Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Ethos Expressed by The Watts Riots Image

The men pictured in the Watts Riots image are revolting and stealing, not because they are bad people, but because they are fed up with the treatment they receive from the police and are taking what they see as compensation. The issues leading up to the Watts Riots are extrinsic ethos and they are explained here. The final breaking point took place on August 11, 1965 when a police officer attempted to arrest an African-American man for drunk driving through the Watts neighborhood, the arrest escalated into a fight which further broke out into a riot. The riots continued for several days following. The images from the Watts Riots are genuine and credible because they tell the story. A picture can not lie. A photographer can not falsify and image, especially not in the 1960s. The representation does not hide the events of the Watts Riots, the story is told through pictures. Nothing is censored and if several images are shown together, they truly express how important the cameramen were at these riots.
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 1, 2017 at 11:56 AM

    Interesting analysis. These riots are in my mind very similar to the LA riots in the 90's. I would argue though that while you cannot falsify a photo, one photo can be taken so out of context that it misrepresents what it is trying to portray. This photo does seem to be legitimate however.

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  2. abhishekvelMarch 1, 2017 at 4:39 PM

    I completely agree with your analysis that an image can't be falsified and I like how you complement that with the fact that several images shown together can express the story. This is important, because like Alex said, a single image alone can be misunderstood since a single photo can be taken out of context easily.

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  3. UnknownMarch 1, 2017 at 4:49 PM

    I thought your analysis on how the men were simply taking what they believed they were owed was interesting, because I had never really thought about it like that. It makes a lot of sense, though, considering all the hardships and struggles African-Americans went through, that once given any opportunity to better their lives in some way they'd take it.

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