Replacing the Object
In an attempt to look at how images of gas masks in pop culture can be viewed if the gas mask is replaced with some other facial covering (preferably one that's more familiar), I doctored some images and then thought about whether or not the images still had the same frightening effects of the original images.
In some cases, replacing the gas mask did remove the frightening sense associated with the image. In other cases, however, removing the gas mask did nothing to make the image more comforting. Looking at the first pair of images to the right (of Bane from The Dark Knight Rises), Bane's breathing apparatus (or gas mask) is replaced with the snout of a slobbery dog. Using my poor photo-altering skills, I attempted to cover up as much of Bane's facial apparatus as possible, and in the end, rather than an intimidating villain, I see an almost comical character that I would more expect to see in some children's skit. Looking at the second pair of images to the right, I placed the head of an elephant over the gas masked character in the movie picture. I also tried to filter the elephant head as such that its styling would fit in with the rest of the poster. While the gas mask is removed from the picture, I would not say that the image is any more or any less frightening. The text, the color, and the other visual elements in the movie poster refuse to be outdone by the elephant head. Therefore, I would not say that replacing the gas mask in this picture makes the image any more or less alarming, and that other visual elements of a picture can have as much of a impact as a gas mask. Looking at the third pair of images to the right, the image of the gas mask is replaced by a horse head, while other visual elements are still prevalent. Would go so far as to say that adding in the horse head actually makes the image more frightening. While a horse head is just an object, it is an object, it is an object on a living animal. And due to this, we have to respect that that living horse can move and react, whereas the original image shows just a gas mask, which is inanimate and cannot move or react on its own. With this consideration in mind, I believe that the doctored image is actually more unnerving than the original. |
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Relocating the Object
Given how the discomfort associated with last image was actually compounded when the gas mask was removed, I thought maybe it's not strictly the gas mask, but the situation that the gas mask is put into that exacerbates the uncomfortable feelings associated with the image. With this in mind, I took a screenshot from an episode of HBO's True Detective and placed a character seen wearing a gas mask into two different scenarios.
In one image, I inserted the concerning character to the background of a picture with children playing soccer. Ultimately, this change really just makes the picture more dreadful because neither the character or the gas mask seem "in place" around children. This, coupled with the characters state of undress, make the image quite appalling. Then I asked, is it merely his state of undress that makes him seem out of place? So I inserted the character to the foreground of a picture taken at the start of a race. In this image, several people are wearing minimal clothing, so the character should not have seen that out of place. However, it would still be quite a stretch to say that the image doesn't associate with some sense of discomfort. The other people in the picture are lacking clothing for a purpose, while the character from True Detective stands out (most likely because of the gas mask). This analyzation strengthened the idea that the frame of reference that the gas mask is viewed in does not have an overbearing affect on the mental stigma associated with gas masks. |
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Inserting the Object
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Lastly, I looked around to find instances of where gas masks had been digitally inserted into pieces of art. Surprisingly, the discomfort generated by seeing these images when compared to their original versions is quite mild in comparison to the other instances. Looking at the first two pairs of works, The Virgin and Child Embracing, and American Gothic. While Giovanni Battista's piece is a little unsettling when a gas mask has been placed on the virgin Mary's face, it is not overly alarming or uncomfortable. The same could be said with all of the images and their likenesses shown at left; the doctored image is unsettling, but not to the extent that the previously discussed images were. This raises the question, "why?" Is it because we're possibly comfortable with the unedited images to the left? Darth Vader is a very iconic image, and to change his mask so that it closer resembles a gas mask adds or changes very little in his appearance. So this seems to reaffirm that the more familiar we are with an image, the less of an affect a gas mask can have on its impression.
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