The image that make history

"The image that makes history" was the topic that was taught in the last lecture in THR216.Professor asked us to write our thought on two of the pictures that he showed.

The first picture is a photo of a father sitting on a couch and holding a baby on his thigh.

Most students in the class said that base on the way the father holding and staring at the baby, the father did not love the baby at all. One of the reasons they thought of was that may be because the baby was a girl and the father preferred to have a baby boy. The other reason they thought of was that may be the father thought that taking care of a baby was a woman's duty and not his. However, I have a second thought. Perhaps our assumptions were all wrong. Perhaps the father indeed love his child, but he just did not know how to take care of it. Back in the old time, it was always woman's job to take care of a baby. Men never had a chance to know how to take care of a baby, nor they were taught how to hold a baby. He was staring at the baby might be because he was too scared of it. He had to stay alert and stay still to make sure the baby was comfortable.


The second picture is a photo of a vehicle which indeed was a home for people during the depression period in America. (not sure if I am right with the timing)

Professor asked us a question whether people live inside the vehicle be happy. My answer was... no. I am not a materialistic person. Some part of me does agree that a person who live under that environment would have happiness. Money is not the source of happiness. People who are poor could have a happier life then those wealthy people. However, when we think about a family, a family of size three, a family of size four...it is impossible for a family live under an iron like that. They would not be happy. They would not feel secure for their "home." It is possible for a person live under that situation be happy, but it will never be a family.

All in all, my conclusion for the day is that a picture can tell a story. Yet, it is by how people interpolate it.
A picture with a sun hanging on a mountain. Some people would say it is a sunset; some people would say it is a sunrise. Nobody would know the real answer except the person who draw it.