Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Speaking the Unspeakable Response

What I found interesting about this article is about the power of memory in relationship to the power of the image. What I find interesting about these two concepts is how closely related they are to each other. The blank screen at the beginning of Fahrenheit 9/11 is suppose to make us 'active viewers' in the sense that it leaves us to draw upon our own personal memory. But I imagine for many people, their personal memories are stemmed from the traumatic images that millions viewed on September 11th. Randell mentions in her article how 9/11 is a collective trauma that everyone shares. And I understand that each persons memory will vary in level of connection or meaning, but I still think the the image and memory can not truly be separated from each other.

Another point that I found interesting in this article related to how traumatic stories can be reduced to 'cliches.' Part of the reason that traumatic events can become cliche is because of the amount of visualization that they receive, especially today where everyone has some time of a camera and can post anything online. I know that images are what makes up our memories, but then it makes me wonder how our brains filter through the images and holds on to certain ones and forgets the others. Maybe we are destined to have our memories of traumatic events to be those that are produced and constantly repeated by the mass media.  

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