No Flash Author(s): Thomas Keenan Source: Assemblage, No. 20, Violence, Space (Apr., 1993), pp. 48-49 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3181694 Accessed: 22/09/2009 11:39 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mitpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. 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The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Assemblage. http://www.jstor.org No Flash "Theoperationbeganearlythismorningwhenthree teamsof NavySeals,theirfacespaintedwithgreencamouflagemake-upandtheirbacksloadedwithequipment,wadedunopposedontoa muggyIndianOcean beachundera fullmoon.The firstsixmenwho emergedfromthe lowsurfweregreetednot by armed one of Somalisbutby anAmericannewsphotographer, scorescampedout on the beachnearthe Mogadishu airport."Noflash,"saidone of the Seals,apparently worriedaboutnightblindness,afterthe photographer tooka picture."Stayawayfromus."Butas moreSeals arrivedin blackrubberdinghies,moreflashesandlights andtelevision poppedfroma crowdof photographers sailors were hemmedin on until the three dozen crews, the bushysanddunesby journalists coveringan event thatbeganto looklikea movieset"(NewYorkTimes, December9, 1992). It was,asthe Timesputit the nextday,"theultimate The storyon thatglarewasheadphotoopportunity." lined"TheMarinesLand,InToo BrightA Light." The taskfora newapproach, todayandtonight,to the as of of space,willbe to readthe question violence of theselights,the glareandthe blindnessit brightness canproduce,anda certainnecessityof excess.Inwhat sensewerethe lightstoo bright?Andwheredoesthe threatof blindnesslie? horizon,theyhadlittledoubtthattheywereentering advance whatis knownasa secureenvironment. Military teamshadbeentherefordays,in somecasesweeks, American diplomatswerealreadyat workin the city,and the airportareawasfullycontrolled bysomesixhundred news of the media,includinganchormen representatives fromallfourUS televisionnews andstarcorrespondents networks. The soldiersandsailorsmadetheirappearance andonlyforthem.Therewouldhave forthosecameras, beenno landingwereit not forthe glareof thosetelevisionlightsandthe explosionof the photographers' flashes: the troops, their officers, the news media, and even the newspaperreadingpublicof Americaknewit well. USATodayhad announcedon its frontpagethat morning "Televised landing," and the story that followed was headlined "Somalia landing airs live." If Panama had been the censored war, and Iraq the triumph of information management and image release, Somalia was to mark the arrivalof glasnost, a new accessibility, in a U.S. military eager to redefine itself. As it happened,the marinescame ashoreearly,just Space.Whenthe SealsandthentheirMarine cameashoreon the Unitcounterparts Reconnaisance beachat the Mogadishu early airport in thatmorning, the hovercraft andtransport for the beaches marking risenabovethe once the sun had set to follow helicopters on andmid-afternoon aftermidnightin Mogadishu, thatothereastcoast,but the cameraswerealreadyin Certainlynot becauseof anymiliplace."Toobright"? in the threat sense,not becauseany ordinary tary "armedSomalis"mightuse the cameralightsto take The problemwasnot that rescuers. aimat the arriving the areashould'vebeenofflimitsto the newsmediathe areawasdefined,the beachin a certainsenseconstituted,bythem,the spaceof the landingmarkedout anddelimitedby the verylightswhichwe ourselves wouldsooncometo see.Andthatwasthe problem- Thomas 48 the entranceof the lightsthemselvesintothe fieldof thattheyconstituted.The visibility,of televisibility, broke into the frame whichtheyweredesignedto lights construct."Noflash.""Stayawayfromus."We can translatetheseas pressguidelines,rulesforthe photo opportunity: keepthe lightsout of the picture,andstick to longshots.Inthissensetherewasa threat,evenone thatcanbe expressedin militaryterms("apparently worriedaboutnightblindness"). Butthe militarythreat wasthisaestheticone,thatthe openevidence(the glasnost,the glareof theglas)of the flashmightdisfigurethe carefully composedimage. Violence.Whatwasthe targetof the invasion? Where didthe Sealsandthe marineswhofollowedthemland? On the beachoron television? The reinforcement, and sometimesthe antagonism, thatstructures the relation betweenthesespacesdefinesourcontemporary miliwar not tary-aesthetic complex.Now, happens onlyon andbehindthe frontlinesof the battlefield,but on and betweenthe scanlinesof the imagefield,on the covers of ourmagazinesandthe screensof ourtelevisionsets. Theseimagesare,bydefinition(highorlow),constitutedby flashandglare,no matterhowsharpthe focus orshutteredthe light,andourtaskis no longer-if it everwas-to stabilizethe imagesandcontroltheirexposure,in someattemptto reversethe processthathas broughtthemto us, asif the aestheticretainedsome In Somalia,the distancefromthe military-political. constructs a surface-here and there,as it wereglare andto readthe imagesis to remainon the surface,on the screen(undera fullmoon:moonis the oldesttv) of an eventthatinventsitselfas nothingotherthana sur- face, one that we only unwiselyattempt to stripaway,as if it concealeda secrettruth.These imagesarethe event, not an objectiverepresentationof it nor an illusoryspectaclecoveringsomethingelse. This glare,and the blindnessit induces,aretodaythe everydaycondition of waras of ordinaryimagery.The disorientationwe call watchingtelevisioncorresponds ineluctablyto our exposureto the alterityof this glare, the blindinglight of somethinglike a new electro-optical public sphere.Somethinglike night blindnesswill be the condition of our encounterwith others-others on a beach and on a screen.To allowfor this encounterwith others-and there will alwaysbe more than one-will be to persistin readingthe glare,to riskan engagement with its obscureviolence. Glare."Someof us choose to carrythe lanternand stand rightunderit, remainingunderits staringeye, until we become one with the spotlight.Some of us believe that it makesone a hero or a heroine,and we love being watched,shadowed,suspectedof being one thing or anotheruntil we areas heavilyguardedas a nation's powerhouse.Rememberthe storyyou'refond of telling? The one in which the thirdpersonto light the match becomes a targetenablingthe enemy to spot him, aim and hit him-do you rememberthat?You arethe third!"(NuruddinFarah,Sardines) No flash,no "operation."No violencewithout this space,and no spacewithout some violence.Here,only an example,inevitablydisfiguring. 49 Keenan