Images of 2004
Here we are already in mid-September. Sometimes 2004 seems to have gone by so very fast, and other times it feels like the year has dragged on all too slowly. While the pace of the year has varied, few years in recent memory have been as volatile, violent, and filled with controversy. The visual images of 2004 have been powerful and lasting.
The biggest films of the year, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ and Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 were perhaps the two most vivid and certainly most controversial films. The most enduring image of the Super Bowl had nothing to do with the game, but rather Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction.
Politically, one image shown repeatedly of Howard Dean during a moment of exuberance may very well have led to his defeat. And the images of gay & lesbian couples getting married in San Francisco fueled a debate as to whether Constitutional amendments were needed to prohibit such unions. The year has been filled with images at home and abroad of demonstrations and protests against politicians and their policies, while a weeklong ceremony honoring the life of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan provided images of devotion and loss.
Images of war are always powerful, and those images captured in Iraq have been extrodianarily so. Some of the most disturbing images of the war have been those involving civilians from all sides, those that have fallen victim to the battles, torture, and beheadings. Terrorism has also provided a plethora of images this year, be it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Isreal, Spain, or Russia.
Ironically, one of the most powerful stories of the year almost never became a story at all until the images of torture at Abu Gharib became public. Of all the powerful images of 2004, those from Abu Gharib may very well have the most lasting effect. Not only did the photos diminish our reputaion and public standing in the world, but the images are said to have become a powerful recruiting tool for groups like Al Qaeda.