The Prompt

3. Images of war walk the line between calling upon the viewer to take action and rendering him a voyeur, an onlooker who takes pleasure in looking. Sontag has compelling things to say on this subject, asserting that the French theories of spectacle applied to war are “shockingly provincial.” Choose a series of war photographs that compelled us to look. Did the photos change the course of events? By what standard can a war image get our attention? Or have war photos lost their power to move us?