Group of 2
Sumaiyah Ali
The media can have a significant role in influencing the public. Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, T.V. networks, etc. all determine what can be shown to the people and the people are blind to anything else other than what they are shown. With this power, the media is able to direct certain messages towards its audience. One instance is a Polish Magazine, wSIECI, which depicts a white female wearing a flag that represents the European Union and various hands grabbing at her. The headline of the magazine translates to “Islamic Rape of Europe” and is referencing the sexual assault attacks on Cologne, Germany. The image serves to perpetuate fear into the viewer’s hearts. The hands grabbing her are dark in skin color while the woman is light skinned. This contrast in skin tones shows the distinct power struggle of different races. The darker skinned hands are portrayed as evil as they ruthlessly clutch the woman, pulling her hair, grabbing her arms, and ripping her dress off.
Elviris Rodriguez
This image depicts more than one type of power play, besides the one represented within the context of the image there is also one which exists due to the image’s role in the current societal climate. This underlying power play shows the opposite of what the image is trying to portray. While the image is trying to show a situation where Europe represents the victim, in reality the use of the flag, the woman’s expression, and the disembodied arms may refer to the opposite. The woman herself is showing two different power struggles. Her face which is in anguish makes her a victim of these unseen men. When the image is looked from this perspective then the way she standing becomes a cry for help as she is struggling and fighting to break free. However, looking first at the way she is standing and it becomes less a cry for help she is no longer being held down, but rather is being restrained in order to prevent her from going on the warpath. The hands stop being those of her captors and become those of her victims desperately trying to hold on to her but failing. The facial expression is not longer one of anguish but becomes one of anger, a scream reminiscent to that of King Kong fighting the airplanes trying to stop him. The other detail is the disembodied arms, which show the anonymity of these men. They are faceless and unseen not because they are powerful but because they are unknown, disenfranchised members of a powerful society that is doing everything it can to vilify them. They are given no distinct identity because they are placeholders meant to represent every member of their religion and ethnicity, regardless of their innocence. This is a quite complex image as the role of powerful and powerless changes depending on the context in which it is viewed.
While I think there is definitely an artistic way to view the scene that is being depicted here as some sort of attempt to hold back the female portion of society, I think it’s very clear that it is not the intended message, or at least not the message that the vast majority of consumers will see. The real intention of this headline was to portray Islamic men as barbarians who are sexually assaulting a european woman. I believe that after the series of horrific sexual assaults that took place in Cologne there is a lot of confusion and anger towards the islamic refugees pouring into the EU from warzones like Syria. What gets really muddy is when a magazine starts to release articles that just directly promote anti-muslim sentiments. It was a really poor use of power on the magazines part, in my opinion.
-Max
This is a wonderful photograph, and the two of you have done an excellent job of not only commenting on the larger issues, but on the very specific details that make of the photograph and influence our interpretation. Well done!