Thursday, February 19, 2015
The Migrant Mother
Like many of the other posts before mine, I too find it very interesting that Lange was so disinterested in learning Florence's name or history. But I feel as though, I am on the other side of the fence. I think it was a great decision on her part to not make the image personal because in the end, that was not her job and that is not the purpose of the image. She was aiming to make a statement on grand scale that was much bigger than her or Florence. And by taking away her identity and her history, I feel as though it is much easier for people to emotionally attach themselves to the image because there was no identity pre-attached to it. The image became a symbol for change that things needed to change during and post Depression and due to how immense relatability and overall aesthetic appeal I think it was an incredibly easy image for people to designate as the symbol for change during the Depression.
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I also found it interesting that Lange had no interest in finding out Thompson's history or background. I think this speaks to how photo started to become more reality than words and interviews. I don't think that this is appropriate because photos can still tell lies. This isn't to say that interviews can't either but if they were accompanying each other it would become more powerful. Seeing this photograph i want to know more about Thompson, I want to know how she is surviving (which the textbook gives us a little info on), and I want to know her name. I think that it does help make the photograph stronger because it is the only information given but I do not think it is fair to Thompson that her story isn't told, especially when she is being objectified.
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