Why Are They Scared Of Cameras?
Across the globe, authorities attempt to scupper people’s ability to document. Routinely, we see battles in which the camera shapes the fight.
There is an idea that photography is not to be trusted. There is a belief that the robust connections between reality and the image have had their day. There is a judgement that those faithful to the power of photography are in some way naive. Photography, so the thinking goes, cannot provide evidence because of theoretical disconnects in the making, dissemination and understanding of the image. Simply put, the camera lies.
It’s a nice idea in theory, and it’s nice to consider in theoretical settings. But I don’t really see that idea working in a practical setting: cameras are still highly controlled and contested. If we’re living in a post-truth world, in which all evidence is unreliable and not to be trusted, why is it that people are still so scared of cameras? Why does the image, and the moving image in particular, have so much power?
In China
Fear of the camera runs through the excellent documentary I Was There: Kate Adie on Tiananmen Square. Adie is the BBC reporter whose team got the footage of the shootings in Tiananmen Square that took place 30 years ago.
