Is it all that bad? Our Fixation on the extreme.

S

scottmartin1988

Suspended / Banned
Messages
8
Edit My Images
No
Hi guys, this is my first post so go easy on me! I recently wrote in my blog about a certain philosophy in photography, particularly in documentary photography. I think that some of you may find it interesting...

'Type in ‘Documentary Photography’ into Google Images and immediately a world highly saturated with extreme violence and despair fills the screen. Is this really a true representation of the world that we live in? In Photography (and everything else for that matter) we seem fixated on the extreme. Our vision is constantly bombarded with images of war and famine to the point that we begin to believe that there is little else. But we are only shown so many of these pictures because we have this craving for negative stimuli. We can never get enough.

The most beautiful things are often right under our noses. To me at least, the local cheese rolling festival can provide photo opportunities that are just as revealing about the human condition as a scene of domestic violence can. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that these things require focus…

but so does the cheese festival.'
 
Have you ever been to a cheese rolling festival? Violence, treachery, blood, gore, bribery, corruption and the rest. They make FIFA look like paragons of virtue :D

As one new boy to another, welcome aboard and congratulations on a thought provoking first post.
 
The news is, has always been, and probably always will be, exactly the same. Every night it's wars, murders, rapes, recessions, scandals.

The public get what the public want. It's strange how society takes more interest in other peoples' suffering than in their happiness. I'm sure there's theories why this is the case, I have no idea. I do know, though, that it most certainly is the case.
 
Thanks for replying guys.

Stratman - Yes I have been to one so I know it wasn't the best example... but at least they willingly and happily suffer as a community!

The Boz - Yes I know it is definitely the case and it is an issue that is rooted so deeply in society. I know that it probably won't ever change. It is just such a shame that people can't enjoy their own happiness. You put it so well so thank you!

By the way, I have recently started a new blog that is sort of dedicated to this issue. Am I allowed to post a link to it without it being classed as spam?!
 
The Boz said:
....Every night it's wars, murders, rapes, recessions, scandals....
Click to expand...

You live in Rugby too? :lol:

I suppose the 'extreme' captures the attention of the public easier. Stories of goodness and well-being may not be as big a talking point in some circles. But a good old shoot out, dictatorship or vicious crime makes it easier for the media (especially TV) to spin things out to keep viewing numbers high.
 
Yes I think that is definitely one of the main things, it gets attention easier. Just look at films like 'The Human Centipede'. Appalling, dreadful film but it got peoples attention because of the shock factor. It seems that it isn't enough to tap someone on the shoulder any more. You have to grab them by the throat!

I have probably taken that quote from another film... Se7en maybe? So I realise that I am by no means above being grabbed by the shock factor, it is an issue throughout society!
 
The way I see it, the way I see all of the media in fact, is that they are there primarily to sell newspapers. Money. That's it, that's the big spinner. I believe very little of what I see and read in the media. It's so often twisted and spun in the name of making more money that I find it very difficult to trust anything I'm 'told'. Margin Gaye got it pretty right when he said "believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear".

As I said, the public get what the public want. If printing stories about wars and savage crimes sells more papers, then that's what they'll print. It's very simple. What isn't simple however, by any stretch of the imagination, is why the horror stories seem to be what the people want. Yet people themselves are generally decent and "good". It's a glaring contradiction. British society I think is particularly bad for lapping up the controversies. We don't half love a good scare-story. The media are simply catering to it.
 
Puppy dogs and fluffy kittens are boring.

Snowdrops and daffodils
butterflies and bees
sailboats and fishermen
things of the sea
wishing-wells
wedding bells
early morning dew

are boring, so is Dana ;)
 
Hi Scott and welcome aboard.

It's just human nature I'm afraid. We're drawn to the extraordinary rather than the mundane and that blood-thirsty streak is nothing new.

A few hundred years ago public floggings and executions were a good family day out, before that there are countless examples of religious art focusing on the crucifixion and death and even further back we have ancient carvings depicting victories in battle.

scottmartin1988 said:
By the way, I have recently started a new blog that is sort of dedicated to this issue. Am I allowed to post a link to it without it being classed as spam?!
Click to expand...

