I remember when this picture first came out. Everyone was stupefied by this young girl's beauty. There was certainly something so mystical and fierce about her, and it was revealed through those glaring green eyes and soft brown skin.I just found this current picture of her, juxtaposing the now with the then to show viewers how Afghani life has stolen away innocence and opportunity from this young girl. I see this picture and I feel sad, but I also feel confused because I do not know what my sadness is directed at. Is it at the sight of time and the harshness of life bearing so visibly on her face? Is it at the realization that beauty is fleeting? Or is it because this photograph is using a natural part of the life cycle--aging-- as a weapon against Afghani society? I did my background research on the article that accompanied this photo: I wanted to find out what the aspiration or intention was for producing this before and after picture of the girl with green eyes before going off on a tirade about the subliminal messages it delivered. As it turned out, the author of this picture only had one genuine intention: to find the woman with green eyes and share with his followers what has become of the National Geographic icon. I had to reconsider everything I wrote in response to the feeling this before and after picture invoked. But, after reviewing--a few times-- the documentary on the expedition to finding the woman with green eyes, I realized that regardless of the photographer's and journalists' intention, the message that fell unto laypersons' conscious was indeed deserving of criticism. Here is why:
The strategic montage of the before and after image of the girl/woman with green eyes, does inevitably condition, control, and guide how we perceive Afghanistan. Whether or not it was intentional, the point is that journalism in this country has become (subconsciously) trained to systematically refer to anything Arab as negative. For instance, this photograph ends up sending the message that Afghanistan's culture and society is utterly dysfunctional. While I'm not qualified to argue against or pro the quality of life in that society, or for women in particular, I nevertheless find it very disheartening how much power we give to the assumptions we make from images as the evidences of truth. Generations of flawed journalism coupled with our ignorance are to blame. I wonder, is it arrogance that leads us to believe that what we assume is correct? Or, is that we have been taught to believe only with our eyes instead of believing with our ears? I cannot deny the fact that the aged photo of the girl with green eyes reveals sadness and pain. The documentary makes it a point to show us that she has been through a lot in her lifetime. And when I first saw this comparison I thought "Wow, look at what she has become". But can I confidently know for a fact that her premature aging was because of the perils of Afghani culture as the photo and documentary begs you to think? Therefore, is it ethical to use this before and after photo to transcend the message that Afghani culture can rob women of their beauty, power, and mystique? Any woman, anywhere in this world can be robbed of these qualities--I too can find photos of women from around the world, including right here in the USA, who have aged many years because of the hardships in life. And so what? We age.
This leads to my second point of contention: woman aging is being used to measure quality of life, which is for me, as a woman, a direct offense... it is insulting. And, as I am sitting here trying to find the logic to explain why, I realize that the fact that we are living in a world where beauty is everything, women have become ashamed of aging and have consequently humiliated nature by undergoing ridiculous plastic surgery and botox to prolong their youth, or add value to their existence. Woman of this society are raised by propaganda and commercialism to believe that we are worthless without a physical beauty that is appealing to a man---and I'm not talking about the beauty in the eye of the beholder--I'm talking about the narrow-minded definition of beauty, standardized by Western ideals and promulgated by Western media. I am, therefore, offended because aging is the powerful agent in this photograph that is being used to show shame and invoke pity because the young beauty of the girl with green eyes has faded away as she endured the challenges of womanhood. Aging is what happens to all human kind. And yes, the difficulties of life eventually start to bear on us. But, the wrinkles we form on our faces are triumphant signs of perseverance, wisdom and maturity. So, in what right does anyone have to use this woman's face, or any other woman's face, to say that aging is consequence of a dysfunctional society? Does this mean, then, that a functional society leaves women ageless. And YES, that is the very belief that has permeated this modern Western society of ours, and that is why women today cannot age with grace. Yet, this physical change is natural. It's just what happens to women because that's what women are about: we take on a lifetime of responsibilities, we fight many battles and then we have to stand strong for all those who need us. So if we age in the process, if she aged in the process, how dare we assume she is a victim--especially when this assumption is being used for the sole purpose of stirring more hate towards Muslims.
Any thoughts?
These two pictures are interesting, with each, giving us a different tale!
ReplyDeleteThe younger version, the eyes catches your attention, but not quite sure, what keeps it! It has the feel of the wild, like a caged animal, being looked at by every one! I don't see beauty, I see fear, I see a life being threatened, not quite sure, by what, it has an uneasy feeling, but the more I look at it, at her and her eyes, I begin to remember!
It is a familiar look now, it is the look, of those under attack, either by the economic bombs or by the invading forces, of the terrorist army, dress in clothing of democracy!IT IS BOTH!
In her eyes are the fears n stares of death, of not knowing when, or how many times, they will revisit her! It is the fears of the bombs, of the drones, of this continuous carnage of people, which by in large, destroys women n children, at an exponential rate! It is the fear of having to go out, to look for scrap, to eat, of being frightened, to find the house gone, away with the bombs! It makes you wonder, who were they there to kill, you may wonder, I do not, I know who they are after and their accuracy is impeccable! The killers that invade, under false pretext, her eyes, if you look closely, has captured their every act, it has captured their faces, her eyes are like a registry, that is overloaded by the endless atrocities committed by the invading armies!
The Nazis of today, are using different names, they use names like, democratic party n republican party, they have a different logo, it's called freedom, but her eyes don't tell lies! Her eyes are no different, if only in color, than millions of women n children, who been victimized, by the murderers of our generation, her eyes tell no lies, it is the millions of survivors of this endless war, that is there to destroy their lives, her eyes tell no lies! The Western eerf press, keeps on chirping the party lies, her eyes with one stare, tells her story and the millions of eyes, that are closed, forever, find in her an opportunity to tell the world, "I HAVE SEEN IT ALL AND NOW YOU CAN SEE IT, LOOK, DEEP IN THOSE GREEN EYES, A N D Y O U W I L L S E E!
The older women, well, is a casualty of war, the women that have died, a thousand deaths, and register millions of others!
In killing these people, they are killing us!
THE IRAQIS AND THE AFGHANS ARE US!