindset of being one of the unconditionally elect. He states in the poem â€Å"Huswifery† â€Å"Then cloath therewith mine Understanding, Will,/ Affections, Judgment, Conscience, Memory/ My Words, and Actions, that their shine may fill/ My wayes with glory and thee glorify./ Then mine apparel shall display before yee./ (70). Taylor proclaims he is asking God to clothe him in knowledge of the next life and that he believes he is of the unconditionally elect for asking for this understanding. Yet another reoccurring theme in the writings of the puritans was irresistible grace. Irresistible grace states men survive by the grace of God. William Bradford uses this theme many times in his account of the Pilgrims journey to the new world titled Of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford wrote, â€Å"But herewith they broke their mast in three pieces and their sail fell overboard in a bery grown sea, so as they had like to have been cast away. Yet by God’s mercy they recovered themselves, and having the flood with them struck into the harbor.†(34). He indicates that the Pilgrims were at the mercy of God and by his grace they found the harbor and survived. Bradford later refers to an instance when some Pilgrims were exploring the  area around a possible camp site. â€Å"Men, Indians! Indians!† And withal, their arrows came flying amongst them. Their men ran with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did.† (33). Here Bradford glorifies God for allowing the Pilgrims to get to their weapons before them all fell victims to the arrows of the Indians. Bradford greatens the name of God once more in the account of John Howland. â€Å"†¦as they thus lay in a mighty storm, a lusty young man called John Howland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was, with a seele of the ship, was thrown into sea; but it pleased God he caught hold of the topsail halyards†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (28). Unlike the man who feel overboard and drowned, for taunting the sick and poor, John Howland had the graces of God extended to him and was rescued from the stormy waters. Throughout the Colonial Age Puritans and Pilgrims emphasized three major themes in their literature. They wrote of irresistible grace, the natural depravity existing in all of man kind, and predestination for those among the unconditionally elect. Three writers of the period, Bradstreet, Taylor, and Bradford, use their works to glorify God and announce themselves among the unconditionally elect. The fourth, Jonathan Edwards wrote a sermon in an attempt to scare followers in to the more strict puritans ways of past in an attempt to save the religion.

International Project Management Association Essay

?International Association of Project and Program Management (IAPPM) Vision- (iappm. org 2013) To enhance and add value to our global members and the project community at large allowing them to manage projects and programs successfully using the right tools, skillsets and methods. Mission- (iappm. org 2013)As a worldwide global project organization IAPPM will create value together with our members, project communities, business partners and corporations by leveraging our content, collaboration and business management insight. The IAPPM focuses on project and program management in the private sector, offering their insight to partners, PM communities, and members globally. International Project Management Association (IPMA) Vision- (ipma. ch, 2013) Our Vision: IPMA is the leading authority on competent project, programme and portfolio management (PPPM). Through our efforts, PM best practice is widely known and appropriately applied at all levels of public and private sector organizations. IPMA directs attention to the portfolio aspect as well as project management on a global scale. IPMA also includes public sector project management for governments and other public agencies. American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (ASAPM) Vision- (asapm. org, 2013) asapm is the U. S. A. ’s premier Project and Program Manager performance-based credentialing organization, and a tireless advocate of effective project management practice throughout all organizations. Appropriate and effective elements of PM Performance are widely demonstrated and acknowledged, not just by PM practitioners, but by all individuals in all organizations. ASAPM acknowledges interest and membership for any individuals for membership. ASAPM also claims to be part of IPMA as an American focused branch. Project Management Institute (PMI) PMI does not have a vision statement. They do however, have list of core values. From these values I infer PMI focuses on certifying and advancement of PM professionals. They also clearly define and explain project management to inquisitive and unaware. References http://www. iappm. org/about. htm http://ipma. ch/about/ http://www. asapm. org/a_home. asp http://www. pmi. org/

Short Story - 847 Words

With such a sheltered life, every detail of their path practically drawn for the two siblings forced to walk, it was a wonder the two had had any mental stability left at all. To comprehend what was correct to do or even how to have grasped a job without the codependency of their parents. Maybe the praying had worked that Eve had occasionally did when they had finally found freedom, then again, her mind constantly wondered if she was actually asking God who resided in the Bible, or God who was her keeper for eighteen years. But then again, did it really matter? Did prayers matter or was someone else answering anything she silently asked when on her knees? If she could have chose a God or two to answer, it would have been the kind old†¦show more content†¦Letting her crawl to the side of the bed more then with bright eyes. A liveliness that dulled back down only a second with the worry of the couple that had let taken them in just so shortly ago, it felt like, with open, kind and tender, arms. Such a new experience for the two of them it had been overwhelming. Swallowing suddenly, Eve blinked in thought, watching up at her brother with a thoughtful expression before finally speaking. Well ask them, Adam... surely they would have to understand this. Not the killing, maybe the killing. No, not the killing. Too sweet, too kind. She shook her head and blinked to silence her head again for the moment. Well talk to them, tell them we need to get away for a bit. There isnt a need to worry them... well.... Her thoughts swirled before she reached out to grasp at one of his hands, her fingers ever so softly rubbing on his in comfort. We would be protecting them Adam, from Him.. them. What if he was to gain more power and it somehow hurt Jerry and Betty? Could we ever look at them the same, if we had a chance to at least try? Her feet shifted, drawing to dangle over the edge of the bed, still holding his one hand in her own while staring up at Adam so sweetly despite the words that left her next. And no, we havent killed anyone before, but we can always try. What if its easy? It always looks so easy on those shows, and.. and his cops always do it when they need to. SomethingShow MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. 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