I ran across an article last week that is very interesting. The writer Jeff Parker hits on some important arguments on the impact that an image have on people.
As a photojournalist I hope that my work impacts people into motivation. That they feel inspired to do something. Here is an except from the article
“Images matter. They transform us. They shape us. They stay with us.
Beginning in 1942, Disney’s Bambi produced an interesting phenomenon. The years following the theatrical release of the movie witnessed a change in the public perception of hunting. In the eyes of their children, dads were no longer simply going to shoot deer, but rather to kill Bambi’s mom.
Dads didn’t want to be the “bad guy,” so many stopped hunting. Almost overnight, the perception of animals changed from simple beasts to complex beings with emotions and rights.
Since then, the desire to preserve nature and its inhabitants has only continued to increase. To be fair, other organizations, such as the Audobon Society (incorporated in 1905), had been promoting the importance of respecting and caring for wildlife for years.
However, the negative attention hunting received because of Bambi was a tipping point. This family film, seen by so many, infused hunting, an age-old pastime, with new emotion, and vilified the faceless hunter.
Watching a hunter kill an animal on the big screen, and seeing the pain it caused Bambi, profoundly affected people. Attitudes changed first, and changes in behavior soon followed. This phenomenon has come to be known as The Bambi Effect, and it teaches us that images matter.”
Happy Tuesday!
