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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which technological advancement changed the way war was photographed after World War I?
(a) Lightweight cameras.
(b) Lighting equipment.
(c) Weaponry.
(d) Transportation.

2. In its early days, photography was thought to:
(a) Depict a single, biased point of view.
(b) Represent objective truth.
(c) Diminish the emotional impact of an event.
(d) Glorify scenes of suffering.

3. Sontag claims that images of suffering in Africa send a double message. Which of the following best represents that message?
(a) Violence is abhorrent in any case; therefore, we must interfene to stop such atrocities.
(b) Suffering like this only happens in backward places like Africa; thus, America and other developed nations are clearly superior.
(c) Places like Africa always face horrors like this; therefore, intervention is a waste of resources.
(d) The suffering depicted in the photographs was inhumane and should be prevented; however, it is to be expected of a place like Africa.

4. Sontag lists many effects of photographs depicting war victims. Which of the following was not one of the effects she lists?
(a) "They reiterate."
(b) "They create the illusion of consensus."
(c) "They inspire."
(d) "They simplify."

5. Fenton's "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" is unique for which of the following reasons?
(a) It ignores the directions from the War Office.
(b) It is the only photograph in his collection that did not need to be staged.
(c) It requires hours of production and setup.
(d) It provides a uniquely poignant depiction of the horror of war.

Short Answer Questions

1. Krieg dem Kriege contains images captioned in which four languages?

2. Faced with "information overload," people remember a photograph because it is a quick way of storing information, much like which of the following strategies?

3. Sontag compares the desire for images of people in pain to which other recurrent type of image?

4. Sontag argues that technological advances changed the way the public understands war by:

5. Which of the following images was often thought to represent a mother, looking tellingly into the sky during an air raid of the Spanish Civil War?

Short Essay Questions

1. Sontag stated that the photographer's intentions do not determine the message of the photograph. Discuss the contributing factors which influence the reception of photographs in the media.

2. Explain Sontag's objection to the idea that a news broadcasting program can "give you the world." Why did she argue that compressing world news into broadcasted programming is bad?

3. According to Sontag, do people prefer artistic renderings or straight-forward representations of atrocities? Why?

4. Discuss the significance of "Here is New York," the exhibit of photographs taken on September 11th during the collapse of the World Trade Center.

5. Why do images of pain challenge us to look without flinching? According to Sontag, what purpose does this serve?

6. Sontag discussed the captions to Goya's "Los Desastres de la Guerra" (The Disasters of War). Explain the significance of these messages to the viewer. How do these captions affect the impact of the image?

7. Discuss the controversy surrounding the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002. What was the main conflict?

8. Discuss the significance of the Magnum Photo Agency, founded in Paris in 1947. What was the group initially founded to do? How did they influence the development of photojournalism?

9. According to Sontag, how does a photograph in the news media differ from a written account? How does the audience change?

10. Sontag identified two types of censorship which affect war photography. Describe both types of censorship. Which is most influential?

(see the answer keys)

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