The reason I chose this photo to
pick a theme about was because Rothstein was told to base most of his pictures
on mothers and children to demonstrate child welfare rights. The major theme
that I have gathered from this picture is obedience. The kids in this nursery
are forced to take a nap at a certain time. Everything about this photo is
controlled. These children were controlled with everything they did in their
life; they didn’t have a decision to make, or any opinions. The theme obedience
fits this picture very well, because the children led lives of obedience. They
worked and done everything they were instructed to do by others.
The photos that were taken by
Rothstein were faked; he was told by Stryker to make them have the image of a
“positive side.” So, the photos he took of the camps were planned and he only
go the pictures that he thought looked good or their image. When they didn’t
even work, they were not successful in quieting all of the harassment and
dissatisfaction talk from the people in Washington. This photo’s theme I have
chosen as obedience fits it well, because everyone else also seen it as a
dissatisfaction and it was a bad image on the camps and Washington didn’t want
people treated like that; forced under obedience. Who knows what pictures he
could have taken that would have shown what other obedience was occurring in
the camps? After all Rothstein said that people didn’t have any western
hospitality anymore, so I mean it was obvious something was going on. These
kids may not feel like they have to do what they are told about everything but,
from this picture it seems like they are being told when to sleep, or take their
afternoon nap. So to me this photo deserves the theme obedience. 
Jesicca,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree, and see where you got the theme of obedience with this picture. The control within it is very clear. It is sad that the children did not have a voice, or thought in the things of their daily lives. I would say it probably made a bunch of voiceless adults thereafter. It is very misleading that Rothstein was to take photos this way, and make them something different than the background environment they really had. When I look at this picture, I can even see disguised pain. I feel that these children, as well as their families were hurt, but were not to show it. Good decision on the theme of this picture!
If I was simply looking at this picture my thoughts would be "What a sweet photo of babies sleeping." However, since I know about the labor camps and that the photographer was sent to capture only the happy moments of these people, it changes my perspective entirely. This picture then becomes ominous, as if these children are being brain washed and forced to go to sleep at a specific time. They are being forced to be happy or to all be uniform, rather than individuals. For example, they all sleep in the same room and in the exact same beds. I'm not sure if I agree with the theme being obedience because I am sure that there was defiance and that some of the children possessed rebellious natures. I think a better theme would be something along the lines of "an assembly line", meaning that people in power were trying to force people to act a certain way and for all of them to be exactly alike, the way items on an assembly line are the exact same as one another.
ReplyDeleteI like how Jesicca combines both artifice and control in her analysis, two concepts that are intimately connected. On the one hand, I can see how children orderly sleeping---getting their rest---would appeal to audiences concerned about child welfare. For that matter, it is important to remember that order was valued at this time of economic chaos and uncertainty. However, the over-produced, rigid nature of these children sleeping does feel disconcerting when read through your interpretive lens. What role do you think obedience might have had in this camp? Was it just for children? Who has control?
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