Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

Seeing images of far away atrocities, Sontag asserts, is a quintessentially modern experience. Mass media brings such sights into the home, but without also communicating the depth and complexity of the event pictured. Public awareness of suffering is something constructed by the collective experience of discrete images. More so than the written word, the meaning of a photograph is tied to how the work is interpreted by the viewer.

Sontag considers the role of technological advancement in photojournalism. As cameras improve, it is possible to capture war in progress. This, in turn, enhances the public's understanding of war. Sontag argues, however, that while photographic evidence makes something "real" to far away eyes, it can also have the opposite effect. This is particularly true of westernized cultures, which have learned to associate spectacular or shocking images with the artifice of Hollywood.

Sontag...