below the poverty line in Rwanda in 2000. To put this in perspective, according to the same site, in that year the population living below the poverty line in the United States was slightly under thirteen percent.As a result of the economy the health is an issue as well. The biggest killers in Rwanda are Malaria and respiratory diseases, which in developed countries are rarely causes of death. The life expectancy in Rwanda in the year 2000 was thirty nine years. Compared to in the United States where the life expectancy that same year was seventy seven years, this is a tragically low statistic. The economy also affects the education available. Unfortunately, many of the teachers are not qualified and are mainly using poor teaching materials, resulting in a high dropout rate and a low literacy rate.
On top of the grim economy, the country struggles with a pai
nful history and an outstanding rivalry. There is strong division and resulting conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis, two ethnic groups in Rwanda. It led to a tragic event in 1994. Eight hundred thousand Rwandans were killed in just one hundred days. The conflict is not ended and the wounds are fresh. This also strained the already bleak economy and left the land, needed for agriculture, damaged.The photograph "Sitting on Rail" was taken in 2001, at a time when Rwanda did not even have a sewage system and just five years after the genocide. The economy had improved from right after the genocide, but was still at an extreme low. "Sitting on Rail" displays the despair the children of Rwanda have lived with and the resulting loss of hope. The photograph appeals to pathos and logos, by means of coloration, lighting, vectors of attention, framing and cropping, and contrast with the norm to demonstrate this argument. It is not a plea for pity, but for sympathy and help.
Children are often associated with bright and vibrant hues. However, the hues in “Sitting on Rail” consist of a lot of gray. There is gray in the sky, the railing, the cement, and in some of the boys’ clothing. Even the water, which is often shown as blue or green, is gray in this scene. This creates an appeal to pathos for sympathy, because the hue of gray is often connected with sadness or despair. As an effect, the gray sky provokes a sad, somber feeling that sets the mood for the photograph. There are other hues, in the children’s clothing, like red and green, which are not linked with sadness, even linked with happy, positive feelings, but these hues are not very bright, they are dark. This results in them having no affect on the viewer’s attention, or changing the effects of the overwhelming gray hues.
The photograph uses natural lighting, which makes the photo look realistic, like it is natural and not posed. Because it does not look as if it has been staged, it reminds the viewer this is a reality for these children. It is another example of an appeal to pathos to move the viewers to feel sympathy. If it appeared to be staged at all it would not suggest a strong sense of sympathy in the viewer. The natural lighting makes the boys and the pathway in the foreground look much darker than the sky and the water in the background, which develops the attention on the gray hues even more. In this sense, the natural lighting enhances the gray hues, and establishes a focus on the background.
The boys are all facing away from the camera, making the vectors of attention toward the gray sky. This makes the focus on the background even more compelling. The background is not exciting, all one hue and quite bland, but the many things pointing toward the background, like the natural lighting and the vectors of attention, is able to make it a focus. It is also making an appeal to pathos, causing the viewer feel as if they are just an onlooker looking at the scene in the photo, not as if they are involved with it. It does not show the boys' faces or expressions, so the audience does not get to feel as if they understand the children or what they are thinking. This provokes sympathy instead of empathy. The sympathy is a result of the boys' posture. They are slumped on to the railing, or on their arms. This attitude mirrors the sad, somber mood of their surroundings.
Their surroundings are not only gray but vast. Due to the framing of the picture, the sky and the railing look as if they go on for miles. This is because it is taken at an angle. The immense amount of gray in the unending sky mirrors the boys’ lives, grim circumstances in their past that also haunt their future. It is cropped to include multiple children who have all had the same experience. The child just walking in to the picture creates an idea that the children the mood or situation affects could continuously be added to. The framing of the picture shows the lack of hope of the people experiencing the economic trouble in Rwanda.
Especially in modernized civilizations, people are accustomed to seeing photographs of children at play, interacting with friends, or with a smile on their face. This photograph appeals to logos, using a strong contradiction to the expected. The boys in the pictures are not even interacting with each other. The children in this photograph are just staring; gazing off into the horizon, thinking or reflecting. This is a very strong appeal to pathos, evoking compa
ssion for these kids and sorrow for the thoughts that burden their minds. Sad children are especially heart wrenching, because children are known for their innocents and the joy they can find in the smallest things. It is often a quality that others are envious of. When that quality is missing, one cannot help but to feel for its loss.The overwhelming gray hues, the use of natural lighting and vectors of attention focusing on the gray sky, the boys’ activity compared to expectations, the framing and cropping, displaying a relationship with the photograph and the reality, all in “Sitting on Rail”, plus the contradiction to the expectations of photographs with children, make appeals to pathos and logos. These appeals show the somber attitude and dreary future in Rwanda and ask the viewer to sympathize for the children, but not to attempt to understand or feel empathetic towards them. These children have seen a lot, possibly witnessing the genocide but certainly seeing the struggle to provide for the basic needs in life.
By feeling sympathy toward the children, or even generalizing to anyone in need of help, the viewers are moved to provide aid for these communities. It inspires charity towards any area containing poverty. In this situation, even a small impact can lead to a much larger one. A second, more positive, accomplishment of sympathy towards the children in this photograph is to make the viewer feel appreciative. Viewing the troubles someo
ne else faces in their life often inspires one to feel grateful for the things they have. These two feelings are not separate from each other, often the work in tandem. The act of charity, leads to grateful, which inspires more charity, etc. This photograph has a sad, somber mood, yet it can move its viewers to sponsor a generous, positive world.
No comments:
Post a Comment