Unit 4 Blog 1

I would like to do an experiment with pathos and how words and photos appeal to our emotions. As writers, does the use of words or photos have a greater impact on our audience? It depends. There may  some instances where we are grateful for words instead of images. Take, for example, this statement from one of my essays, “There was a whole catalog of atrocities involving children – the rape of seven-year-olds, the severance of their hands or noses, their disembowelment for dog feed, or suckling infants skewered to their mother with a single thrust” (Cocker). Nobody in their right mind would want to witness this in photos, and I’m doubtful it would even be legal! We are able to filter the information in our own minds by only conjuring up images that are at a level we can handle. Because it extremely offends our sensibilities, we don’t go into great mental details but pull ourselves back from it. However, unlike the former example, there are instances where images can help us have a greater impact on our readers. Consider this caption from the New York Times regarding the recent tsunami in Japan, “Earthquake survivors identified family members at a temporary burial ground in Higashi Matsushima. Under Buddhist practice, cremation is the traditional way of dealing with the dead. But now, with the death toll so high, crematoriums are overwhelmed” (Bronstein). Then I showed you this photo below taken by Paula Bronstein of the New York Times.

            Which appeals to your emotions more greatly? I think overwhelmingly it would be the photo. Why? Different parts of the brain handle the different tasks. When the information is in written form “it starts with the words, the small bits of information, and slowly builds upward toward full understanding of the whole”, whereas with the picture it is the opposite (Wittig). When shown a photo or picture, Wittig tells us, “it starts with the whole picture, and gradually works its way down into the details”. When processing the words, consciousness uses the English language, which can sometimes be quite limited in describing what the scene actually conveys. Yet, in processing a picture, there are “areas less completely enclosed in the consciousness”. The picture’s data taps directly into areas of the subconscious using stored past associations, experiences, and other unconscious awareness. These are deeper layers of our minds. That is often why we sometimes can use photos to touch our audience more profoundly, and thus be more connected. I am not saying words are not useful, but using both is sometimes the most effective. Wittig says it beautifully with, “The point of art [in this case a photo] is that it is a resonance between intellect and emotion, between conscious and unconscious. Words may not exist, that can describe that resonance, but when we feel it.... we know”.

Works Cited

Wittig, Robert C. Consciousness- Words vs. Pictures. 24 Aug 2000. 11 May 2011            <http://www.robertwittig.com/paper3.html>.

Bronstein, Paula. Asia Pacific. 12 Mar 2011. Getty Images. 11 May 2011 <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/12/world/asia/20110312_japan.ht            ml#41>.