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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following produced a documentary about a "deranged" Pacific war veteran who drives the streets of Tokyo speaking against Japanese war crimes?

2. In transforming an event or person into something that can be owned, photographs:

3. What does Sontag claim as our only connection with the dead?

4. Which of the following terms does Sontag define as a commonly used term for those whose profession like journalists takes them into war zones?

5. Using the example of Ground Zero, Sontag argues that photographs have the power to do which of the following to their subject?

Short Essay Questions

1. Sontag discusses Sebastiao Salgado's series entitled "Migrations: Humanity in Transition" and points out one very problematic effect of the series. Discuss this effect.

2. Describe the scene which Sontag refers to as the first description of bodies in anguish and identify the source of this description.

3. What does Sontag mean when she said that photographs transform?

4. Discuss the photograph that Georges Batailles kept on his desk. Why does Sontag discuss this particular photograph?

5. According to Sontag, why is there no museum dedicated to the victims of the slave trade?

6. Sontag discusses two widespread ideas about the influence of photography. What is the first idea? Discuss it including one example.

7. According to Sontag, designating a hell is not enough; yet, she suggests that this ability to name an atrocity does accomplish something. What does this accomplish? What is the point of naming an atrocity an atrocity?

8. Sontag discusses the emergence of apathy and cynicism toward war. According to her discussion, what feeling underlies cynicism about war and atrocity? What is the purpose of this cynicism?

9. Sontag claims that a book is still the best medium for circulating images of atrocity. Name the three reasons she provides.

10. Sontag claims that there is a difference between finding beauty in artistic representations of war and finding beauty in photographs of war. What is the difference?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sontag suggested that galleries as venues for war photography and images of atrocity may not produce the proper reverence for the subjects and their suffering. Her main contention was with the environment which cultivates casual interest. Do you agree? Does displaying images of atrocities in public places diminish their effect? Are we, as Sontag suggests, less likely to linger and contemplate? Support your discussion with evidence and relevant analysis.

Essay Topic 2

Sontag asserted that perceptions of pain have changed in the modern world. She cited religious narratives and iconography to support her assertion that traditionally pain was seen as a form of sacrifice or trial through which one was rewarded, then discussed the shift in modern society in which pain is perceived as punishment for or consequence of one's actions. Do you agree? Has there been a change in the way "we" perceive suffering? If you agree, what might account for this shift? If you disagree, what evidence can you cite to support your point?

Essay Topic 3

Sontag also traced the relationship between the presence of the press and the practice of war-making. In one example, she discussed the execution of a suspected Vietcong soldier by Brigadier General Loan, suggesting that the execution was a performance for the photographer present on the scene. Does media coverage affect the waging of war? Are journalists neutral and uninvolved? Discuss the relationship between journalists' presence and soldiers' behavior. Provide specific examples.

(see the answer keys)

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