With the advent of new media technologies, images became important vehicles of commentary and disputation for Reformers, leading to the formation of a public sphere of discourse to which the image was central. This assignment requires you to reflect on the use of polemical images beyond the reformation. How are images produced in contemporary contexts being put to use for similar purposes of commentary and dispute? How do images reflect and enable ideological debates and contentious perspectives in contemporary politics and culture?
There are two steps in this assignment:
1) Select an image (any image!) that presents a polemical viewpoint, or otherwise takes a side in a debate.
2) Write a brief (200 – 300 word) description of the image, the debate with which it is concerned, and the argumentative viewpoint it takes.
Please do not choose something extremely niche for a particular culture. As long as its not, for example, a highly specific painting that would imply I am fascinated by that culture to a degree in which I have found a plethora of nuances that would not be apparent to an average person, I am fine with it. If this does not make sense then ignore it.
