Passage to Africa
George Alagiah
The search for the shocking: the ghoulish manner of a journalist on the hunt for the most striking picture.
In this article, for once, we have a subjective travel narrative which provides us with a behind-the-scenes perspective on the hunt for pictures that will shock, and thus please, British audiences.
In this presentation, I will suggest that Alagaih presents himself as a hunter on the path of shocking, ghoulish images and that, to his wonder, the most striking of all the pictures he found was that of an old man's apologetic smile, for it was that one smile that made Alagaih question the relationship the richer countries have with the poorer countries. Indeed, as newspaper readers we seem to 'consume' the meat provided by the photographers with ever so little consideration for the humans that lie at their source.
Hunter
On the hunt (10)
criss-crossed Somalia (1)
a village in the back of beyond (5)
jotted down instructions (6)
on a dirt track
tramped
search for the shocking
collect and sample (18)
He is breaking a 'taboo'
Ghoulish (10)
Like a ghost village (9)
deliverance from a half life to death itself (28)
the smell if decaying flesh (30)
She was rotting (36)
sick, yellow eyes (39)
description of the degeneration of the human body (lines 38-40)
The twin evils if hunger and disease (39)
shrivelled body (49)
corpse (50)
The Hunter's Reacions
My reactions - a mixture of pity and revulsion, yes revulsion ( ).
The degeneration of the human body is a disgusting thing ( ).
The evocation of "pity" (46).
Who is He Hunting For?
The editor - pictures that stun one day abd are written off as the same old stuff the next (18)
The "people back home in the comfort of their sitting rooms" are "moved" (not physically but emotionally... but, even then, their reaction seems so little and seems to cost the world so much.
Dignity
Symbols of dignity (decency, hope, and hard work): the soiled cloth the woman pulls over herself (as a sign her dying body can still be attractive and so needs to be covered out of decency) and the hoe the dying man keeps by his bedside (as a sign he wants nothing more than to get back up and get to work).
The message he found when he was hunting for shocking images: people are dignified, even when they are no more than ghouls. The human race is human, even when it seems inhuman.
The most shocking image - "went beyond pity and revulsion."
A fleeting meeting of eyes (58)
few brief moments (54)
a smile, from a face - not a smile of joy, but a smile nonetheless.
The most shocking image was a man whose smile asked a questions, if I am embarrassed what should you be?
The you and the we, the rich and the poor (read closing paragraph).
Conclusion
George Alagiah closes his subjective travel narrative with a strongly philosophical section that asks us, as consumers of the BBC and of the Western press, how we feel about reports from war-torn countries and who should best be doing the apologising!
Further Research
Remember to complete the corresponding section in your textbook!
No comments:
Post a Comment