This image is simultaneously funny and creepy; the way the person who made the image photo-shopped the rubber ducks did a good enough job that it hits that point in the uncanny valley, where the proportions and perspective look just convincing enough to trick the eye. It destabilizes the fear which terrorists can instill in people by replacing their heads with rubber ducks, making the terrorist effort seem inconsequential, but at the same time forcing the viewer of the image to recognize that these photos do actually document members of a terrorist movement.
I saw these images when they were first being popularized in the media, and I like them now more than I did when I first came across them on sites like The Guardian and The New York Times. While I found the images to be quite funny, part of me couldn’t help being a bit offended by them. After all, doesn’t it seem a bit disrespectful to parody members of a terror group responsible for the death of thousands of people across the globe? Upon further thought and reading, however, as well as with a conversation I had with some friends, who felt the same way as I did in the beginning, I look at these superimposed ducks as being perhaps more subversive and powerful than I originally thought. In parodying ISIS, even via something as seemingly silly as placing duck heads over their own, it takes the power and fear away from these men who inflict terror and destruction everywhere they go. Perhaps these images won’t do much in terms of societal response (though, is that really the point of art?), it does take at least some sense of fear away from them. I hate to bring up a quote from the Harry Potter films, but the idea that “fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself” (in reference to Voldemort, not ISIS), seems appropriate here—as long as we scurry away from the mere mention of ISIS, or create a culture of intimidation of them, we only serve to empower and bolster their movement and ideas.
I'm glad our conversation about these images changed your mind, indeed that Harry Potter quote is quite appropriate. But yet, even if we understand these images to be funny, and that senseless fear is unhealthy let us not forget to be rational in situations like these. I remember many conversations with my grandfather who grew up as a teenager during the Nazi regime, telling me people simply accepted the way the politics and society evolved. Especially as a developing child accepting this situation to be normal which grew into a potent ideology. But as we know ideology cannot be fought with guns or war so maybe we should distribute these images to people in the areas affected? Idk if thats a good idea or not.
One of ISIS's greatest strenghts is in their use of social media to spread not only their agenda and persuade people to join them, but also to sow fear. In class, we've mentioned how they take advantage of apps and social platforms, and I think these images undercut both the fear they inspire and their purported hold in social media. Photoshopping rubber ducks onto the heads of ISIS fighters and toilet brushes in place guns is not just a funny way to insult a hostile group responsible for thousands of deaths. These images confront ISIS on a ground that they consider their own, almost as much as any physical territory. People are capable of fighting back in both reality and its virtual counterpart. ISIS's online propoganda is just one more tactic that needs to be addressed, and while these images are definitely not something the government would come up with, they do so effectively.
This image is simultaneously funny and creepy; the way the person who made the image photo-shopped the rubber ducks did a good enough job that it hits that point in the uncanny valley, where the proportions and perspective look just convincing enough to trick the eye. It destabilizes the fear which terrorists can instill in people by replacing their heads with rubber ducks, making the terrorist effort seem inconsequential, but at the same time forcing the viewer of the image to recognize that these photos do actually document members of a terrorist movement.
ReplyDeleteI saw these images when they were first being popularized in the media, and I like them now more than I did when I first came across them on sites like The Guardian and The New York Times. While I found the images to be quite funny, part of me couldn’t help being a bit offended by them. After all, doesn’t it seem a bit disrespectful to parody members of a terror group responsible for the death of thousands of people across the globe? Upon further thought and reading, however, as well as with a conversation I had with some friends, who felt the same way as I did in the beginning, I look at these superimposed ducks as being perhaps more subversive and powerful than I originally thought. In parodying ISIS, even via something as seemingly silly as placing duck heads over their own, it takes the power and fear away from these men who inflict terror and destruction everywhere they go. Perhaps these images won’t do much in terms of societal response (though, is that really the point of art?), it does take at least some sense of fear away from them. I hate to bring up a quote from the Harry Potter films, but the idea that “fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself” (in reference to Voldemort, not ISIS), seems appropriate here—as long as we scurry away from the mere mention of ISIS, or create a culture of intimidation of them, we only serve to empower and bolster their movement and ideas.
ReplyDelete--Nicolas Ochart
I'm glad our conversation about these images changed your mind, indeed that Harry Potter quote is quite appropriate. But yet, even if we understand these images to be funny, and that senseless fear is unhealthy let us not forget to be rational in situations like these. I remember many conversations with my grandfather who grew up as a teenager during the Nazi regime, telling me people simply accepted the way the politics and society evolved. Especially as a developing child accepting this situation to be normal which grew into a potent ideology. But as we know ideology cannot be fought with guns or war so maybe we should distribute these images to people in the areas affected? Idk if thats a good idea or not.
DeleteFabio U.
One of ISIS's greatest strenghts is in their use of social media to spread not only their agenda and persuade people to join them, but also to sow fear. In class, we've mentioned how they take advantage of apps and social platforms, and I think these images undercut both the fear they inspire and their purported hold in social media. Photoshopping rubber ducks onto the heads of ISIS fighters and toilet brushes in place guns is not just a funny way to insult a hostile group responsible for thousands of deaths. These images confront ISIS on a ground that they consider their own, almost as much as any physical territory. People are capable of fighting back in both reality and its virtual counterpart. ISIS's online propoganda is just one more tactic that needs to be addressed, and while these images are definitely not something the government would come up with, they do so effectively.
ReplyDelete