The Boston Photographs

Carol Christ
English 111
4 November 2012
Photos of the Dead
Death in tabloids has been a pressing issue for decades. During Vietnam this was an especially prominent, and has continued into the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No matter the place or the time people will always disapprove of death in photographs. It just seems like they feel it is disrespecting and disgraceful. I for one personally believe that some pictures should be shown in tabloids. Yes not all images should be seen by the public, but there is no better way for people to learn the truth particularly with the war on Iraq.
The pictures of life and death are a mixed bunch. As such are the images taken by Stanley Forman on July 22, 1975, of the mother and child falling when a fire escape broke. For Stanley to even be able to take these pictures with the technology that was in use at the time is a great feat. He took an enormous amount of criticism for his shots. Yes it is not the most pleasing image a reader would like to open up the morning paper too, and a lot of people had a hard time getting over that, but a person must look at the image as it was captured. With the disapproval aside if he had not taken these images not one morning reader would have actually know what went on the night before. It would have just been another name with no face that died in a fire. Since he was able to get those shots, in my view it actually helped put the story together by showing me how the tragic event unfolded. At least a person could be thankful that both the mother and child did not die. The one boy actually landed on his mother and lived. All of the people that questioned the photos cannot get passed their first impressions and look at the bigger picture, which is death happens and it is better to learn then go blind about it. Charles Seib, the former managing editor of the Washington Star writes “any editor who decided to print those pictures without giving at least a moment’s thought to what purpose they served and what their effect was likely to be on the reader” (248). Of course many people will probably disagree with me on the grounds that the images are too gruesome, but one cannot go sheltered their whole lives they must realize all aspects of life.
The tabloids from Vietnam were not very accurate. Now granted I was not around for it, but all of the articles I have read, and a lot of the people that I have had the pleasure of talking with about this very sensitive subject have agreed with me. From what was actually going on to what was being seeing by the American public was portrayed in two very different views. “Impossible” some will say. “You have all the wrong facts,” is what a lot of Americans were saying about the war. The images that were seen in the states were so far from the truth, that they were led to believe that it was the men and women in uniforms fault the so many lives were lost. The newspapers would only post the “bad” pictures. If one person had the guts to post photos of what a dead American looked like after a run in with the Viet con. Yes I will agree with these people that this image should be respected and possibly not seen, but at the same time this image could have helped the people possibly have a different outlook on the war and maybe not have put all the blame on the military. Going back to the advance in technology, if the reporters would have had the Nikon camera that Mr. Foreman is said to have used, they could have a lot better action shots and hopefully would have done a better job showing what was really going on.
If a person looked at the news articles and all of the images that have been published on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars you would not see a lot of pictures about what it is like in a conflict or war. The journalist often times only report on something to make the military look bad. While in Iraq, I experienced this type of event first hand. A lot of things that I saw never ended up in the tabloids. Anytime a marine was killed all that was heard about it was “another marine died in Iraq.” Sometimes it would have been helpful to have pictures on these events. Now yes some of these images no one should ever have to witness, but a good majority of the time an image would have bettered the situation. People say they want the war to be over and bring all the troops home. The easiest way to do this would be to show a group of marines a picture of a fellow marine that had been killed in the line of duty, protecting the same people back in the US that say its disrespectful to show dead bodies, they get very aggressive when one of their own is killed. They would find where the picture was taken and would make sure it never happened again. Pictures also help put a closure on things. For those who were not around they can see the aftermath and might even be able to learn from that image. If journalist would add a little more truth to the pictures they post, and not be afraid about what other people might say about them I bet people would have a completely different look about the Iraq war. Instead they are too worried about their image that they do not post depictions of what happens when a suicide bomber blows up a mosque filled with military and civilians. One time I know for a fact that this happened was a photo journalist took photo of a building that had been destroyed by a suicide car bomber. In his Image all it showed was the wreckage of the explosion and a few dead locals. He failed to mention the two marines that lost their lives trying to save countless others, but in turned tried to blame it on them.
With that rant and ramble off my chest, I will let you decide Mr. Chief Editor of your big time newspaper, would you think twice about letting your photographers post images of the dead? I am not asking you to post every single image that appears of dead bodies, but I am asking you that you do not completely reject these images of life because death is a large part of the human life.

Works Cited
Ephron, Nora. “The Boston Photographs.” Convergences. Ed. Robert Atwan. Ney York: Bedford/St Martins, 2009. 244-249

Cited: Ephron, Nora. “The Boston Photographs.” Convergences. Ed. Robert Atwan. Ney York: Bedford/St Martins, 2009. 244-249