you need to analyze your image in relationship to historical, cultural, and economic developments

Mini-Essay 1 6

Mini-Essay 1

Terry Ivery

Professor Johnson

Visual Communications

Stetson University

Running head: Mini-Essay 1 1

Mini-Essay 1

For my first mini essay I am going to be analyzing a couple photos of Martin Luther King one of the greatest leaders that we have ever had in this world, he fought for equality, and that’s why the world is much easier for African Americans today. I’m going to be arguing that these photos brought whites and blacks together, these photos change just about everything in the world, these photos gave us hope and showed that Martin Luther king had a lot of power just by using semiotics and Helmer’s elements and principles of ideas. Most people know that whites and blacks wouldn’t be getting along if we didn’t have martin Luther king, I mean you can say that there’s still racism in the world today, but there’s not much segregation such as schools, busses, and jobs. Everything is equal now. Each image that I’m talking about will show vision and visuality, it says In the book “visual culture is not simply about images. It is also about practices we engage in relative to seeing, and it is about the ways that the world is visually organized in relationship to power” (Pg., 22). Each of these photos shows how martin Luther king had a lot of power, people had to put him in jail to stop him from making the world a better place, martin really caught everyone’s attention with what he was doing. As we look at these photos today people see how big of a leader king was these photos showed us a visual how everything could be and now today we are living in it. By examine social structures of visually as they are documented in an image such as this one, we can see how power is enacted in distributed and complex ways such as visual means. I’m also arguing how representation plays a big role in these pictures as well. “Representation has a specific history and meaning in the study of visual culture, a history that is linked to the production of meaning through symbolic systems” (Pg., 18).

The first photograph I will be discussing is a picture of martin Luther king speaking at protest for freedom and jobs in Washington D.C in 1963. In this picture there’s a lot of photographers around focusing on one man, that man is Mr. King this shows how important this man was because back then there was rarely a black man at the center of attention. This shows how power he was, everyone one this photo came to see him speak about freedom and being equal. As look at the photo you see a lot of people in the crowd whites and black. When you continue to look at this photo you can tell the martin Luther king had vision. My grandmother and my mother was around at the time and they told me how different the world has changed, because this one man, they said he had vison and that vision turned to a visuality. Now whites and blacks get along better. This photo really shows representation because this a photo from over 50 years ago, but this photo means a lot more in the 2020, the photo gives off a lot of cultural aspects, with whites and blacks coming together to be united. It says on that “Representation refers to the use of language, marks, and images to create a meaning about the world around us” (pg., 18). Using the elements of design, we can identify some key elements that will help my argument. The space that is between king, the people, and the monument in the back I feel the photographer did this on purpose to show how important this man is at that time, the photographer also gets a couple of photographers in the back as well to show that martin Luther king was the center of attention. The monument in the back shows he is in the capital of the united states which is a symbol to our country. Taking this photo gave people hope that change was coming in the world. I also feel the color plays a big role in this picture it shows this picture was taken over 50 years ago, which gives the picture a great place in history. Schools use this photo, business, basically the whole world use this photo to show what this one man’s vison.

This second photo of martin Luther king just shows how powerful he was, I mean he is under attack in this photo, but it shows how many enemies this man had because he was trying to make the world equal. He was struck on the head by a rock thrown by a group of people, Dr. Martin Luther King falls to one knee, and then what makes it better Dr. King regained his feet and led a group of marchers demonstrating alleged housing discrimination through an all-white district in Chicago, Aug. 5, 1966. This photo is also in black and white which I think could mean that it was 50 years ago so they probably didn’t have color in their pictures, but I think it being black and white it shows that you can’t see color in this world, which that is how the world should be. We shouldn’t focus on white color people are, we should be focusing on being united because we are all from the same country. Using Helmer's idea of elements and principles of ideas specifically the distance/space between the photographer and the people. As you look when you noticed martin Luther king is being held down but he is trying to get up, this symbolizes power because in this photo how the photographer took the photo you can say that martin Luther king trying to fight he was showing that he can’t be stopped. It made the phot seem very symbolic because it shows that Mr. king never quit. The space places a great role because the photographer is kind of zoomed in and you can see half of Mr. kings face. This photo also shows a lot of emotion; the white Americans are very mad with martin Luther king because they feel he’s a threat to the white community. "A symbol is a sign 'whose special significance or fitness to represent just what it does represent lies in nothing but the very fact of there being a habit, disposition, or another effective general rule that it will be so interpreted." (pg.39).

As I begin to wrap my essay I want people realize that I’m arguing that all of these photos show representation because they both have a meaning and they also have history which gives us a better meaning of how the world was back then. I am also arguing that vison and visuality places a role in these photos because as you look at Martin Luther king’s face you can tell he had a vison and that vision came true. He brought everyone together but back then some people didn’t want to but it shows how his vison and this photos visons helped society today. Last but not least the semiotics and Helmer’s elements and principles of ideas gave us a better meaning of each of these photos, I want to say that this method is probably one of the best you can use when looking at photo, it really gets into the meaning of it.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/understand-martin-luther-king-jr-don-t-rely-highlights-reel-n1118821

https://time.com/5096937/martin-luther-king-jr-picture-chicago/