TBH we're always a little suspicious of new members who sign up and seem to want to promote their websites / blogs.
I'm not suggesting that you're one of them, but it's for good reason. We do get a number of people who sign up just to pimp their blog and then are never heard from again.

If you have your own photography website or photography related blog, then by all means add a link to it in your signature as a lot of other members do (no links to commercial services to photographers though ;) )
It avoids any possible suspicion of chopped pork products and it'll show up in your posts once per page, provided that your post is a sufficient length :thumbs:
 
I know that its something that has always been deeply rooted in our nature throughout history and this will never change.

I really don't want people to get me wrong, I totally understand that these things need a huge amount of focus because they are incredibly important issues. I basically just wish that we lived in a world where these things didn't require so much focus because they weren't such big issues. I would like to say that everybody wishes this but sadly it is human nature as you say. We crave it.

The Boz raised a great point about the majority of people being decent and good. It is a really strange contradiction that is so complex.
 
Oh and thanks for letting me know about the whole posting links thing. I assure you im not just here to promote my blog! It is just that I go into a bit more detail there and i thought it might be interesting to anybody who shares my views.
 
The Boz said:
The news is, has always been, and probably always will be, exactly the same. Every night it's wars, murders, rapes, recessions, scandals.
Click to expand...

see also ancient Greek myth and histories (read Graves and Homer) and large chunks of The Bible.

Plus ça change...
 
they touched on this breifly in the latest episode of The Grid.

When asked if they ('the people'/society) wanted a news propgram to be good news, or bad news; naturally people responded "Good News!". I believe the program was in Florida, but it didnt last long, and they had to revert to 'normal' news, ie: bad. People just werent interested in seeing 'good news' after the novelty wore off.

Unfortunatly, its human nature.
 
I guess its how deep you want to go,you may take a photo of a lovely landscape,but beneath the surface,a battle for life & death is going on among the life that live their its just nature.

What draw people to photo,the dark side of human nature,and others to photo a cheese festival,they both have a place in the photo world.

Its just who we are.
 
Posting to subscribe. This is definitely something i'm interested in too. Please pm me your blog.

I don't understand the fascination with bad news, although I do love a grim photo-story myself, but i'm not sure it's connected to our tastes in fiction as hinted at in an earlier post. Fiction and non-fiction are two very different beasts.

I don't see why the News (docu photog) can't have a balanced mixture of good and bad. In fact, normally the free newspapers tend to have a decent balance, which supports the theory that bad news sells.
 
Good news requires no further involvement, there is no compulsion to act or outrage at a grave injustice from the viewer. I, like pretty much everyone else I know, get no kick out of bad news, no blood lust or fulfilling of a craving for negative stimuli. The fact that we have people who often risk their lives to bring us bad news, and that such a wide percentage of the population keeps up with the news and seek involvement when a story is compelling enough, is a uniquely positive human trait.

I'd hate it to be the other way, where perhaps a photojournalist has a cause they want to be bring to light and in doing so risk their life to document it... only to find out that people would prefer to remain ignorant and see more water skiing hamsters on the news.
 
Rod - I am not talking about 'water skiing hamsters' here. I am talking about deep and meaningful things. Do you ever watch Russell Howard's Good News? Well at the end of each show he shows a minute of a really incredible, positive and MEANINGFUL story. I think that it is unfair to suggest that the opposite of the negative stimuli is 'snowdrops and daffodils' as someone else said.
 
I wasn't trying to say water skiing hamsters or skateboarding dogs are the opposite of negative stimuli. News should have nothing to do with prescribing stimuli. Bad news resonates with people because of empathy not bloodlust, and good photographers are those who can bring out the human story amongst the chaos or danger that surrounds them. And to go back to your first post, these images aren't shown to us because we "have this craving for negative stimuli" but because the issues surrounding them need to be brought to light. Nor is it right to say that "we can never get enough", it is simply that our empathy won't let us turn away.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top