Issue: Narration and the Visual

William Mitchell (1992) calls upon "visual discourses" in discussing the authenticity and interpretation of photographic images, arguing that it possible to question a photograph by asking "whether the facts it purports to present are plausible" (37). As an example, he cites Alexander Gardner's "Slain Rebel Sharpshooter" (July 1863), arguing that the corpse appears to have been "arranged as in a still life" (43). Frassanito (1975) arrives at this same conclusion by carefully reconstructing Gardner's movements (comparing his field notes and photographs to the physical setting), confirming that the picture in question was indeed staged. Although they arrive at their respective results by different methods, Mitchell and Frassanito emphasize an important factor, indicating the need to examine the rhetoric and source of any given image. Mitchell applies this approach to other celebrated images (e.g., the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima), arguing convincingly that the content suggests a peformance rather than spontaneous behavior.

Look, for example, at the visual rhetoric of a discus thrower as photographed by Leni Riefenstahl. Images tell a story through their use of composition and background, and to an extent, the issue of "authenticity" loses its importance. The rhetoric takes priority, regardless of how the image was obtained.