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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. Krieg dem Kriege contains images captioned in which four languages?
(a) German, French, English and Russian.
(b) German, French, English and Japanese.
(c) German, French, Dutch and English.
(d) German, French, English and Spanish.

2. The mass media bombarded viewers with shocking images because:
(a) The public demanded the uncensored truth.
(b) They were more likely to stand out from the countless images people saw every day.
(c) People secretly enjoy images of mass destruction.
(d) These images received the highest interest ratings in viewer polls.

3. Photography on the war front was first banned in an organized fashion during which of the following wars?
(a) World War I.
(b) World War II.
(c) The Boer War.
(d) The Spanish Civil War.

4. Sontag argues that technological advances changed the way the public understands war by:
(a) Improving the power and accuracy of weapons.
(b) Producing mass casualties and horrific destruction.
(c) Shielding the public from scenes of the wounded and dying.
(d) Allowing journalists to represent the war in detail as it happens.

5. Which of the following is true about representations of the dead or dying in American media?
(a) American news media applies the same standards of decency to all victims, regardless of country of origin.
(b) American journalism favors American subjects, often overlooking people in "remote" places.
(c) The faces of the dead and dying from "exotic" places are more likely to be shown.
(d) FCC laws prohibit the printing of images including the faces of war victims.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Sontag, war journalism first developed during which of the following two wars?

2. Which technological advancement changed the way war was photographed after World War I?

3. According to Sontag, anti-war sentiment:

4. Recalling traditions of the 16th and 17th century, Sontag claims that printing images of dark-skinned people in moments of suffering or pain is part of a long tradition of which of the following?

5. Sontag claims that Jacques Callot's 1633 painting, "The Miseries and Misfortunes of War" was unprecedented for which of the following reasons?

Short Essay Questions

1. Using the example of genocides and AIDS in Africa, Sontag argued that images of suffering in far-off places carry a double meaning. What is this double meaning?

2. Discuss the reaction of the British public to the image of trenches of unburied bodies taken 10 days after a British defeat during the Boer War. What does this reaction say about the sensibility of the public?

3. 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?

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

5. How did war journalism change during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)? How did the coverage of this war more closely resemble modern media coverage of conflicts?

6. Sontag distinguished between "image makers" and "image takers". What is the difference between these two groups of artists? How are they perceived differently?

7. Discuss the significance of Eddie Adams' photograph of the execution of a suspected Vietcong agent. What did Sontag say was particularly striking about this image and the circumstances of its creation?

8. Sontag asserted that "cameras have always kept company with death." What did she mean by this assertion?

9. Sontag agrees with Woolf's assertion that the educated class has failed to understand war. How is this a failure of empathy or imagination?

10. Discuss the purpose of Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas" as explained by Sontag, and explain why Sontag opens her book with this reference.

(see the answer keys)

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