Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / There are certain images of war that are horrific, frightening and at the same time, due
to an outstanding compositional structure, they are fascinating and do not allow its observers
to keep their distance. This thesis examines three images of war that have often been
described as icons of war photography. The images “children fleeing a napalm strike” by Nick
Ut, “the falling soldier” by Robert Capa and Sam Nzima’s photograph of Hector Pieterson are
historical reference images that came to represent the wars and conflicts in which they were
taken. It has been examined that a number of different factors have an impact on a war
photograph’s awareness level and its potential to commit itself to what is referred to as
collective consciousness. Such factors are the aesthetical composition and outstanding formal
elements in connection with the exact moment the photograph was taken, ethical implications
or the forcefulness of the event itself.
As it has been examined in this thesis, the three photographs have achieved iconic
status due to different circumstances and criteria and they can be described as historical
reference images representing the specific wars or conflicts. In this thesis an empirical study
was conducted, questioning 660 students from Spain, South Africa and Vietnam about their
awareness level regarding the three selected photographs. While the awareness level of the
Spanish and the South African image was rather high in the countries of origin, they did not
achieve such a high international awareness level as the Vietnamese photograph by Nick Ut,
which turned out to be exceptionally well-known by all students questioned. Overall, findings
suggest that the three selected icons of war photography have been anchored in collective
memory.
Ut, Robert Capa, Sam Nzima, semiotics,
Spanish Civil War, the falling soldier, Vietnam War
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2461 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Gassner, Patricia |
| Contributors | Sesanti, Simphiwe, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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