Blog Assignment 5: Representing Others

The media manipulates our perception of war. In regards to sympathy and feelings of accomplishment, different sources of media guide how the public feels about each of the battling sides during combat. Whether images evoke condolence for the brave or hatred for the enemy, our thoughts are persuaded by the messages seen visually. In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag wrote, “Or the images may be too terrible, and need to be suppressed in the name of propriety or of patriotism… To display the dead, after all, is what the enemy does.” (64). According to Sontag, the images that are used to show the conditions of war are manipulated to augment ardent emotions within the viewers. Images may be manipulated because they are too appalling, or they may be fabricated to induce advantageous feelings. As viewers, we do not consider the implications of these situations. We do not think about the lives of innocent civilians. Clint Eastwood’s film, Letters from Iwo Jima, focuses on the horrible conditions of the Japanese soldiers during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The film guides our sympathy towards Saigo, a baker forced into the Japanese army. A connection to Saigo’s life is established through his flashbacks from before he was in the army. This aspect of the film leads viewers to innately feel compassion for Saigo and the Japanese troops. This humanitarian nature supports the theory that the media controls our emotions. For example, in the film, when the two Japanese soldiers surrender to the Americans, we resent the Americans for their brutality. However, Eastwood gives the viewers false hope regarding the sincerity of the Americans when they offer the Japanese soldiers water prior to shooting them. Seeing the war through Japanese eyes directs our solace towards the Japanese and away from the Americans reinforcing the idea that the media controls the way we feel about combating sides during war.