Word vs. Photo Essay - Conveying the Message
A word-only style essay and a photo essay have different effects on the reader. When it comes to the subject of the Right's of the Child, the UN had two separate ways to convey their message about the rights of the child. In the first word-only essay, unicef specifically lists out the details in each article for every right that belongs to the child (anyone under the age of 18). In the photo essay of the article, unicef uses different photos from around the world to help better understand the deeper meaning behind the main point of each right given to adolescents. Although the word essay is very descriptive, the photo essay is very blunt and straight forward about the rights, but provides a very deep emotional appeal for the reader. But, even though the photo essay is very emotional and attention grabbing, it doesn't provide the extra information some would need to clarify. The word essay also has its weakness, lying in which it doesn't grab the readers attention at all by being very long and wordy with no emotional appeal.
In the photo essay, the UN was very decisive about what pictures they used to go along with each article. The process to choose each picture was simple, simply by choosing a picture from different cultures around the world that have to do with the main point of the article. Although at first it may not seem relevant to the article, the caption under the picture explains how the picture is related to the article. Although the situations are very sensitive, it gives us a reality that these are real problems in our world and they do exist with real people - our neighbors. One of the articles deals with children having the right to not be subject to sexual, physical or emotional abuse. They also have the right to a safe outlet provided by family or the state. With this article, they used the photo of a young girl in a state home recovering from sexual abuse at a young age. This may seem very extreme, but that's exactly what we are dealing with. Very real, and extreme problems that children need to be protected from.
The "violence" in the photo essay may depict extreme and exposing photos of people's personal lives. This may bring up the discussion of how "violent" media may have an effect on people. The factor that no likes to acknowledge is that just because may seem violent or disturbing, does not mean it is portraying a negative image or message. Sometimes it takes those extreme media posts to show how serious a situation is, and to open people's eyes.
In the photo essay, the UN was very decisive about what pictures they used to go along with each article. The process to choose each picture was simple, simply by choosing a picture from different cultures around the world that have to do with the main point of the article. Although at first it may not seem relevant to the article, the caption under the picture explains how the picture is related to the article. Although the situations are very sensitive, it gives us a reality that these are real problems in our world and they do exist with real people - our neighbors. One of the articles deals with children having the right to not be subject to sexual, physical or emotional abuse. They also have the right to a safe outlet provided by family or the state. With this article, they used the photo of a young girl in a state home recovering from sexual abuse at a young age. This may seem very extreme, but that's exactly what we are dealing with. Very real, and extreme problems that children need to be protected from.
The "violence" in the photo essay may depict extreme and exposing photos of people's personal lives. This may bring up the discussion of how "violent" media may have an effect on people. The factor that no likes to acknowledge is that just because may seem violent or disturbing, does not mean it is portraying a negative image or message. Sometimes it takes those extreme media posts to show how serious a situation is, and to open people's eyes.
Hey Tim,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the point that violent or disturbing images may not always be accompanied with a negative message and that sometimes they are used to convey the severity of a situation. I think the evidence you use such as photos on the U.N's website depicting kids in extreme, but real problems supports your argument. I think the way you explain the difference between evidence being presented in word essays and photo essays also does good with presenting your argument. One thing I would say your article needs work on would grammatical errors, my evidence being in paragraph 3, where you state, "The factor that no likes to acknowledge" instead of, "The factor that no one likes to acknowledge".