Evidence » course: visual culture

It's too bad we don't have the audio track to go along with the piranha's chattering teeth of death.

It's a strange mix of pictures... what is going on out there in Michigan that we keep getting buckets of ribs, skeletons and now floating carcasses?
I really want to know what is initiating these kinds of selections.

The pierecing gone awry (?) is a "real-world" version? Like, now we can all start comparing horror stories about when I saw this kid and the bone was sticking right out...

i have seen some photos of actual bodies in iraq that look strikingly similar to the third image. too bad it is not just imaginary...

Truth be told, as strange as this may sound to some, I don't really find any of the images 'gruesome' or repugnant. The first makes little impression on me at all and the second looks like a scene from a really bad horror movie. So, yes, little impression from that one as well.

In all honesty, I sort of like the third picture; it's interesting and it's powerful too--something that catches your eye, even if it might repell some. The contrast of the comparatively calm right side of his face to the wide horror of the left certainly caught my attention. The open eye gives the viewer a better connection to the picture and increases the shock as well.

Of course, Bridget's statement is applicable and if you look on it as a grim reminder of too real events, then the meaning is different and perhaps it is gruesome.

The title "gruesome" comes from the google image search I did to find these images.
I think it's interesting that these images are all labeled with "gruesome" in the title, and then I think they work pretty well together.