In her recent Newsweek article, Seeing Dignity in Poverty, Julia Baird says that today "poor people appear in mainstream media only when they are obese, sick, or sad: powerless and to be pitied," so different from Dorothy Lange's Dust Bowl portraits of "handsome homeless" from the 1930s. Ms. Baird doesn't suggest that the poor of today have no dignity, her criticism is of their portrayal in today's media and of our own turning away from their very real plight during the current recession. However, the very idea of comparing the two is intriguing. The different medium used by Ms. Lange allowed her to capture and freeze a moment in the life of her subject. We have no idea how her subject would have reacted if given the opportunity to speak to a reporter on a live newscast. Although looking at this photograph, I believe there's a difference between being poor and being destitute. Nonetheless, it's an interesting article that raises some interesting questions, at least in my mind.Photo Caption: "Nipomo, Calif. Mar. 1936. Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged 32, the father is a native Californian. Destitute in a pea pickers camp, because of the failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. Most of the 2,500 people in this camp were destitute."
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Can't see the photo, but there is a lot of difference in what Dorothea Lange did and what is happening today. Today's media don't want hopelessness, despair, and destitution, they want anger. Anger is news. If you really want to see hopelessness, there are a few photographers that shoot those photos every day in places not far from where we all live but they just never make it to prime time news.
ReplyDeleteDorothea Lange's photos showed the despair and hopelessness of the Great Depression. It is something she tried very hard to get from each person she photographed and you can see it in the eyes of her subjects. Any good photographer will try to see what is beyond the facade that everyone puts up to shield themselves. It is human nature to hide but it is the job of the photographer to show reality. Lange, who was partially disabled, moved very slowly and allowed people to "un-pose" and while they were at ease, they revealed that part of themselves they tried to hide.
Modern media, on the other hand, wants only the sound bites. Look at the media coverage of Katrina. There are precious few photos of the actual despair and poverty of that disaster. Instead, the media showed only the anger directed at everyone in the world. A few real photographers got into the area and were able to document the real story, but most are ignored in favor of the hype of the newsworthy.
I've reloaded the image, so I hope it's visible to all now. Your comments are spot on in my opinion. I think this is what Ms. Baird addresses in her article - it's our focus which is blurry.
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