Sontag's Lament
Emotion, Ethics, and Photography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12910499 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sarah Parsons (0000-0002-1238-1360, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 289-302 |
| Publication date | 2009-10-10 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Photography and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1751-4517 • E-ISSN: 1751-4525 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2752/175145109x12532077132356 |
| OpenAlex | W2081393655 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 3 |
Rare is the discussion of ethics and photography that does not reference Susan Sontag's groundbreaking collection of essays On Photography (1977). It was this accessible, sweeping book, quietly infused with the ideas of Barthes and Benjamin, which presented one of the first comprehensive explorations of the ethical challenges posed by the ubiquity of photography in a consumerist society. Sontag's arguments about the power and danger of photography to anesthetize its viewers are well accepted in relation to photojournalism and documentary although they were modified somewhat in her 2003 Regarding the Pain of Others. This article considers the complex ways Sontag linked photography, emotion, and ethics with particular focus on her scathing critique of Diane Arbus's work
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Lament · Literature · Photography · Photojournalism · Power (physics · Relation (database · Sociology · Visual arts · Computer Science · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Photography and Visual Culture · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Citations per year | 0.62 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |