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Moving Images: The Media Representation of

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DOI: 10.1080/1472586022000005053

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Moving images: The media representation of

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Terence Wright

To cite this article: Terence Wright (2002) Moving images: The media representation of
refugees, Visual Studies, 17:1, 53-66, DOI: 10.1080/1472586022000005053

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 Visual Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2002

Moving images: the media representation of refugees

TERENCE WRIGHT*

The paper takes the form of a broad-based explora- stop to think about how much of our knowledge of the
tion of the visual representations of refugees across a world is derived from pictures, we find that there is
range of media forms. Firstly it suggests that these also very little general understanding about how
media images have origins in Christian iconography . visual images communicate this information. Against
Then the discussion considers the treatment of forced this background, journalism as a profession has
migration in the fiction film, proposing that cinema become “promiscuous”, disparate and diffuse; yet
representations often conform to the “road movie” Western governments appear to be increasingly
genre. A discussion of contemporary issues in the responsive to public opinion. It is becoming increas-
media representation of refugees points to the neces- ingly important not only to analyse the ability of
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sity and direction for future research on the subject. visual images to create new discourses, but also
necessary to examine the social and institutiona l
constraints on their function. The power of the visual
INTRODUCTION image has received little attention in research on the
media representation of migration. Yet, with photo-
… it’s what they call “compassion fatigue”, graphs in mind, Malkki (1995:9) has pointed out that:
the idea that we get so much human suffering “photographic portrayals of refugees are, in our day,
thrust in our faces every day from the media extremely abundant. Most readers have probably seen
that we’ve become sort of numbed, we’ve such photographs, and most of us have a strong visual
used up all our reserves of pity, anger, sense of what ‘a refugee’ looks like”. The visual
outrage … smudgy b/w pictures of starving representation of refugees plays an essential, yet
black babies with limbs like twigs and heads neglected, role in forming the stereotype of “the
like old men … or stunned-looking refugees, refugee”.
or amputees on crutches. How is one The consequences for the world’s displaced
supposed to stem this tide of human misery? peoples raise the following questions:
(Lodge 1996, p.5)
l What role do visual images have in constructing
World interest in refugees has perhaps never been so our concept of “the refugee”?
great as it is today. The main responsibility for l How do refugees gain public attention?
bringing images of refugees into our homes lies l Why are some instances of forced migration
almost entirely with the focus of media attention. covered by the media while others are ignored?
While numbers of those forced to migrate increase,1 l What determines the type of media treatment that
we are witnessing a global revolution in mass refugees receive?
communications. Owing to the increased speed and l What moves people to respond to visual images of
accessibility of media technology, a “visual culture” forced migration?
is emerging that relies more and more upon informa-
tion provided by pictures. The images we see on our While these questions have formed the starting point
television screen play a crucial role in determining for a longer-term research project, this essay begins to
how we construct our reality. One of the conse- address the question of the role of media images in
quences of our “digital era” is a considerable constructing the concept of “the refugee”. Its primary
reduction in communication through language, in aim is to outline the state of the problem of the media
favour of relying on the visual image to tell the story. representation of refugees, paying special regard to
As Ignatief (1998:26) puts it: “The entire script the visual image. This means that, by necessity, the
content of the CBS nightly half-hour news would fit topics covered in the paper are wide-ranging. And
on three-quarters of the front page of the New York while some issues have been covered in depth, others
Times”. For journalism, the outcome is a more have been identified more as key points for future
simplistic treatment of current affairs. Yet when we research and discussion .

*Terence Wright is Senior Research Officer at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford where he runs the “Moving Images” project funded
by The Pilgrim Trust. He is also Professor in Photography – Art & Media Theory at Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen, Norway.

ISSN 1472–586X print/ISSN 1472–5878 online/02/010053–14 © 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/147258602200000505 3
 54 T. Wright

Many of the pictures that we see of refugees He proposes that images cannot assert2 they can only
conform to pre-established patterns. For example, in instantiate something if the viewer is already predis-
Christian religious painting we find a long tradition in posed in the form of a moral obligation – this
portraying forced migration which can be traced from obligation has Christian roots. This echoes the view
“The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden” to “The of the philosopher Richard Rorty (1989:xvi) that “the
Flight into Egypt”; such images have played a central novel, the movie and the TV program have, gradually
role in the development of Western visual representa- but steadily, replaced the sermon and the treatise as
tion. When compared to contemporary images of the principal vehicles of moral change and progress”.
refugees, there are striking similarities in content and Later in this paper I shall propose that refugee images
style. Our understanding of humanitarian crises in part not only have their roots in Christian iconography, but
may be influenced by these broader cultural traditions. that images perpetuating this visual tradition are
Nonetheless fashions and media have changed. During reproduced and broadcast instinctively – possibly
the last thirty years a generation has grown up unused having a subliminal effect on the viewer. This might
to seeing images of European refugees (other than as be taken to suggest that our moral obligation is some-
historical documents). And recently the victims of thing of a triggered response. In contrast, members of
“ethnic cleansing” in Eastern Europe have supplanted “other” cultures that are not based upon Christian
the image of the starving displaced African. principles may also feel to be under moral obliga-
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The paper begins by examining the structure of tions. At least we may consider the iconography of
television news and reviews the work of the Glasgow the visual image in the West as belonging to a wider
Media Group on the news reporting of migration. It set of moral codes and conventions.
suggests that existing media research on the issue of Another point, made by Ignatief, is that he
forced migration has paid scant regard for the visual regards television news as a genre. In fiction film, the
image. The media image’s wider context is intro- standardization of plot and narrative makes it rela-
duced, followed by an outline of some issues arising tively easy to see the story conforming to a prescribed
from recent technological and institutional changes in narrative or pattern. But news, which is primarily
media practice. concerned with presenting facts with little recourse
The paper addresses contemporary images of for a story-line, at first sight may appear to sit uncom-
refugees in the press and looks for patterns and fortably under the description of a “genre”. But – then
common elements in their construction and usage. It again – they are often referred to as news “stories”.
identifies some historical archetypes that are used to News is a genre as much as fiction or drama:
portray the subject of forced migration and initially it is a regime of visual authority, a coercive
suggests that many “standard” images of refugees organization of images according to a stop-
conform to patterns already established in Christian watch. (Ignatief 1998:26)
iconography. It suggests that viewers find accord with
Ignatief suggests that the genre of television news is
the images (with which they are already familiar) and
determined by the structure and contents of the news.
that they may evoke a familiar story line. In this
However, a closer look at the use of the term may
context the image of the refugee in fiction film is
offer different insight proposing that it is not a simple
examined and consideration is given to the genre of
matter of form and contents but also one of audience
the “migrant movie”. The paper concludes in the
expectation. For example, Neale (1990:46) proposes
identification of key topics for future research into
that genre does not simply refer to film “type”, nor is
media images of refugees.
it limited to spectator expectation and hypothesis, but
the institutional discourses: production, marketing
TELEVISION IMAGES and consumption.
…television has become the privileged While the News is subject to types of story –
medium through which moral relations Home, Foreign, human interest, etc.; it is strictly
between strangers are mediated in the modern controlled by time constraints. Primarily a visual
world. Yet the effects of televisual images medium (e.g. the saying “no pictures, no story” which
and the rules and conventions of electronic has been attributed to the Labour Party’s key spin-
news-gathering on such moral relations are doctor Alastair Campbell), it is packed into fifteen-,
rarely examined. (Ignatief 1998:10) thirty-, or sixty-minute time-slots with fierce competi-
tion among stories not only to get into, but to stay in
In his essay “Is nothing sacred? The ethics of televi- and move up, the running order. At the same time,
sion” (Ignatief 1998), Michael Ignatief addresses two without being exactly xenophobic, a type of myopia
polarized views of television images. On the one abounds – characterized by an emphasis on the imme-
hand, he considers them as voyeuristic; on the other, diate local significance of stories – as Moeller has
promoting the “internationalisation of conscience”. pointed out with regard to news stories in the United
 Moving images 55

States: “One dead fireman in Brooklyn is worth five example, their analysis of the use of the metaphor
English bobbies, who are worth 50 Arabs, who are “flood” to describe the potential arrival of immigrants
worth 500 Africans” (1999:22). It seems that we, as in news reports:
readers and viewers, are prepared to accept such
The frequent repetition of images such as this
reporting even though it runs contrary to our
constructs a very specific view of the migra-
“instincts”: “we may feel there is something morally
tion process. It is presented in the
dubious about a greater concern for a fellow New
terminology of a natural disaster, in persistent
Yorker than for someone facing an equally hopeless
reported statements that go unchallenged by
and barren life in the slums of Manila or Dakar”
journalists. (1999:183)
(Rorty 1989:191). Furthermore, Ignatief is concerned
about the over-dominance of genre when “the flow of Moeller (1999:47) also indicates the inherent prob-
television news reduces all the world’s horror to iden- lems of generalization and formulaic language that
tical commodities” (1998:30). In contrast, he accompanies images and metaphors. However, she
recognizes the virtues of television documentaries also refers to the economy of the visual images and
which “sometimes achieve the prerequisite of moral metaphorical expressions (which “can more
vision itself; they force the spectator to see, to shed succinctly describe a face or a moment in time than
the carapace of cliché and to encounter alien worlds can paragraphs of narrative”). Moreover, she makes a
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in all their mystery and complexity” (1998:32). clear distinction between “image” and “metaphor”:
Some analysis of the television news “genre”
Words may give meaning, but in our visual
with regard to the subject of migration has been
era, images are essential to effective commu-
conducted by the Glasgow Media Group (Philo and
nication – especially in the telling of the
Beattie 1999). Their approach, that of thematic anal-
news. Images have authority over the imagi-
ysis, aims to provide a “detailed examination of the
nation. (Moeller 1999:47)
language and visuals of a series of news reports”
(1999:180) of the major TV channels “and a study of In another paper, “The media and Africa: images of
other textual and visual images in press reports”. The disaster and rebellion” (Beattie et al. 1999), which
news is divided into its constituent elements: “head- examines the press and television coverage of the
lines, interview questions, reported statements and Rwanda/Zaire crisis of 1996/1997, the term “domi-
key visual moments”. However, despite the promise nant image of Africa” is loosely referred to
of a “detailed examination of the language and (1999:233). Although the claim is made that the
visuals”; “a study of other textual and visual images “language and visuals of these news reports create a
in press reports”; as well as “key visual moments” vivid and pervasive image of Africa” (1999:233), at
(my emphases), there is minimal reference to visual best, visual sequences are described but not analysed.
images. The study remains very thorough, but For example, a television report is accompanied by:
extremely logo-centric. For instance, in their “Race,
…an image of the emaciated frame of a
migration and media” (Philo and Beattie 1999)
young child, lying on the ground where he
pictures are cited only twice. The first occasion is
has collapsed from exhaustion or disease with
when: “the BBC had a report including images of
his aid biscuits lying on the ground beside
labourers on a farm in Spain, growing courgettes and
him, just beyond his outstretched hand. An
presumably contributing to the local economy”
older child stops, looks down and walks past.
(1999:191); the second: “The news … included
(1999:238)
visuals of Asians entering the UK” (1999:195).
Granted Philo and Beattie do analyse the dialogue Here there is no attempt to consider how the visual
that accompanies the images, but the nature, structure, image and the narration work together to contribute to
exact content and appearance of the visuals are left to the report, nor how the film sequence has been
the reader’s imagination. We may assume that they composed. Similarly, in their analysis of the tabloid
are referring to what Marash terms “TV Codes” press, they describe the launch of an appeal by The
where the code for “hurricane” comprises images of Mirror:
“Palm trees bending to the gale, surf splashing over
“Please Save Me” read the headline under a
the humbled shore, missing roofs, homeless people
photo taking up most of the front page of a
showing up in local gyms. You see it once or twice
refugee child captioned “the frightened eyes
most years”.3 The use of such footage, often “stock-
of a child beg for help”. (1999:255)
shots” (sub-titled “Library Pictures”) has its prece-
dents in the history of art (see Gombrich 1960:121) . Granted there may exist a sentiment that this may be
However, for Philo and Beattie the issue becomes more acceptable in the printed press, where photo-
rather confused by their use of the term “image” to graphs might be considered to have a more simple
describe the spoken or written “metaphor”. For illustrative function, but certainly this should not be
 56 T. Wright

the case with television. Television is primarily a The recent changes in the media institutions and
visual medium and much of its meaning is to be gained working practices have been brought about by the
from the “language” of the visual image. For the study increased speed and availability of media technolo-
of television news the balance between “textual” and gies (Neuman 1991). One consequence is an
“visual” analysis needs to be re-examined. emerging “visual culture” that places a new emphasis
on the communicative power of visual images.
THE BROADER PICTURE Another is a demand for more simplistic presentation
of news items. Journalism has become more “promis-
Within minutes he was totally lost, as the cuous”, disparate and diffuse (Alter 1997); yet
programme – a love story, he surmised – Western governments appear more responsive to
elided confusingly with the commercials public opinion. There has been a global increase in
every two minutes, it seemed … Eventually the number of displaced persons, while the foreign
he saw the credits roll and he knew that it was stories in the media have been subjected to budgetary
over, whatever it had been. (Boyd 1984:116) cutbacks and consequently a significantly reduced
The context of the image is a matter that can seem- output (Stone 2000).
ingly go unnoticed. And the extended definition of In addition to the ways that the image of the
genre takes into account the broader picture (beyond refugee is constructed through media representation,
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the immediate newspaper setting). The shock tactics there is a need to address the reception of these
employed by The Mirror (11 April 2000) with its “Go images. In this context not only is the relationship of
On, Look Away” headline next to the photograph of a the image to the text or spoken word paramount, but
starving child, appeared in stark contrast to the images also the wider editorial and institutional constraints
in the paper’s accompanying colour supplement which on reporting incidents of forced migration, as well as
featured a fashion shoot of a European model posing the wider social and political agendas (Adams 1986,
amongst the huts and inhabitants of an African village. Chang and Lee 1992). This raises questions regarding
The semiotician, Roland Barthes (1977:15) , the social function of refugee images and whether,
describes the press photograph as a “message”. Yet it through the process of categorization, they act as a
is not one that is self-contained, it is integrally bound way of coping with a social “problem” to provide a
into the “source of emission”, “the channel of trans- sense of absolution of responsibility, or to stimulate
mission” and “point of reception”. In order to empathy and to motivate a public response (Benthall
understand the mechanisms determining the “photo- 1993; Dyck and Coldevin 1992).
graphic message”, we must also take into account the
“staff of the newspaper”: the group of technicians THE VISUAL IMAGE AND THE REFUGEE
who choose and compose, treat (title and caption) the
Looking at these images, I know what
image. The newspaper’s readership is the “point of
happened several thousand years ago when
reception” – the public who read the paper, who have
the Egyptians built the pyramids. I under-
different expectations of their chosen publication and
stand what it must have looked like when the
a different regard for the same photograph in
Mayas constructed their extraordinary cities.
different papers. In our reading of The Daily Tele-
He’s brought something biblical to it, he
graph, for example, our perception of the photograph
didn’t just do a reportage. (Robert Pledge
will be influenced by our prior knowledge. In
1993, Contact Press Images/Europe,
common parlance people often refer to themselves as
discussing Sebastiäo Salgado’s photographs
“a Telegraph reader” or “a Guardian reader”, not
of the Serra Pelada goldmine)
only suggesting a preconceived allegiance to the
paper but also anticipating certain expectations to be In the case of refugee images, it might seem strange
fulfilled during reading. It is the whole institution of to question “where do pictures come from?” It seems
the newspaper, that operates as a vehicle of commu- fairly obvious that they are “taken” of a particular
nication, that transmits a series of “lateral” messages person in a situation of migration in a specific loca-
which contribute to the understanding of any photo- tion. However, as Malkki (1995:9) has indicated,
graph that may appear in it. In addition, the there exists a “tendency to universalize the ‘the
circumstances in which the image appears may also refugee’ as a special ‘kind’ of person not only in the
direct the spectator towards meaning. In the wider textual representation, but also in their photographic
context, this means that if a photograph appears on an representation ”. For example, in the 1930s, when the
advertisement hoarding, newspaper, gallery wall or photographer Dorothea Lange took her famous
family album, the viewer’s response may be predeter- photograph “Migrant Mother”, the situation was not
mined, as certain expectations will be required to be quite so straightforward. It seems that Lange was
fulfilled. driving through the countryside, looking for an
 Moving images 57

image that would satisfy a preconceived idea. This of Man” stereotype usually features a couple or small
will be discussed in greater detail later. However, group in states of degradation, isolation, nakedness,
with most news images we see, there is a sense of the etc. In contrast there are those who are depicted in the
picture-makers not offering an unbiased impression style of Mary and Joseph’s “Flight into Egypt”:
by photographing what is there; but by looking for people who are displaced but not necessarily desti-
images that conform to the camera operators’ tute. They may be portrayed with a few possession s
preconceptions. Indeed sometimes it is difficult for sometimes accompanied by a means of transport. In
the “reality” to get through the editorial “obstacle one illustration, “Dva Begstva” (“Two Flights”) by I.
course”. Although I might shoot pictures that I feel Gur’ev, that appeared in the First World War Russian
are “non-stereotypical ”, as well as some that are (for publication Rodina: illiustrirovanji zhurnal die seme-
fear of being chided by those who have commis- ingo chteniia (Motherland: Illustrated Journal for
sioned the assignment), it is more likely that those Family Reading), No. 1, 3 January 1916, the connec-
who occupy positions further along the editorial tion between the Holy Family’s flight and that of the
chain will choose the more predictable images. refugee family has been made quite explicit
In taking a “snap-shot” overview of media images (Figure 1).4 There is a third category: “Exodus”, the
of refugees – and in recognition of the biblical origins mass movement of people that may suggest the out-
in forming the prototypes of some of these images – I of-frame presence of a pursuer. In addition, we find
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would make a tentative proposal that media images of the “Madonna and Child” image a regular occurrence,
refugees can be classified in the following categories which may be incorporated with any of the other
of “image types”. There is a possible distinction in the categories.
representation of refugees between “old testament” While there are always inherent problems with
and “new testament”: those depicted in a state of classificatory systems, they can have the virtue of
degradation (rags and ruin) derived from Adam and providing a working model for analysing the problem.
Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This “Fall In the long run they may be abandoned, adapted or
adopted, as their appropriateness only becomes
apparent during the research. It is beyond the scope of
this paper to examine all three categories in turn, so
the “Fall of Man” category has been discussed
initially, followed by an introduction to the “Madonna
and Child” image.

EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN

Th[e] process of coming to see other human
beings as “one of us” rather than as “them” is
a matter for detailed description of what unfa-
miliar people are like and a redescription of
what we ourselves are like. This is a task not
for theory but for genres such as ethnography,
the journalist’s report, the comic book, the
docudrama, and … the novel. (Rorty
1989:xvi)
Although the media images of refugees that appear in
the newspapers, on our television and cinema screens
are relatively recent phenomena, the subject of forced
migration has a long pictorial tradition. For example,
in Masaccio’s painting of “The Expulsion from Para-
dise” (c. 1425–1428) (Figure 2), the image of Adam
and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden by
an angel contains many of the same constituent
elements as some of today’s press photographs. When
comparing Masaccio’s painting with the photograph
Figure 1. I. Gur’ev, “Dva Begstva” (“Two Flights”), by Darren Whiteside, taken in East Timor, that
1916. Motherhood: Illustrated Journal for Family Reading, appeared in The Guardian (21 September 1999)
No. 1, January 3, 1916. (With thanks to Professor Peter (Figure 3), both images show a couple in distress
Gatrell, University Manchester.) escorted by an armed guard(ian). The background of
 58 T. Wright

Figure 3. Darren Whiteside, “East Timor”, in The

Guardian, 21 September 1999. Photograph by Darren
Whiteside/Reuters. Photograph supplied by AlertNet
(www.alertnet.org), the Reuters Foundation website for the
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disaster relief community.

Whiteside’s photograph has stylistic similarities to the

Christian icon of the Madonna and Child; as this is an
image that reoccurs with predictable regularity.
Having looked at photographs of refugees
over several years, one becomes aware of the
perennial resonance of the woman with her
child. This is not just any woman; she is
composed as an almost madonnalike figure.
(Malkki 1995:11)
One difference in Whiteside’s photograph, is that the
child (though breast-feeding) is holding an empty cup
– if this detail were featured in one of Hogarth’s
paintings, we should be expected to look for the
symbolic meaning of “poverty”. This too may have
biblical origins where the cup operates as a symbol of
human destiny – signifying the way in which God
allots an individual ’s fate. It may be likened to
receiving a cup that may overflow with blessings,5 or
to having a cup that may contain “fire and brim-
stone”.6 However, a similar more contemporary
appearance of the Madonna and Child icon is
Dorothea Lange’s classic photograph of the American
depression, “Migrant Mother” (1936).
Dorothea Lange’s famous “Migrant Mother”
is a timeless madonna. The “holy mother”
theme captions the image, placing it so that
we apprehend the universal in the guise of the
Figure 2. Masaccio, “The Expulsion from Paradise”, immediate, the sacred incarnate as the
c. 1425–1428. humble. (Trachtenberg 1988:70)
According to Lange’s own account of the photo-shoot:
each image is fairly sparse save for a piece of archi-
tecture – in the former: the gates of paradise; in the I saw and approached the hungry and
latter: a ruined abandoned building. Indeed one could desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I
further propose that many of today’s images of do not remember how I explained my
migrants and refugees conform to biblical precedents. presence or my camera to her, but I do
Besides its connection with the Masaccio painting, remember she asked me no questions. I made
 Moving images 59

five exposures, working closer and closer child … we know with a fair degree of
from the same direction. I did not ask her certainty that the American infant will
name or history … I knew I had recorded the survive … The African infant, it seems,
essence of my assignment. (Lange cannot possibly survive… (Moeller 1999:39)
1960:42–43)
Strictly speaking, Lange’s “Migrant Mother” photo-
It appears that she had recognized, in the woman’s graph does not actually show the activity of breast-
situation, the potential for a cultural/religious icon feeding as Moeller indicates. One of the six images of
and had instinctively captured it on film: “Lange Florence Thomson and her children, taken by Lange at
knew she had found precisely the ideal image she was a migrant labour camp in Nipomo, California does
searching for” (Levine 1988:26). Images such as feature this activity, but this was not the frame finally
these have become long-standing cultural icons that chosen by Lange.7 Indeed I find it difficult to make
can automatically elicit the appropriate emotional much of Moeller’s comparison. However, whether her
response. Some constitute a variation on a theme and conjecture is (or is not) appropriate, the point remains
some images evoke other images. Just as the “Migrant valid that an image has the potential to induce the
Mother” had caused Trachtenberg to place the photo- viewer to relate it to a visual tradition of much greater
graph in the tradition of the “timeless madonna”; so length than the immediate news setting. To reinforce
Moeller on encountering a photograph of a Somali this point, I would add to this collection by comparing
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infant (1992) reflects back to Lange’s “Migrant Don McCullin’s photograph of a mother and child
Mother” (1936): from the Biafran famine (1970) (Figure 4) with a
Confronted with two images of a mother detail from Rogier van der Weyden’s fifteenth-
breastfeeding a child … we react with greater century painting “St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the
emotion to the photograph of the African Virgin” (Figure 5). Both images show clearly how a
contemporary photograph can conform to a pictorial

Figure 4. Don McCullin, a twenty-four year old mother

and child awaiting death, “Biafra”, 1968. With kind Figure 5. Detail of Rogier van der Weyden, St Luke
permission of Don McCullin. Painting the Virgin. Fifteenth century.
 60 T. Wright

images of pre-history. While this is not my precise

concern, she does examine the extensive influence of
the bible in establishing a narrative framework.
Pictures which focused on Adam and Eve inspired
illustrators in making their depictions of early human
life: Adam and Eve next to the tree of knowledge in
the Garden of Eden; their expulsion from Paradise
(their original “homeland”); and their labours in the
wilderness. According to Moser, stories from both
biblical and classical origins have proved to have a
great visual potential. The bible itself has provided
inexhaustible inspiration for visual representation and
suggests that biblical illustrations were significantl y
responsible for the spread of Christianity. The prolif-
eration of biblical imagery has been of great
importance. 9 Artists highlighted key iconographic
themes that enabled people to make sense of their past
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and their own place in the world. Some biblical icono-

Figure 6. Rogier van der Weyden, “St Luke Painting the graphic features were to become closely associated
Virgin”. Fifteenth century. with secular imagery. At the same time contemporary
icons can be endowed with the same power and status
tradition and, in turn, demonstrate the power of the as religious icons:
visual image to invoke the viewer’s response. Another …what never failed to strike me most of all –
reason for choosing the van der Weyden painting is and by now I had been in almost every house
the reflexive nature of the image: the painting itself – were the eyes of the two inseparable
shows the image-making tradition itself in the making guardian angels that looked at me from the
(Figure 6). According to a sixth-century legend of wall over the bed. On one side was the black,
Greek origin, St Luke was the first person to make a scowling face, with its large, inhuman eyes,
portrait of the Virgin, thus reputedly initiating the of the Madonna of Viggiano; on the other a
iconography of the Madonna and Child. With regard coloured print of the sparkling eyes, behind
to another pictorial tradition (mentioned earlier), gleaming glasses, and the hearty grin of Pres-
among other symbolic elements, sculptural figures of ident Roosevelt. I never saw other pictures or
Adam and Eve decorate the Virgin’s throne, to images than these … they seemed the two
suggest that Christ will atone for their Original Sin. faces of power that has divided the universe
Although primarily a Christian icon, the image of the between them. But here their roles were …
Madonna and Child has attained a broad secular reversed. The Madonna appeared to be a
appeal. Similarly, as befits a cultural icon, Lange’s fierce, pitiless, mysterious, ancient earth
“Migrant Mother” has appeared in a number of subse- goddess, the Saturnian mistress of this world;
quent incarnations, enhancing its status as a the President a sort of all-powerful Zeus, the
representation of the “universal mother” . benevolent and smiling master of a higher
Whether images of migration and starvation tend sphere. Sometimes a third image formed,
to be more closely associated with biblical imagery along with these two, a trinity: a dollar bill,
than do other news items remains to be examined. For the last of those brought back from across the
the moment we can cite close associations in photo- sea, or one that had come in a letter of a
graphs, film sequences, the written as well as the
husband or relative, was tacked up under the
spoken word:
Madonna or the President, or else between
Dawn, and as the sun breaks through the them, like the Holy Ghost or an ambassador
piercing chill of night … it lights up a biblical from heaven to the world of the dead. (Levi
famine, now in the twentieth century. This 1944:120–121)
place, say workers here, is the closest thing to
However, the image of the expulsion from the Garden
hell on Earth. (Michael Buerk, BBC Televi-
of Eden symbolizes the struggle to gain salvation and,
sion News, November 1984)8
in this context, artists have created visual icons to
In returning to the book of Genesis and with regard to emphasize the predicament of humanity. It would
Adam and Eve’s expulsion, Moser (1998) demon- appear that an “iconography of predicament” has
strates how biblical stories provided the model for emerged. It provides an essential visual resource that
 Moving images 61

can be drawn upon when human catastrophe is to be

represented.

“ON THE ROAD”: MIGRANTS IN FICTION FILM

…the East of my youth and the West of my
future. (Jack Kerouac 1957:20)
Kerouac associated his proposed journey across the
United States with frontiersmanship: the early Amer-
ican pioneers and an indulgence in “dreams of what
I’d do in Chicago, in Denver, and then finally in San
Fran” (1957:15). His semi-autobiographical novel On
the Road, in which Kerouac’s “heroes” travel around
the United States in the quest of new and exciting
experiences accompanied by a sense of chaos and
despair, can be seen as a forerunner to the “road
movie” genre of feature film which gained its ascend- Figure 7. “Road shot” from Xavier Koller’s film,
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ancy in the 1960s, for example Dennis Hopper’s Easy Journey of Hope (Reise der Hoffnung). Permission to
reproduce the images of the Academy Award winning film
Rider (1969). Although “on the road” movies are not “Journey of Hope” was granted by the producers Catpics
essentially about refugees, they possess striking simi- Ltd, Zurich, Switzerland.
larities in structure to those narratives that have
attempted to highlight the issues of migration through
the medium of fiction film. and hardship that is to be left behind (Figure 7). The
While the fiction film may appear to be (literally) husband, as the prime motivator for the couple’s migra-
a world apart from the “real life” crises of refugees, it tion, leads the way and his wife (somewhat reluctantly)
nonetheless possesses the power to establish cultural follows. This thematic shot, early on in the movie,
values and norms. This may be achieved through such encapsulates the plot acting as a visual summary of
devices as visual metaphor or symbolism. Even some “the story so far”. Based upon “true” episodes from
of the most fantastic of movie genres (e.g. science life, Journey of Hope is also able to portray scenes that
fiction) encourage viewers to compare and contrast would be difficult to film in actuality. For example,
the “what if?” scenarios as presented on screen with there is a meeting with a trafficker where the would-be
their own life experiences. As such, they contribute to migrants hand over the payment for their passage. This
our developing a sense of the world and play an is shot convincingly in “documentary style”; though
this element of verisimilitude becomes interrupted by
important role in forming public opinion.
music which accompanies his counting the money after
However, in contrast to the documentary film,
the couple has left the room (Figure 8).
which (arguably) has an ability to promote social
The general narrative of Journey of Hope is a
change through highlighting (and raising questions
familiar one. It is reminiscent of the “road movie”
about) a specific problem, the fiction film has some
genre. Together with other migrant films: El Norte,
distinct disadvantages. The most obvious is that (by
nature) it does not offer the viewer an “actual”
portrayal of “reality”. No matter how well scenes have
been recreated, or how closely based upon a “true
story”, we know them to be “acted out”. In this context,
the feature film can afford to draw heavily on
symbolism. For example, Xavier Koller’s film Journey
of Hope (Reise der Hoffnung) in which a family of
Turkish farmers sell their possessions with the inten-
tion of taking up a new life in Switzerland. On the
journey they are exploited by traffickers, they have to
negotiate the dangers of crossing the Alps and are
finally apprehended by the Swiss police. An early stage
of the film features a seemingly casual shot of the
protagonists heading down the road (to an uncertain
future) while a ploughman, placed on the skyline,
fulfils a compositional role of enclosing the shot and, at Figure 8. The trafficker counting the money, Journey of
the same time, symbolizing the traditional life of toil Hope.
 62 T. Wright

for example, the plots fit conveniently into this genre. Homer’s Odyssey. The film structure is that of an
In El Norte the journey begins for two young Guate- episodic journey through which characters can be
malan Indians following the politically motivated involved in the process of self-discovery or learning
murder of their parents. They aim to migrate to the about each other and/or themselves along the way,
United States. On the other side of the border, the this can be in the form of a life-changing experience.
brother and sister find that their new reality contrasts As the “road movie” has its own rules, iconography
strongly with their vision of a Promised Land. As and conventions, it means that the “movie migrant” is
illegal aliens they are hounded by the immigration set on a predestined course from point A to point B.
authorities and the film results in the tragic conse- The implications for the narrative are that the end of
quences of their embarking on the journey. Thus the the journey is finite (and often stated in the early
story-lines of Journey of Hope and El Norte are stages of the film) and the drama is acted out sequen-
similar to such cinema classics as Midnight Cowboy, tially in chronological time.
Easy Rider, Badlands and Thelma & Louise. For In terms of human psychology, there is usually an
example, at the beginning of this genre of film we underlying theme of self-discovery. Yet, at the same
usually witness a dispensing of objects that symbolize time, the protagonist (usually male) is caught between
the life to be left behind. In Journey of Hope the the two worlds of his past and future. Contrasts are
protagonists take the irreversible step of selling their established between home and “life on the move” –
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farm animals; in Badlands the childhood home is set for example in Journey of Hope these are character-
on fire; and in Easy Rider they throw away their ized in terms of the growing tensions between the
wrist-watches (Figure 9). Usually two characters set heroine and hero, respectively. The migrant is also
out on an adventure – they meet various good, bad cast as the outlaw – wanting to become part of the
and ugly characters en route – a major set-back is new culture, yet having to resort to elicit means to
resolved and, although their final goal (end of the attain this goal. The individual (outlaw – as in the
journey) is reached (or may be in sight), it is likely all Robin Hood legend) set against the power of the state
to end in disaster. The end of the journey can be a can come to represent freedom. In addition, the
physical, spiritual or psychological destination or may elements of frontiersmanship in the protagonist ’s
involve aspects of all three. Without making too much pursuit of a new and better life suggest that the
of it, a case could be made for finding biblical prece- migrant movie has much in common with the genre of
dents in the narrative structure of the “road movie”: the “Western”. In Journey of Hope the protagonist s
the character(s) who contest(s) the authorities is set are portrayed possessing both dignity and courage.
against accumulating odds, and is finally sacrificed They engage the viewer’s sympathy and
for the cause (of freedom or justice, etc.). The road understanding.
itself has a special meaning of a physical and meta- Nonetheless, there is a central problem in classi-
phorical nature, representing freedom or discovery. fying films in “genres” in that many do not fit quite
The “road movie” perpetuates the allegorical tradition so neatly into such categories. So the characteristic of
derived from the “Journey of Life” that occurs the “road movie”: the disastrous end (needless to say)
frequently in Christian literature. Looking further shares characteristics with the “disaster movie”. This
back in literature it can feature the theme of “the film sub-genre usually involves a natural or human-
quest”, for example similar to the narrative of made catastrophe against which a cast of (often quite
predictable) human “types” would be confronted by
their personal weaknesses. Earthquakes, fires (e.g.
Towering Inferno) or plane crashes have become
popular subjects for this kind of movie that flour-
ished during the 1970s. To an extent Journey of Hope
conforms to Yacowar’s Disaster Movie basic type,
“The Ship of Fools”: “the dangers of an isolated
journey provide the most obviously allegorical
disaster films, given the tradition of The Road of
Life” (1977:91). Similarly, we find that the migrant
feature film The Boy Who Stopped Talking (De
Jongen Die Niet Meer Praatte) shares much with
Yacowar’s basic “Disaster” type, “Survival”: “A
respectable variety of disaster films detail the prob-
lems of survival after a disastrous journey”
(1977:91). This film, set in Holland and eastern
Figure 9. Irreversible step: selling the animals, Journey Turkey (with Dutch and Kurdish dialogue), follows
of Hope. the boy, Memo, from his Turkish village to join his
 Moving images 63

father, a dock-worker living in Holland. Seriously them with “the scum of Europe [that] has gravitated
disturbed by his up-rooting to an unfamiliar setting, to Casablanca”. But such sentiments are soon left
Memo decides to become silent. With the help of a behind. Alongside the Bogart, Bergman, Henreid
sympathetic teacher and his making friends with a “love-triangle”, the plot follows a re-kindling of Rick
local boy, Memo gradually adapts to his new Blaine’s (Humphrey Bogart) concern for human
situation. rights. From his initial cynical standpoint: “I stick my
Thus far, the essential point about feature film neck out for nobody” and “the problems of the world
genres is that they restrict the subject to “types” of are not in my department”, we watch him wrestle with
narrative, yet each new narrative has the potential to his conscience, emotions and moral obligations to
revise the tradition. For example, Ridley Scott’s film take extreme personal risk and loss in aiding the refu-
Thelma & Louise revised the genres “road movie”, gees (his rival and former lover: Henreid and
gangster film, “buddy movie”. The characters Thelma Bergman, respectively) to escape to freedom:
and Louise – in replacing the two male “buddy” “through-out the picture we see evidence of his
outlaw protagonists (or female/male Bonnie and humanity, which he does his best to cover up”
Clyde 10) with two women journeying through a male- (Harmetz 1992:56).
dominated American West – retained aspects of the From today’s standpoint the Casablanca story
anti-heroes’ alienation and “frontiersmanship ”, yet appears as one of romantic escapism (a characteristic
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introduced a feminist dimension to a traditionally it shares with The Sound of Music). Although The
macho genre through its portrayal of sisterly unity Sound of Music is based on a “true story”, there is
and strength.11 So genres themselves exist in a state of little in Casablanca that has a basis in reality. None-
flux.12 One issue to be addressed concerns the nature theless, Casablanca is a curious reflection of real-life
of genre – whether that of the feature film, the photo- in that many of those involved in the making of the
graph, the documentary or the television news film were European refugees who had escaped from
broadcast. In particular, the use of the generic struc- Nazi persecution. Perhaps two of the most relevant
ture together with the ability to expand and change examples are, firstly Robert Aisner, the film’s tech-
the structure will be examined. nical advisor, who had actually taken the route
described in the film’s prologue : “Paris to Marseilles.
Each new genre film constitutes an addition
Across the Mediterranean to Oran. Then by train or
to an existing generic corpus and involves a
auto or on foot across the rim of Africa to Casablanca
selection from the repertoire of generic
in French Morocco”, then to Lisbon and America (the
elements available … each new genre film
intended route of the Bergman and Henreid characters
tends to extend this repertoire, either by
in Casablanca). Secondly, the 19-year-old actor
adding a new element or by transgressing one
Helmut Dantine, who plays the part of the young
of the old ones. (Neale 1990:56)
Bulgarian refugee hoping to earn passage (for himself
As discussed with reference to genre as applied to and his wife) at the roulette wheel. Dantine had
television news and documentary images, the film’s served time in a concentration camp for his anti-Nazi
audience expectation as well as its “institutiona l activities in Vienna before escaping to the United
discourses” should also be encompassed in our defini- States.
tion of genre: In conclusion, for the refugee cause, we can put
forward three key advantages that the fiction film has
…within each period the structure of the
over the documentary. First, the A to B structure of
myth corresponds to the conceptual needs and
the physical journey undertaken by the protagonist(s )
self understanding required by the dominant
means that the viewer gets the whole picture in under-
social institutions of that period… (Wright
standing the cause and effect of migration: the
1975:14)
situation left behind; how and why decisions are
In general, refugees have been well served by the made to migrate; hardships encountered; coming to
feature film. If we take as examples two of the most terms with a new location; etc. In contrast the docu-
popular films ever made, we find that the well-to-do mentary, more so the news item, tends to deal with
von Trapp family become refugees at the end of The foreign stories or home stories, often failing to point
Sound of Music (1965) and almost every main char- out the connection between the two. Second, the
acter in Casablanca (1942) is (or becomes) a refugee. familiar narrative of the “road movie” is one that we
In Casablanca the message is very positive. In the are used to seeing being played out by people of our
prologue the city of Casablanca is introduced as a own culture, so the viewer is more easily able to iden-
type of transit camp on “the torturous, roundabout tify with the plight of the refugee through their
refugee trail”. Early on in the film as the “unhappy previous knowledge of the story’s structure. And
refugees” (along with other “usual suspects”) are thirdly, it is the business of a fiction film to persuade
rounded-up by the police, a pickpocket associates the audience to identify with the protagonist(s) .
 64 T. Wright

Whether this involves our “seeing” the points of view The purpose of this paper has been to provide the
of the central character or of a number of characters, foundations for research into the specific problem of
our “sticking with” the plot demands a certain degree the media representation of refugees. Yet in doing so,
of spectator identification .13 After all, this power to it has made some general observations on the nature
engage the viewer is the moviemaker’s business and of representation by means of visual images.
that of “story-tellers” in general. This notion has been Although it may be the intention of journalists (using
taken to something of a melodramatic extreme by the the term in the broadest sense to include editors,
literary critic Walker Gibson: “We assume, for the camera operators, etc.) to provide “realistic” images
sake of experience, that set of attitudes and qualities that offer a transparent view – a window on the world,
which the language asks us to assume … and, if we they are constrained in their having to conform to
cannot assume them, we throw the book away” cultural and institutional practices. This not only
(1980:1). Insofar as this might involve the viewer in should be taken to include the long and rich tradition
sharing the decision-making and understanding the of making visual images – and here I proposed an
world from the refugee’s perspective, it is likely to “iconography of predicament” which draws upon
generate a degree of empathy that is seldom present in images derived from the Christian iconographic tradi-
tion, but also the “invisible” political and social
attempts to provide a factual rendition.
constraints on the media. While media representation
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may result in objectifying “the refugee” in the role of

CONCLUSIONS the “illegal alien”, the feature film image of the
refugee as protagonist presents a role that is immedi-
…the inclusion among “us” of the family in
ately recognizable to the audience, and one that has a
the next cave, then of the tribe across the
high potential of gaining their sympathy. In this
river, then of the tribal confederation across
context the whole story is played through from cause
the mountains, then of the unbelievers across
to effect. The “A to B” structure of the “road movie”
the seas (and, perhaps last of all, of the genre means that we see the conditions that initiate
menials who, all this time have been doing the migration, the hardships of the road and what is to
our dirty work). This is a process we should be found at the journey’s end. As such they contrast
try to keep going. We should stay on the with documentary films (and news footage) where the
lookout for marginalized people – people whole story either remains set in a remote location, or
whom we still instinctively think of as “they” begins at Dover. In future, this point will be examined
rather than “us”. We should try to notice our in detail. In the meantime I propose that this reflects
similarities with them. (Rorty 1989:196) the way our society deals with the issue of migration
Media representations predominate in determining not only from the media perspective but also by
how we see refugees. While there is a marked government and the aid agencies themselves. While
tendency to categorize migrants as human types, the the media division between “Home News” and
selective nature of the visual image frequently objec- “Foreign News” may cause part of this, it mirrors the
government’s ways of dealing with refugee (as
tifies them, dismissing their historical, cultural and
opposed to asylum seeker) issues – the Foreign Office
political circumstances. The media representation of
and the Home Office, respectively. It also appears that
refugees has received little direct attention. Within the
the many non-governmental organizations deal either
area of refugee studies, media-related issues have
with crises abroad or with “home-based” crises in the
been discussed (Gibney 1999), but no comprehensive U.K.
study has yet been undertaken. The most closely A central problem of the feature film is that it is
related work has dealt with media representations of a work of fiction and as such does not have the
war (Allen and Seaton 1999; Minear et al. 1996; power of conviction of the news report or documen-
Neuman 1991) while others have examined the media tary. In addition, the genre can result in simplistic
response to more general human catastrophes and portrayals – easily identified heroes and villains (for
disasters (Benthall 1993; Moeller 1999; Sanger et al. example, the man who counts the money in Journey
1991). Others have considered ethical issues in media of Hope and the rather implausible element of a
representation (e.g. Winston 1988). In addition, other murder mystery that acts as a sub-plot to The Boy
related areas of study on representations of culture Who Stopped Talking). On the positive side, the
and ethnicity have taken place within visual anthro- notion of genre does not suggest that representation s
pology (e.g. Alexander 1998, Banks and Morphy remain fixed, but can be modified by subsequent
1997, Lutz and Collins 1993, Marcus 1995) and representations. Finally, any complete account of the
media and journalism studies (e.g. Gillespie 1995, media representation of refugees must include
Hawk 1992, Hess 1996, Shaheen 1988, Skovmand factors that exist beyond the immediate setting of the
and Schrøder 1992). visual image. This means that we should not only
 Moving images 65

consider the accompanying captions, text or Banks, M. and H. Morphy, eds. 1997. Rethinking Visual
commentary, but the narrative sequencing of the Anthropology. New Haven, CT and London: Yale
images as well as the stories and advertisements that University Press.
“encapsulate” refugee pictures. It is only when all Barthes, R. 1977. “The photographic message,” in Image
these factors are taken into account that we can Music Text. London: Fontana.
Beattie, L., D. Miller, E. Miller and G. Philo. 1999. “The
begin to understand the media construction of the
media and Africa: images of disaster and rebellion,” in
image of “the refugee”. G. Philo, ed., Message Received: Glasgow Media
Group Research 1993–1998. Harlow: Longman,
NOTES 229–267.
[1] According to UNHCR (as of 1 January 1999) there were Benthall, J. 1993. Disasters, Relief and the Media. New
21.5 million “people of concern”. York: I. B. Tauris.
[2] In an earlier paper (Wright 1992:275) I had referred to the Boyd, W. 1984. Stars and Bars. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Ancient Greek philosopher Cratylus who considered that, as Chang, T.-K. and J.-W. Lee. 1992. “Factors affecting gate-
he could not be certain about anything in the world, he keepers’ selection of foreign news: a national survey
could not pronounce on it, only point to things with his of newspaper editors,” Journalism Quarterly
finger. Similarly pointing the camera produces a visual 69(3):554–561.
image that is non-assertive, unless qualified by a caption or Cleasby, A. 1996. Watching the World: British Television
commentary.
and Audience Engagement with the Developing Coun-
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[3] Quoted in Moeller (1999:42).

[4] My thanks to Professor Peter Gatrell for drawing my atten-
tries. London: Third World & Environment
tion to this image (see Gatrell 1999). Broadcasting Project.
[5] Psalm, 23:5. Dyck, E. and G. Coldevin. 1992. “Using positive vs. nega-
[6] Psalm, 11:6. tive photographs for Third-World fund-raising,”
[7] The appearance of the “Migrant Mother” in Midweek Picto- Journalism Quarterly 69(3): 572–579.
rial, 17 October 1936, was partly overlaid by a map and the Fielding, H. 1994. Cause Celeb. London: Picador.
attention-grabbing headline “Look in her Eyes!”. This Gatrell, P. 1999. A Whole Empire Walking: Refugees in
makes a curious comparison to The Mirror’s reverse order Russia During World War 1. Bloomington: Indiana
to the viewer with its “Go On, Look Away” headline. University Press.
[8] Quoted by Helen Fielding (1994:97). Gibney, M. J. 1999. “Kosovo and beyond: popular and
[9] Moser points out that although the early Christian images go
unpopular refugees,” Forced Migration Review
back as far the fourth century, they drew upon the (even
August:28–30.
older) classical tradition. She makes reference to The
Golden Race and the five ages of Hesiod – similarities Gibson, W. (1980). “Authors, Speakers, Readers, and
between the classical and biblical schemes seen in the story Mock Readers.” Reader Response Criticism: from
of the expulsion from Eden – both led to a degradation. In Formalism to Post-Structuralism. J. P. Tompkins.
Hesiod’s case the concept was one of regression from an Baltimore & London, The Johns Hopkins University
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[10] Even when the “outlaws” form a male/female partnership, Gillespie, M. 1995. Television, Ethnicity and Cultural
they tend to conform to their respective sexual stereotypes Change. London: Routledge.
as in Malick’s Badlands, for example. Gombrich, E. H. 1960. Art and Illusion. London: Phaidon.
[11] Back-handed recognition of the film’s relation to existing Harmetz, A. 1992. Round Up the Usual Suspects: The
genres led to it being referred to as “Bitch Cassidy and the
Making of Casablanca – Bogart, Bergman, and World
Sundress Kid”.
[12] See Wright (1975), who traces the patterns of change in the
War II. New York: Hyperion.
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