Demonstration
against the Vietnam War in 1967 by Marc Riboud
Using photographs taken by Marc Riboud, whose obituary appeared in The Telegraph, we deconstruct the representation of a 16-year-old girl holding up a flower to the serried ranks of US soldiers, taken in Washington, 1967, during the Vietnam War.
In the first lesson, we took a look at a famous photographer's photograph of the soldiers and the young girl holding the flower and started analysing it as a class. we talked about composition, expressions, background meanings and more. Here are most of the things we analysed:
Marc Riboud has taken this photograph in a mid-shot concept to not only capture the feelings – from the facial expressions of the girl – but also the line of soldiers in their uniforms holding weapons.
The girl’s hands holding the
flower looks like she is in a praying stance as she is up close to the end of
the soldier’s weapon (bayonet). However, it is significant how the soldiers are
holding lethal weapons yet the girl is gently holding a beautiful shaped
flower.
In contrast to this, the
soldiers are wearing the same uniform which shows lack of identity and
teamwork; But on the other hand, the teenage girl is wearing ‘hippie’ style
clothing to signify peace and harmony aimed at the soldiers.
The viewers can visualise the girl’s
expressions being scared on the inside due to the weapon which is pointed
directly at her, but in reality, she is letting peace and harmony shine on the
outside to show gratitude of who she is and what she is standing up for.
A thoughtful response: good. Now include the theory.
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