Images of the First Gulf War

Paper Summary:

By analyzing literature about the Persian Gulf War, Anthony Swofford's 'Jarhead' and comparing it to analysis of photojournalism from the war, the writer discusses the reliability of war images. The writer argues that representations of war, as old as war itself, are not inert packages of raw information. They are imbued with their own ideologies and rhetoric, whether or not their creators recognize this fact. Thus, the writer maintains that they cannot be objective or even considered wholly accurate; they are, instead, only representational and tell us more about their creators' vision of war than of war itself."

From the Paper:

"For Western societies, images of war possess an almost pornographic quality. Examples of the fascination with often-grisly representations of war can be traced back several thousand years. Herodotus' Histories is an early and dramatic presentation of war during the Persian invasion of Greece. Since that time, images of war have proliferated as the technology for recording them has improved. Handwritten texts gave way to the printing press. Cave paintings became elaborate sculptures and canvas paintings. Traditional photography has been supplanted by digital photography and video images. Nonetheless, throughout the expanse of war in the West literary and artistic representations of war have persisted, even if the mediums have changed. One of the most recent wars in the West was the Persian Gulf War in 1991."

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