The Horrors of War
This book-length essay is primarily focused on the use of war photography as a method of making viewers aware of the horrors and violence of war, often intended as a pacifist tool. Accordingly, Sontag spends a significant amount of time dwelling upon the atrocities of war, specifically as they have been recorded by various photographers such as Robert Capa and Ernst Friedrich. She includes rather graphic descriptions of various images, including wounds, deaths, slaughters, military brothels, and other such unpleasant scenes.
The Effectiveness of War Photography
As this essay is mainly concerned with war photography and its use, it seems only natural that Sontag goes into great detail about the specific and technical effectiveness of war photography as an inspiring medium for change. She deals with framing, spacing, composition, and other photographic elements in her discussion of the art form, as well as the differences between professional and amateur photography and its accessibility to all. Throughout the essay, she demonstrates that such war photography has a certain level of effective impact, but it will ultimately fail to achieve its goal of replicating a firsthand experience to those far removed from the battle lines.
Imagery in Culture
Another one of Sontag's main arguments is the over-saturation of images in modern culture. With the advent of photography and digital media, people around the world (especially Americans) are bombarded with hundreds of images every day, resulting in a sort of desensitization to these images, especially violent ones. People are thus becoming callous as a result of oversaturation, with the effect of significantly detracting from the effectiveness of war photography. With the development of television, the problem was advanced and temporarily solved, but it was quickly discovered that its encouragement of short attention spans has actually exacerbated the problem.
