Overview

This book explores the ideas of key thinkers and media practitioners who have examined images and icons of war and terror. It is time to re-think some of the strongest critical engagements with media and visual representation over the past 40 years -- not as pieties, but as challenging uncertainties, engaged with critical discourse and conventional image-making, both when they were written and now. The authors draw on these to re-investigate the media/global context of some of the most iconic images of war and terror in the international 'risk society'. Among these photojournalistic images are: Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a naked girl, Kim Phuc, running burned from a napalm attack in Vietnam in June 1972; The 'smart bomb' imagery from the Gulf War; and the terrible images of the effects of smart bombs at Amiriyah shelter; a quintessential 'ethnic cleansing' image of massacred Kosovar Albanian villagers at Racak on January 15, 1999, which finally propelled a hesitant Western alliance into the first of the 'new humanitarian wars'; Luis Simco's photograph of marine James Blake Miller, 'the Marlboro Man', at Fallujah, Iraq, 2004; the 'Shock 'n Awe' images of the invasion which preceded it; that other iconic toppling, of the World Trade Centre towers in New York by planes on September 11, 2001; and the 'Falling Man' icon -- one of the most controversial images of 9/11, which was seen around the world and then, just as suddenly, disappeared from media view; the images from Abu Ghraib that shocked the world in May 2004, of state violence to, and humiliation of, naked, hooded prisoners. the image of one of the authors of this book, as close-up victim of the 7/7 terrorist attack on London, which the media quickly labelled iconic; All of these iconic images are examined by way of theories of the visual which were current at the time they were photographed. Bringing together a wide range of social, political, literary, economic, cultural geography and art/cartoon contexts, this book will be of great interest to students of media and war, communications studies, security studies, terrorism studies and politics and IR in general.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Tulloch ,  R. Warwick Blood (University of Canberra, Australia)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.590kg
ISBN:  

9780415698047

ISBN 10:   0415698049
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   19 June 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction Image: Nedia 1. Guernica: Icon of State Terror Image: Simon Schama and Guernica 2. Ways of Seeing the Napalmed Girl: Icons of Agony and Beauty Image: The Napalmed Girl 3.Two Bangladeshi Boys and Public Culture: Iconic or Absent Images: Two Boys in Bangladesh; the Shamed One 4. ‘The Gulf War Did Not Take Place’: Smart-Weapon Imaging Images: Carnage at Amiryah Shelter 5. Picturing Kosovo: Virtual, New or Old War? Image: The Serbian massacre of Kosovar Albanian villagers at Racak. 6.‘Change Everything’? Icons out of a Clear Blue Sky Images: the second of the Twin Towers attacked by a plane on 9/11 7. Shock Doctrine in Iraq: the 'Marlboro Marine' and 'Shock and Awe' Images: ‘Shock and Awe’; the Marlboro Marine 8. Abu Ghraib, Regimes of Looking and Risk: Icons, Index and Symbol Images: Abu Ghraib – the hooded man 9. Witnessing Terrorism in New York and London: Trauma Icons Images: the ‘Falling Man’; iconic image of John Tulloch after the 7/7 terrorist attack 10. Culture Warriors: Images of the Colonial, Then and Now Image: Julie Dowling’s ‘Walyer’ Conclusion: Walls and Borders

Reviews

There is much to admire in this book. It covers a range of wars that have taken place over the past few decades - Bangladesh, Kosovo, 9/11 and the the Gulf Wars. I found Icons of War and Terror extremely worthwhile. It was very readable and an intelligent analysis of complex problems. It is certainly a book that should be coupled with Susan Sontag's work and the range of other quality analyses of the current incarnation of warfare and lethal violence. - Jeff Lewis, Professor of Media and Cultural Politics at RMIT University, e-IR, December 2012

Author Information

John Tulloch is the author of 18 books in media and television studies, film history and theory, literary and theatre studies, and the sociology of risk. His books include the widely cited Risk and Everyday Life (with Deborah Lupton, Routledge, 2003) and monographs on Doctor Who (1984), A Country Practice (1986), Television Drama (1990), Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek (1995, with Henry Jenkins), Television, Risk and Aids (1997, with Deborah Lupton), and Trevor Griffiths (2007). R. Warwick Blood is Professor of Communication, News Research Group, Faculty of Communication and International Studies, University of Canberra, Australia. Previously, he was a reporter and producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He has published on risk, news reporting and portrayal of suicide and mental illness, and illicit drug use.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions