the presentation
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- ********
A complex visual problem: how to present the fact of Zarqawi's death. They matted and framed the head. His eyes are closed and their is evidence enough of violence, the face is remarkably intact. I wonder whether there is a certain solomonic equivalence too in choosing this image. ( they could have published his DNA sequence for instance) It recalls the gruesome decapitations Zarqawi was responsible and so satisfies revenge but it also brings up art history. This must be an unintended consequence .
- ********0
Head of St John the baptist.
bellini:
caravaggio
- ********0
no, and no.
The guy's body was blown to bits. They managed to put his head together for a quick photo op.
DNA wouldn't have the popular impact of actually seeing the recognisable face of the person dead and bloodied.
- ********0
popular impact? If he's dead he's dead
There have been some iconic images that this war has produced- all of them about deprivation and death. The hoods placed on suspects heads, the ferociously perverse Abu Ghraib shots, the heads of Hussein's sons and now this one.
Why does the military or its handlers think this image was the right one given they controlled the visual narrative of the assassination?
- pascii0
powerpoint
- ********0
because people wanted to actually see the dead face of the dead man lying dead to reassure themselves that he was dead?
- ********0
i think you're reading into this too much. they aint gonna post a picture of his ass are they?
- ********0
an image of finality non-existant elsewhere in the war? We choose when it ends, we are in control?
- Ramanisky20
have gas prices dropped yet?
- ********0
ya well, ya know, the image war is quite important. "Psy-ops" is what the Pentagon would call it.
- ********0
for people who make their living manipulation information visually it surprises me when the effectiveness of a campaign is seen to be artless and merely factual. When you do it, its clever and amazing. When the pentagon does it its just a picture, ffs.
- mrdobolina0
artless?
dude...
- ********0
no way man, psy-ops is what the pentagon is real freakin good at.
Is how they turned a fringe figure like Zarqawi into "the face" of insurgency in Eye-Raq.
That way they could pretend to the world that the country was a fluster cuck because of foreign terrorists, and that the war had something to do with 9/11.
Actually I bet the Washington spin machine is worried that now they wont be able to present the violence in Iraq as because of global jihad, but deal with the fact that they're dealing with a national uprising.