Journalism’s Falling Man: On Documentation and Truth Telling

With a focus on Tom Junod’s Esquire article of 2003, Henry Singer’s 2006 documentary 9/11: The Falling Man, and the Abu Ghraib photography that appeared as a generic attempt to understand the treatment of that prison’s detainees, this essay details the powerful reactions against these images as evid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolysèmes no. 19
Main Author Pozorski, Aimee
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published SAIT 30.06.2018
Subjects
trauma
chute
témoignage
photographie
aesthetics
ethics
journalism
esthétique
witness
journalisme
fall
éthique
traumatisme
photography
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Summary:With a focus on Tom Junod’s Esquire article of 2003, Henry Singer’s 2006 documentary 9/11: The Falling Man, and the Abu Ghraib photography that appeared as a generic attempt to understand the treatment of that prison’s detainees, this essay details the powerful reactions against these images as evidence for a broader claim about the relationship between traumatic events and representation. By juxtaposing the reception of Richard Drew’s photograph of the falling man with U.S. soldiers’ photographs of torture at Abu Ghraib, this essay seeks to articulate the vexed nature of reading a photograph linked inextricably with trauma and the claim it makes on the viewer.
ISSN:0999-4203
2496-4212
DOI:10.4000/polysemes.3416