Visual Argument: The Uvalde Shooting

 

Hey, guys this is Sarah and today’s blog post is going to be a school assignment. We are supposed to make a visual argument and it could be about anything. This assignment is not part of my Unit 3 project, but it helps build my project. So, anyway, I have chosen photography as my genre and digital as my medium. This photo was taken by Christopher Lee, and I believe his client for this photo was The New York Times/Redux.

This photo was a memorial held for the murdered victims in Uvalde school shooting on May 30, 2022. This is important not only because lives were lost but it is one of the horrific series of shootings that have occurred yet there is no reflection towards these shootings.  The 2nd amendment states that “...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  This right was the main reasoning towards those lost lives and the fact that it hasn’t changed in any way or form means this will happen again, that is why it is relevant to talk about such an issue. Also, it is significant because there is a constant threat of shootings happening at schools. A few months ago, a massacre happened in Maine which murdered 18 people and injured 13 people. I mean how many more lives before law makers change rules in some way or form, so these shootings are not likely to happen? The purpose of this image from Christopher Lee’s perspective is that this is job because a client asked for this image. But thinking about what the clients might have asked is probably a photo that connects with people because this photo emotionally appeals to people. And that is why I think Lee has chosen the open form to get that effect. The argument is that this is the consequences for the 2nd Amendment - a memorial.  If we do not understand the boarder context of the shooting it is hard to understand why people say yes to gun? We live in a free country, and it is understandable why people want guns because they want to prioritize their safety as self-defense which is significant cause there are times these guns help someone’s life. I mean argument is all about understanding if I do not try to understand why someone says yes to guns even after such horrific events because their life is different. Guns give them a sense of security or save their lives and many more are valid reasons. That is why understanding the context behind all perspective is important because it allows someone to make judgement while acknowledging everyone in some way. But the context in this image was that guns took their lives and people are mourning for them. This is important in building the no gun argument or change towards gun laws. Exigence and Kairos give value to the argument because Kairos is all about right timing and some arguments have right timing all the time but realizing when it is the most important. Guns are a topic of that sort because there has been incidence of school shooting for a quite long time but realizing that at this moment it has gotten worse. So, we have no other choice but to acknowledge this situation before it is worse than now. That is where exigence comes because life is the most valuable thing in this world. We all know someone that goes to school a friend, a teacher, a security guard, a sibling, and others. So, we all have someone to worry about and when they die the pain does not end. Sometimes people cannot handle death to the point of suicide because they were huge part of their life. The blurred people are probably someone who knew these victims. The photo is an open form because the pavement goes right and left but this photo suggests endless because we never saw the end of the pavement. This implies that these lives are gone forever. Also, there is something about the symmetry and the two directions the pavement goes. It almost implies the idea of heaven and hell. When you first notice that most people are on one side, then you realize there are people on the other side. The blurred effect suggests that they are spirits and I think Lee hints that these victims are going to heaven. It is emotional to see these blurred figures who are faceless because we cannot see their back. It is sad that they will never come back, and all these elements built the emotion which helps with the argument of no guns or better law. It is effective because it plays on pathos, and we are humans. We should be feeling upset when we see memorials for people who are murdered because of how unjust it is. The focus is the memorial, and the rest of the elements support that sadness. The people that are almost disappearing into that endless pavement it speaks loss and death and that is the main point in this argument.  

Time: https://time.com/6234958/top-100-photos-2022/

US constitution: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-2/#:~:text=A%20well%20regulated%20Militia%2C%20being,Arms%2C%20shall%20not%20be%20infringed.