Realistic portrayal of war dead in images

[KPavia]

Re: Realistic portrayal of war dead in images

I just want to second the views expressed here and to add my little bit.

I think that one SHOULD feel some sort of repulsion at such an accurate depiction of war dead. That is only natural and expected, in my opinion. We, as living historians, should be the last ones to take lightly the human toll of the civil war, and of any war for that matter.

But as Curt has stated, reenacting the civil war means just that- reenacting the war. If one desires to be a true, well rounded historian of the war, then one cannot be picky of what is reenacted and what is not.

With that said, to me, what is more repulsing than a depiction of dead soldiers is the reenacting of shooting other men. If we are to shun these photos of dead men, then logically we must shun the reenactment of what killed those men in the first place.

And living history would be strictly prohibited to nothing more than giving shooting demonstrations and tours. Who would be satisfied with just that?

[musketbal]

Re: Realistic portrayal of war dead in images

Mr. Lloyd....Thank you for saying what would be difficult for me to put into words. Thank you for your service to our Country! I hope all is well with you and yours.

Respectfuly,
Brent Conner

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Realistic portrayal of war dead in images

Hallo!

In my heresies...

"Death study" type images were a historical aspect of the Civil War, and perhaps less "macabre" than the Victorian fashion of having images made of dead family members or preserving locks of their hair as "memento mori."
And perhaps a reflection on the Victorian views of death and dying as a not so distant or santized part of life we moderns have moved away from.

IMHO...

"Death Study" images are less "provocative" than our reenacting culture use of simulated pain, suffering, and death displays of acting in all instances and theatrics in other instances.
Especially those reenactments were the announcer proclaims the "dead" to rise at the end of the "battle."

Reenacting war and death is a topic in its own right.

Having seen and been around too many dead people in my time, IMHO simulated images of CW dead are a historical part of the Civil War, just as reluctantly, sham battles need depictions of sham combat death to be unreal and realish at the same time.
Or so it has evolved as a hobby over the years in most quarters.

IMHO still...

To balk at recreated historical images but not recreated battle deaths is to
swallow camels and strain gnats.

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt
Heretic

(In past and present wars since, the government has censored combat injuries and deaths so as not to overly disturb civiians at their dinner tables. Recently, more "graphic" World War II stills and film have just been "uncensored" and released sixty-some years after the fact... The effects of high explosive blast and heat and .30 rifle and .50 MG rounds on the human body can be and are quite graphic...)

[Johnny Lloyd]

All:

Okay, I'm 'gonna go there'...

Normally, I eschew what seem to me to be trivial 'hobby issues', but this month's AC image (of excellent quality from an excellent artist with acute originality, Mr. Wendell Decker) really plays in my mind. When I saw the image, I was amazed that it wasn't an original. I showed it to a friend who is not in the hobby and he said at first glance 'Isn't that morbid?'.

On one hand, I read some postings by individuals that referred to images like this as 'borderline disrespectful'. I can see what these people mean and I respect their opinions greatly. Being someone that has seen actual real war deaths, I asked myself how I would feel if I saw casualties from the war I recently fought in a recreated image no matter how noble the intentions. On that note, I felt a bit repulsed by the submittal.

But...

On the other hand, I felt that the picture grabbed my mind so deeply that it made me remember that what we are doing in our hobby once happened in real life to people of extraordinary courage, both blue and grey. For this point, I have to thank all of those that made such a picture possible.

Gents, I'm not trying to stir-the-waters or 'lift shift' in the nest of our wonderful hobby, but from what I read in the posts here, there was an interesting point/counterpoint presented in the thread accompanying the July image submittal: How do we morally and emotionally deal with the concept of realistically portraying the dead in recreated period images?

From my own research, I know people of the 19th Century period used the relatively new medium of photography to not just commemorate war dead or a historical battle, but also to satisfy public curiousity (sometimes a lurid curiousity at worst) as to what death in war really looked like to those on the homefront that had never seen such action before.

So, in effect, our ancestors of the period used photography in a way that we recreate period images like this one... a) to communicate what war looked like to a mass crowd that have never seen it and b) because pictures like this communicate human emotion. (Notice here I fail to stress that original war-dead pictures back in the 19th century sold to the masses quite well... I'd like to keep this on a philosophical, not base, level.)

Maybe it's because I'm a combat veteran, but I feel a strange repulsion, but concidentally a strong affinity to this picture. On one hand, I think of what it represents very realistically, but I know it is staged... that all of those men in the picture went home at the end of the event and dead Americans in the real pictures did not.

On the other hand, I think that by realistic portrayals as we can possibly imagine and do, we as living historians keep the tragedy of the American Civil War fresh in 21st Century peoples' mindset. Our country and the world should never forget the sacrifices of what people did to preserve our freedoms we cherish so dearly today. I feel there is a certain 'strange nobility' in attempting to recreate and remember such ordinary Americans in extraordinary times that made our country as great as it is today as faithfully and realistically as our personal resources allow.

In real war, soldiers have to grieve silently within themselves when their comrades or other innocents die in war and one doesn't want to keep thinking about it. But at the same time, a soldier wants to commemorate their comrades and see fit that the war deads' memories don't die... that people continue to remember the sacrifices that these men made bravely for God, family, friends and country.

Mods, I know this is a valid yet dicey, possible emotionally-filled subject, so if ya'll feel so inclined or see the boat moving in a wrong direction, please do what you must. This was a thing that has been bugging my mind today and I thought I might ask the mature opinions of those that are on this forum what they felt about the subject.

There are no 'right' answers, just feelings here. I can see both sides of the issue very clearly.

Also, I'm not knocking the image in any way, it is of wonderful quality and very deserving of being on the AC... as Mr. Decker's work always is.

All the best- Johnny Lloyd:wink_smil

PS- I am also not the 'offended' type... so no, I'm not 'offended' about the pic in any way- just that there is a debate within my head on what I should think about some very sensitive subjects that we deal with in this hobby such as this one.