When interpreting a visual image, the controversial topic of what is believed to be the most important aspect in the image is determined by the viewer. This image encompasses a woman standing in front of multiple police officers who are armed with their full riot gear on. If you were to look deeper and understand the image, you would see specific reactions to what was going on. There are three layers in the image, the lady, the police, and the background, each layer generates the viewer to be curious about what was going on when this photo was being taken. By looking at the contrast of the stance of the police officers, as well as the lady, it can be interpreted that the different layers of the image when assessed individually presents the viewer with multiple thoughts. It’s important to understand the layers to be able to learn all the aspects of the situation, and even with that, it’s up to the viewers’ interpretation. This paper will provide deeper context of these three parts of the image that creates a story for the viewer. 

One of the deeper parts of the image is the analysis on the body language of the lady and the police officers show that the lady is surrendering to whatever they believe that she did. In the image the only thing shown is the back of the lady, which is interesting since her facial reaction isn’t depicted, we use her and have an assumed emotional reaction. Since the lady’s face isn’t shown, the viewer has to try to understand what is really being said to the police officers, but instead, the body language is enhanced to determine her reaction. Someone’s face can tell the whole story and can help to understand everything that is going on in the image, but since that is left out, her emotion is shown through her arms. The lady’s arms and hands give us a sense of emotion due to the position of her hands in an upright position, the lady is best presented in the image by how her arms are bent while her fingers are out wide shoulder width apart maintaining balance. The importance of how she is presented tells the viewer that they need to understand her presence and her stance with the police officers, allowing us to wonder what is being portrayed. Her body language makes up for the lack of her facial reaction to the viewer. The lack of facial reaction leaves the viewer questioning what we’re not seeing and the significance of the line of fully armed officers.

When you first look at the image, you instantly see the police officers in their gear lined up like a wall. The outfits of the people in the image help focus on the intensity of the armed officers and the fire going on signifying something dangerous is going on in the image. The contrast between the outfits is significant because they want the viewer to see who they see as dangerous by dressing them in that attire. When looking at this image, she doesn’t appear scary, she’s not armed, and is surrendering with her arms. She is wearing clothes that don’t present her as dangerous, she’s wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. In societal norms, when you’re wearing jeans and a t shirt you’re presented as being casual, not a threat. The lady that is the main focus of the image is wearing relaxed clothes, nothing too serious that is giving off the impression that she is a threat. Her hair is down and in her face, presenting that she is calm. The police officers however are in their full gear, typically worn when there is a major threat. A police officer typically wears a blue button down with their badge and navy slacks, these officers however, aren’t wearing that. The officers in the photo are in full black, wearing hats, holding batons and shields foreshadowing that they believe something dangerous is going to happen. The importance of the riot gear is foreshadowing that there is more to the image that is not shown. A shield is used as a way to block something and the baton is used to try and make someone surrender, and she is clearly surrendering because she has her arms up and has nothing that the police would need to shield themselves from. The armed gear creates the emotion suggesting danger is ahead.  The importance of the armed gear is intensifying the situation by the police officers contrasting the lack of gear by the lady. 

The front of the image is in focus, showing a lady in front of a line of police officers trying to be calm, while towards the back of the image there’s a fire smoke and a lot of commotion. The background behind the police shows fire trucks, smoke, and debris, which is blurred out making it seem that they don’t want the viewer to focus on that. Not wanting the viewer to focus on the smoke is misleading because it can be seen as the most important part of the image. Visually we know that the fire is a problem, but if you look deeper you’re able to identify that everyone is running towards the lady and the other police officers in line, even though there’s a building on fire. This tells the viewer that they’re more worried about the lady’s next action than the fire. The image shows that because the ratio of people in front of the lady compared to those that are focused to the fire is unequal. The ratio is very significant because it allows the viewer to understand the main focus is with the lady and not the fire, even though in most cases a fire is more dangerous than a lady. It’s interesting how all those police officers are lined up in front of the unarmed lady, not paying any attention to anything else when there’s a lot of smoke in the background. This shows the importance of the three layers in the image to try and understand who they want you to view as most important in the image. Without the fire being in the background, we wouldn’t be curious about what other factors play into the main subject which is the lady. The lady conveyed as the main subject makes you consider why you view things how you do and what is viewed as more of a threat. 

The connection between the main subject and the viewers’ perception is what drives the image. Each person may view this image differently, but we cannot deny the fact that the main focus is the lady in front of the wall of police officers. We wonder why she is there and how it connects to the fire. The defensive body language of the officers as well as their gear is a significant contrast between the ladies surrendering body language and casual attire. Each one of the layers helps the viewer process a conclusion that the lady is seen as a threat, even though normally a fire would be viewed as more of a threat than a lady who surrendered. The background layer is something people normally would believe to be the main focus, but it is easily overlooked in a photo like this because there’s so much going on. Is a picture worth a thousand words, or a thousand questions?