World War II altered the face of American society with the men off to war, women assumed the role of bread-earners for the family. Due to war, the role of women got extended with them playing the role of men also in society set-up with women started to earn and work in offices and factories. The extended role of women also touched lives of female photographers, journalists and broadcasters. These women willing to widen their horizons started covering the happenings around them through their lens and pens. Out of hundreds of such women, few women really marked their work with excellence. This paper compares and contrasts three such excellent female photographers, broadcaster and journalist. The women discussed here are Therese Bonney, Toni Frissell and Clare Boothe Luce.
Therese Bonney, initially promoting the cultural exchange between United States and France through photography became involved in World War II by means of her photography. She strived to show the impact of war on the lives of people and the photographs by Bonney depicting innocent children and people on roads of Europe earned apathy of people in America. She was passionate about her work and showed the reality of work to the world through her lens. She used every opportunity to showcase the displaced children from war and did it through her photo-books “War Comes to People” and Europe’s Children”. She became a celebrated media personality due to her immense work to bring attention to the displaced children.
Toni Frissell was another passionate photographer who prior to getting involved with war photographs, was working as fashion photographer. She, with the intent to prove her as real reporter volunteered for American Red Cross and Women’s Army Corps. The main focus of Frissell’s work was to upgrade the image of her subjects in public, mainly of those subjects who were not preferred by public. Through her work only, she was able to promote the views of public about female army persons and similarly the images of African American pilots of fighter group communicated to public the capability of blacks to perform military jobs. Images by her undoubtedly promoted many females and African American to explore their aspirations.
Clara Boothe Luce was a playwright by profession and considered her war reportage as a part-time job. However, this conviction of hers didn’t undermine her attempts to capture the war correspondence and she faced all the threats boldly. Her strong observation and analytical approach was startling for British government when her observation in draft of ‘Life’ article on poor military vigilance proved precise. Owing to her observation, Winston Churchill revamped the Middle Eastern policy of military. In her book, ‘Europe in the Spring’, Lucy anxiously warns Americans of the ill-effects of isolation.
The three women described above have demonstrated wonderful combination of courage and sensitivity by using their talents to improve the lives and public perception of people about the participants in war during World War II. These women used their talent to unearth the realities of the families impacted by war, upholding the images of their subjects and used their unsettling observation to help their country in war.
Bibliography
Women Come to the Front. (2010, July 27). Retrieved November 12, 2011, from Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/
