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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 claims that there is no way to guarantee which of the following?
(a) A nation's reaction to the image.
(b) A deferential environment for war photographs.
(c) Visibility of war photographs in this media-saturated environment.
(d) An audience's conscientious reaction.

2. Sontag presents her own objection to Salgado's "Migrations." Why does Sontag criticize Salgado's work?
(a) He generalized different social and political situations under the anonymous umbrella of suffering.
(b) He reprinted images of refugees without their consent, display a disregard for their rights.
(c) He staged many of the photographs to create more dramatic depictions of human agony.
(d) He profited greatly from the exhibition of the photographs while the subjects received nothing.

3. Which of the following photographers exhibited photographs of Sarajevo in 1994?
(a) Paul Lowe.
(b) Larisa Shepitko.
(c) Frederick Wiseman.
(d) Jeff Wall.

4. Sontag notes that although museums remembering atrocities are common practice, there is no museum in the United States dedicated to which of the following atrocities?
(a) The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(b) The American slave trade.
(c) The German Holocaust.
(d) The massacre of the Native Americans.

5. In portraying horrors, Leonardo da Vinci encouraged artists to be:
(a) Pitiless.
(b) Sensitive.
(c) Cautious.
(d) Restrained.

Short Answer Questions

1. Many of the scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" were based on works by which famous World War I photographer?

2. Which of the following does Sontag suggest is an ethical act?

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

4. Although Sontag is pessimistic about the broad effects of atrocity photographs, she did mention one positive outcome. What was it?

5. Sarajevans were angered by a photography exhibit which featured photographs of their suffering alongside images of which other country's people?

Short Essay Questions

1. Sontag contrasts the perceived number of atrocities now with the number from years ago, and makes a specific claim about the rate of atrocity. Discuss this assertion.

2. Why does Sontag refer to the argument that image-glut desensitizes us to images of suffering as "conservative"?

3. Ultimately, Sontag notes that to discuss the desensitization of all television viewers is a provincial move, at best. Why does she argue this?

4. Sontag discusses two widespread ideas about the influence of photography. Sontag notes that the second idea might seem to be the converse of the first. What is the second idea? Discuss the second idea using support from the book.

5. How does our contemporary view of suffering differ from earlier, more traditional Western views?

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

7. Sontag proposes that perhaps we place too much value on memory. What does she mean? Why does she posit this?

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

9. Why did the people of Sarajevo object to having scenes of their war represented alongside scenes of the conflict in Somalia?

10. Sontag suggests that Wall's work affirms the normalcy of war. How so?

(see the answer keys)

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