People have been hearing the
clichéd expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” for years; however, in
regards to news articles in the media circulation this is a valid point. A picture
can make or break a story depending on how the audience perceives that image.
The picture is meant to evoke emotions from the reader and create a harmonious
relationship between the texts. The author of a certain article must choose a
picture that they believe will not only attract attention to the piece, but
also create a visual representation for their words.
While
browsing the Huffington Post I came across an article titled “Eric Filipe
Gaskin, Kitten ‘Mauler-Declawer’, Sentenced For Animal Cruelty”. The caption to the picture remarked “Horror:
Man Sentenced For Shocking Kitten Abuse” and underneath was a picture of two
small kittens playing in a flower field. The immediate reaction to such an
image would be one of disgust towards the perpetrator. The reader would find
himself or herself overcome with sadness for the abused kittens and click on
the link to fuel their curiosity of how a human being could perform such an
act. These photogenic kittens do not represent the ones that Gaskin had abused,
but rather the idea of animal abuse in general.
The
article is likely to get a lot of attention throughout the web because of the
picture associated with it. Pictures of baby animals often cause people to stop
what they’re doing and examine the creature’s features. In this case, one may
be astonished to learn that such an innocent and picturesque animal could
possibly be “mauled”, as the caption suggests. This type of article and picture
duo is, as morbid as it sounds, perfect for sharing with other’s on the Internet
and will ensure quite a bit of traffic because of the shocking topic. Upon
further inspection of the story, the reader will discover that the kittens in
the photo have nothing to do with the kittens in the article other than the
fact that they’re both from the same species. Gaskin, the kitten mauler, was
sentenced because of the imminent death that pursued his declawing of his
daughter’s kittens. The article did not take into account whether or not Gaskin
was financially able to get the kittens declawed properly at a vet’s or if the
act was done out of malice. The reader goes straight to assuming that this man
is a criminal and prison is the justice he deserves. Like most articles, the
reader is only subjected to one side. We only know what the author wants us to;
in this case we are lead to believe that a man has brutally murdered the
picturesque idea of kittens.
I
believe that the image beckons a wave of sympathy towards the kittens and anger
towards the man who hurt them, whether or not it was intentional. This
combination of text and image is a sure fire way for the author to get
attention. The fact that a picturesque image was used rather than a realistic
portrayal of the kittens that were harmed is slightly concerning. If these
kittens were relatively unattractive would the story still get the same amount
of attention? Sometimes a picture is worth so much more than the contents it
represents.
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