This is an image from an event that many people in America are completely unaware of: the fighting between the English and Irish in the 1900s. I feel like this is a point in history that is rarely covered unless you come from Ireland or England, so the cause of the conflict, and therefor the deeper context of this image is unknown to most.
The power of this image is obvious. Anyone who stares down the barrel of a gun is making a statement that show’s their dedication to the cause for which they are fighting.
The first point of analysis is with the crouching soldier. He is pointing his rifle at the kid, but the viewer does not know the reason why since they do not know the context. The first things that one most likely ponders when seeing this image are they reasons that this instance took place, and they most likely create a slew of possible causes of this situation. The soldier seems calm and collected, so they may view him as “in the right” regarding this cause. They could also view his blank expression as indifference, and as if he does not care about the events that transpire. Depending how they interpret the soldier’s and kid’s emotions can change the audience’s stance on this image.
This brings me to the second point of analysis: the kid. The kid shows emotion and is obviously very passionate about his cause, which may lead the viewer to give him the moral high-ground over the indifferent-looking soldier. This could also be interpreted the other way, though. Due to the emotion of anger he is showing, he could be a retaliator or rioter who participated in a violent act, or he and his cause could even be the reason that the military is there. He is obviously angry, but as to why is a mystery. Maybe he is sick of the military’s presence. Maybe the military did something that most of the Irish didn’t like. Maybe he just wants to be a nuisance.
The next point of analysis is the military uniforms of the two soldiers. When one sees a military outfit, the accompanying emotions are typically those of security, safety, and respect. So when one views this image, they should feel the same, and therefor side with the soldiers. This doesn’t seem to be the case though, to the people that I showed this photo to, they all said that the shouting kid was probably in the right. I think this is an interesting point to analyse because it argues something very relavent to our lives today. It argues against the notion that military provides safety, which has been a very prevalent idea in the past, but has changed extensively in the past few decades. It argues this by the emotions, the composure, and the depiction of the situation that is present. These powerful visuals are able to display many possibly stories and pasts onto the audience, and they interpret these possibilities to create the situation and form their side of the argument, even if they are not aware of the full context, this process still has a large influence on how the audience views this image
I think it is so sad that five different historical events came to my mind when I first looked at this image. If the caption above the image was not there, I would not have realized the purpose until I read the actual post. The mere fact that this image with no context could be applied to numerous violent events throughout history is pretty depressing. I think you gave a really in-depth analysis of the image and provoked a thoughtful discussion. The long history of violence between the Irish and English is truly a forgotten history. Besides that U2 song about the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident, modern society refuses to acknowledge the atrocities that occurred during this time period.