My Picture is in the Photo Book. Pg.177.. Be sure to read the caption..
How does this picture compare to what it might have been like with the same age group of kids in the United States during the same time frame? How could it have been different? What do you think the stars and rockets on the wall are meant for in regards to the children?
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3 comments:
The thing I find the most interesting about this photograph is that it wasn’t striking to me. When I first looked at it I thought it was an ok photo that didn’t make any type of emotional connection with me. After reading the caption and really looking at the photo and all of its details, I had a newfound respect for this image. I love how much Glinn was able to include in this one frame, and how prevalent juxtaposition is.
I think that you could have easily found a photograph similar to this one of American children. Replace Lenin’s picture with one of Eisenhower’s and leave the stars and rockets (since America was also looking to space, it just took them longer) and it would work.
I also think that the stars and rockets, like the children, exemplify the Soviet Union’s future. Sputnik was the first satellite in space and really started the Soviet Union’s space program. Over the years this program grew and developed just as the singing children did in the picture. Thus I think the stars and rockets also showed the children’s future and the opportunity they had.
Although the picture seems like an average shot, I see significance with the elements connected with the time frame. The picture was taken in a time when the space race was just beginning. It was a time of tension and uncertainty, yet children are peaceful and unknowing. The children capture the youth and beginning of the space race with its unknown ending. Without reading the caption or knowing who the picture was of, the nationality of the children would be unclear. The Russian children could just as easily be American. This is evident because what is captured through the children's serene demeanor is the essence of childhood innocence and naivete. The naive innocence is contrasted by the picture above them of a Russian leader. The face is stern, as if to command the perfection of the room.
The stars and rockets symbolize the goals of the Soviets and seem to point the direction of the children's future in the race. Their future of communism and remaining unified under the Soviet Union.
The picture does a tremendous job capturing the feel of the era. The era of appeared order and poise, while families teach their children to follow rules, conform and obey authority, so as not to be called a traitor.
Both Kali and Kaylee have presented strong responses here--I agree with their comments on these children.
I like that the caption explains how we might interpret the framed portrait of Lenin--how we should not see it as adversarial, but rather as a way to juxtapose the innocence of the children. They seem oblivious to the space—the stars and rockets above—and what that represents in the world, for their futures.
To answer Gavin’s question, I think we could be looking at American children—in a similar position as these young people. Raises the comparison between the communist and the capitalist worlds, then and today.
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