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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. Sontag argues that the photograph, unlike the written word, is:
(a) Artistically inferior.
(b) Politically charged.
(c) Always objective.
(d) Subject to interpretation.

2. 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?
(a) "Mother and Child, Barcelona, Spain, 1936"
(b) "War Against War!"
(c) "Guernica."
(d) "Land Distribution Meeting, Extremadura, Spain, 1936"

3. According to Sontag, _________ also influences the public's perception of war.
(a) Education.
(b) Anti-war sentiment.
(c) Hollywood.
(d) Government policies.

4. Audiences may question the veracity of photographs because:
(a) Newspapers and magazines caption the images.
(b) Anyone can photograph an event.
(c) Images can be staged or manipulated.
(d) Photojournalists are unreliable.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Sontag argues that we are most disappointed to discover that which type of photographs have been staged?

2. Sontag lists which of the following as images that the artist "takes"?

3. Sontag discusses "Here Is New York," a photography exhibit depicting September 11th. Whom did the organizers ask to contribute photographs?

4. The media may inform the public of war crimes and atrocities, but often fails to capture the:

5. Sontag discusses the subtitle of "Here is New York" in some detail. What was this subtitle?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the purpose of photography collections such as Ernst Friedrich's "Krieg dem Kriege!" (War Against War!), and discuss how these works attempt to achieve this end.

2. Explain the connection Sontag made between religious narratives and iconography and the Western understanding of images of suffering. Discuss at least one example from the text.

3. 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.

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

5. How do captions sway interpretations of images? Discuss one of the examples Sontag provides in Chapter 1.

6. Explain the significance of Jacques Callot's 1633 series of etchings titled "Les Miseres et les Malheurs de la Guerra" (The Miseries and Misfortunes of War). Why did Sontag discuss this work?

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

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

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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