Wing Young Huie's Photo
This photo by Wing Young Huie is representative of a major problem not only within modern American society, but also throughout the world. At first glance and simple examination, it appears to be two African-American men with varying levels of intelligence. Both men are holding signs that have writing on them - one with words that read "People judge other people befour they get to know them" and the other with various scribbles. Behind the two men is a stone wall and a staircase. Taking a deeper look at the photograph, a few things are noticeably meaningful. The most obvious is the photographer, Huie's, subliminal message. The picture can be understood to be a representation of how society treats those who are different. The man on the left of the photograph who holds the sign with words is looking off into the distance to our right, past the man holding the sign with scribbles, who is staring straight into the lens of the camera. The assumption made is that each of the men wrote what appears on the chalkboard sign that they hold. This being said, I feel as though the man on the left could be presumed smarter than the one on the right, despite his incorrect spelling of "before" as "befour", but also that he seems nearly embarrassed to be with the man on the right. I believe this shows a deeper rooted problem within not only modern American society, but also throughout the world because it represents people's willingness to only stand up for something to a point of discomfort. This picture could've been staged with the man on the left standing closer to the one on the right, or at least they could both be looking at the camera, but instead, they stand a good distance apart from one another, with the more intelligent man looking past the camera, avoiding eye contact, as a sign of discomfort or embarrassment. Huie's photo goes much further beyond what the signs read within the photograph, but also go to prove the exact point he's trying to make: People do judge others before they know who they really are, and this is a simple human flaw that cannot be overcome with just one photograph. This is the concept of "othering". Within the photo, we automatically create assumptions about the two men, and in doing this, we help to validate Huie's argument. |
| Photo by Wing Young Huie Minneapolis, MN 2012-2013 |
Huie & Atwood
From what we can understand from the photograph by Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale, published in 1985, both are familiar with an idea known as "othering". "Othering" can simply be defined as "The process of perceiving or portraying someone or something as fundamentally different or alien". Wing Young Huie's approach to "othering" was as described above as the two men are being portrayed are different from one another in order to prove a point within society about the assumptions we tend to make as human beings, or in other words: judgement. Within The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood does this similarly with the character portrayal of the main character, Offred. This can be shown throughout the progression of the text and Offred's increasing development as the plot moves forward, or even flashes back. Offred is a Handmaid within her society, meaning her purpose is solely to provide her Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, with viable ovaries to procreate with. Offred is an "other" in this context, as she's not at a high enough social rank to be considered worthy of being a free woman or wife to a Commander, but she can provide her duties in a way that's beneficial to a higher social class. Atwood demonstrates the "othering" of Offred within the first few lines of her novel as Offred is encountering a woman she lives with, Rita. She states bluntly after Rita looks at her that "But the frown isn't personal: it's the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for. She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck" (Atwood 10). This analysis by Offred about Rita's frown in her direction is meant to display how the society deems Handmaid's socially to be ranked. Not only are they used for their ovaries in order to benefit the higher social class, but they are done so in a non-respectful manner, despite their best efforts to be treated humanely. This compares to the picture above by Wing Young Huie, whose message is that of "othering" also. Both are used in a way to create an idea about quick assumptions and judgements within our society, and make us question why it is that we act the way we do. Both make excellent subliminal points in their work about the equality of human beings.
Comments
Post a Comment