Saigon Execution (Eddie Adams)

The photograph above portrays the exact moment the bullet from the gun of Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loanenters enters a Viet Cong prisoner’s skull. A soldier watches, grimacing from the shock of the matter, the repulsion of it all.

In Susan Sontag “Looking at War Part II”, the concept of suffering is examined and toiled around with. Here, we see the epitome of suffering: physical manifestation of a timeless action as well as the reaction of those surrounding. Here, suffering is documented to show the brutality of war and also to cue a reaction from America about their participation in the Vietnam War. Moreover, as Sontag states, “war photographers inherited what glamour going to war still had among the anti-bellicose, especially when the war was felt to be one of those rare conflicts in which someone of conscience would be impelled to take side”(Sonatg). Here, the Vietnam War is a hot ticket issue in America. Rather than take a side in the war, many wished for the United States to draw out and not take a side. Photos like these help to establish a point; as war goes on and sides are conflicting, there will be more of a push to be on the right side of history. Nobody wants to be associated with pain and suffering like tis, especially in a more democratic nation like America who have seen war erase generations before. Seeing events like these surface in the Vietnam War, even as America tries to aid in the fight against North Vietnam divide and push for efforts to stop the fighting. In fact, this very photograph very much contributed to the then ongoing protest over whether South Vietnam’s fight is worthwhile.

To agree with Sontag I wonder if suffering portrayed in war photographs have more to do with bringing light to how unglamorous war is than to show out widespread it is. Perhaps, a little bit a both. there has to be a combination there, of de-glamorizing war and showing how suffering occurs more often in war than people think. It’s a balance to convince through photography; one must deliver their message to the correct audience and make sure the image is ghastly enough to impact an audience.