Nora Ephron The Boston Photographs Analysis

Improved Essays
The Justifiable Act of the Publication of a Picture
Pictures cannot be reenacted; therefore, this is why photographs are cherished. This statement rings valid, and many people, including Nora Ephron, can agree with it. Moreover, Ephron wrote a final essay called “The Boston Photographs”, and she mentions an occurrence where a woman was killed and the photographs of her falling were published in news articles. People believe that these pictures were private. However, Ephron believes that obscenities should not be censored for the public because it represents certain issues well. A similar theme of death appeared in a recent photograph of the bloody death of many Syrian inhabitants from the air strikes of the Syrian government. All in all, although
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Furthermore, the emotions on the people’s faces when they were around the body were melancholic. The gore of the bodies on the floor represented a sorrowful mood. Just by looking at the Syrian’s hardships, the viewer’s natural instinct may lead them to sympathize with the Syrians. Likewise, Ephron says, “They are pictures of death in action, of that split second when luck runs out, and it is impossible to look at them without feeling their extraordinary impact and remembering, in an almost subconscious way, the morbid fantasy of falling, falling off a building, falling to one’s death” (730). Ephron patently repeats “falling” three times to emphasize the ultimate downfall of falling: death. Consequently, that “extraordinary impact” refers to one having an eye opening moment of these images, which results in having emotional tensions. This quote can apply to the picture taken of the dead bodies of many Syrians; bloody bodies being wrapped in shrouds, wounded people, and loved ones coming together to sob gives off a tragic tone. The pitiful feeling that readers may have after looking at this image may not be the same if they were to just read about this event. This feeling can have a strong impact on the viewers, which may lead them to see their surroundings differently. Thus, the publication of the dead bodies of Syrians is, in fact,

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