THE CRITICAL IMAGE
JUDITH BUTLER’S IDEA OF THE ‘CRITICAL IMAGE’
(Lecture 2)
• Triumphalist
o Not operating in the realm of the human/humanness.
• Face of evil (e.g. Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden)
o Removed human quality
o Used for ideological work/justifying war
• Judith Butler:
o In the context of Sep. 11 2000 (attack on the United States)
o Islamophobia has arisen
o The question of how to mourn collectively came into play.
o Concept of endurability – the ability to be injured (collectively)
o Turning grief/mourning into a force for peace to over the difference.
▪ This idea is polarising compared to what the U.S. however did do –
retaliate.
, o Butler calls for a non-violent response or to look for alternatives to the
American reaction. The need to identify the ‘other’.
• Islamophobia propaganda:
o Portrayed as the enemy
o Us versus them situation
• Critical image:
o Think about our own position
o The status quo or will you join in on the debate
• Precariousness:
o Marking the human ability.
o For an image to capture “[whatever]” it need not be perfect and can never
be totally true.
o Act of identifying with the difference in the image and yourself (taking on
the difference) is a sense of humanity.
• Unthinking certainty:
o Can lead to warfare or on the other side world peace.
o Reality is not conveyed in the image.
o Capturing reality is challenged by act of representation.
▪ E.g. Euro-centrism (or Americanism as an ideology), captions,
bolstering uncertainty, the U.S. versus the world (in other words,
good versus bad).
• Symbols of evil (faces representing terror)
o Consumers – need to become unaware of their humanity, their lives are not
grieve-able, rather celebratory.
o Faces capturing evil, terror, method of debate, triumph for consumers –
often not recognising the debate or where they stand.
• How the reputation created for a person by an image can evolve over time:
o Take the image of Nelson Mandela for example, he was branded a terrorist
– pre-1994, then in 1995 during the Rugby World Cup he was branded a
patriot – these two representations are completely opposing or even
polarising.
JUDITH BUTLER’S IDEA OF THE ‘CRITICAL IMAGE’
(Lecture 2)
• Triumphalist
o Not operating in the realm of the human/humanness.
• Face of evil (e.g. Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden)
o Removed human quality
o Used for ideological work/justifying war
• Judith Butler:
o In the context of Sep. 11 2000 (attack on the United States)
o Islamophobia has arisen
o The question of how to mourn collectively came into play.
o Concept of endurability – the ability to be injured (collectively)
o Turning grief/mourning into a force for peace to over the difference.
▪ This idea is polarising compared to what the U.S. however did do –
retaliate.
, o Butler calls for a non-violent response or to look for alternatives to the
American reaction. The need to identify the ‘other’.
• Islamophobia propaganda:
o Portrayed as the enemy
o Us versus them situation
• Critical image:
o Think about our own position
o The status quo or will you join in on the debate
• Precariousness:
o Marking the human ability.
o For an image to capture “[whatever]” it need not be perfect and can never
be totally true.
o Act of identifying with the difference in the image and yourself (taking on
the difference) is a sense of humanity.
• Unthinking certainty:
o Can lead to warfare or on the other side world peace.
o Reality is not conveyed in the image.
o Capturing reality is challenged by act of representation.
▪ E.g. Euro-centrism (or Americanism as an ideology), captions,
bolstering uncertainty, the U.S. versus the world (in other words,
good versus bad).
• Symbols of evil (faces representing terror)
o Consumers – need to become unaware of their humanity, their lives are not
grieve-able, rather celebratory.
o Faces capturing evil, terror, method of debate, triumph for consumers –
often not recognising the debate or where they stand.
• How the reputation created for a person by an image can evolve over time:
o Take the image of Nelson Mandela for example, he was branded a terrorist
– pre-1994, then in 1995 during the Rugby World Cup he was branded a
patriot – these two representations are completely opposing or even
polarising.
