This photograph is entitled Fourth of July and it was pictured by photographer, Wing Young Huie. This photo was taken on the 4th of July between the years of 1997-2000 in Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis.
At first glance, the photo is average. It's a black and white photo that depicts the Fourth of July. Friends or family are going out to watch fireworks in order to celebrate The Declaration of Independance. These friends, or family, have decided to watch the fireworks at a close by lake. There are a few trees and lights on the other side of the lake, or other body of water. That's the big picture, the surface statement. However, this picture is much more than that. Much more.
If we were place this picture under a literary microscope, the deeper meaning is revealed. The innocent bystanders are being othered by society. In the typical fourth of July setting, it's crowds of people watching the fireworks, but in this picture there are only three. These three people are being othered for one reason or another by society. They are isolated from everybody else. The reason they are being isolated is ultimately unknown, and up to interpretation. The picture is black and white and the people are only silhouettes. The reason for them being sihouetted is so that the viewer can imagine what they want, it leaves the people up to the interpretation of the viewer. The reason they are being othered can be racial, gendered, religon based or anything that comes to the viewer's imagination. At first glance, I assumed the people were a minority race and were isolated due to racial prejudices in America. I came to that interpretation after viewing other works by Huie.
Wing Young Huie is not the only person who depicts the concept of othering in their respective works. Like Huie, Maragret Atwood others some of her characters in her novel, The Handmaid's Tale. Huie others his characters through visuals and interpretation. The people are othered explicitly, but it's up to the viewer's ideals to say why they are being othered. Atwood explicitly others her characters. The characters othered in The Handmaid's Tale are Unwomen. These are women who are infertile and live in the colonies. These characters are othered, because they cannot fulfill the role a women has in Gilead. They are infertile, cannot beat children in a society that values a women's reproductive system. These characters are isolated due to the fact that an unwomen never appears in the novel. They are all in the colonies and Offred never gets the option of meeting one of them, because if she were to it would humanize the group and would defeat the purpose of othering them.
p.s. Happy Birthday Mrs. Genesky!!
Hey Chloe-
ReplyDelete1) Thanks for the music. I enjoy that movie as well.
2) I caution you with making unsupported generalizations and assumptions- I felt as if your post moved beyond the photograph itself and used too much of Huie's other works to support your analysis, which weakened it. Be sure that you are thinking about the artist's choices in format, color, etc. first and then thinking about the effect in the denotative examination.