During the Second World War, women played very important roles in their capacity in different spheres of life. Their role was important on account of writing the history of the war as their work helped educating the audience about the horrors of war and war related menaces. This case study will compare and contrast the work of three women who performed gallantly during the Second World War and had their share of writing the transparent history of the biggest war in the history of mankind. The three women are from different fields of journalism and performed bravely during the war.
Therese Bonney was born and educated in America, however, settled in Paris, France to promote cultural exchange between America and France through her photography. Bonney considered that the Second World War was endangering European civilization. She used her photographic skills to preserve the endangered culture and launched the truth raids into the country side for the purpose of documenting the horrors of war. She used to go alone and would bring back the truth to show it to the people so that they can do something to stop it. Bonney successfully moved millions of viewer in America and abroad by showing the images of homeless children and adult. Later, she published two photo essay books “War Comes to the People” in 1940 and “Europe’s Children” in 1943. She also mounted one-woman shows at Library of Congress and many other overseas museums. Her concept about war displaced children was filmed “The Search” that earned the Academy Award. She also performed as heroin of a wartime comic book, “Photofighter”. She created hope for the homeless people of Second World War and is remembered for her service to the humanity.
Unlike Bonney, Tony Frissell was a high fashion photographer for Vogue and Harper’s Bazar. During the Second World War, she volunteered her photographic services for American Red Cross, Women’s Army Corps and Eighth Army Air force. She produced thousands of images of front line soldiers, nurses, African American airmen and orphaned children. Her move from fashion photography to the hard life of photography during the Second World War was due to her desire to change the softer image of women. She was well linked with the higher society and used the links to complete her war time assignments at home and abroad. One of her photographs fit into a media campaign to change the public perception of women in uniform. She also projected the African American pilots of 332nd Fighter Group thus improving the public image about their fitness for the Army tough jobs.
On the other hand, Clare Boothe Luce was a multi-dimensional personality and was not restricted to one field of work. She was a congresswoman, an ambassador, a playwright, a trendsetter and overall a controversial figure. She was also a wartime journalist and covered many war fronts during the Second World War. She considered her war reporting as a time off from her playwright job. Despite being a highly delicate women, she endured the discomforts and dangers encountered by the war correspondent. She experienced bombing raids in Europe and Far East and house arrest in Trinidad by British customs due to one of her articles about British unpreparedness in Libya. Her accurate reporting compelled Winston Churchill to revamp his Middle Eastern military policy. Her war encountered led her to writing of her first non-fiction book, through which she tried to convince fellow Americans about isolationism. She was one of the very special ladies to be remembered in the American history.
The three women discussed were not a total contrast to each other and had few commonalities too. Threse Bonney was a cultural photographer and projected the homeless people, Tony Frissell was a high fashion photographer for the top magzines of the world and volunteered for the tough job whereas Clare Boothe Luce was a politician and everything else that a women can think of. All three were special people and are remembered for their heroic contributions during the Second World War.
References
Morris, S. J. (1997) Rage for Fame. New York, NY: Random House. Library of Congress website: http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0010.html
The Life of Therese Bonney (1999). http://web.sbu.edu/friedsam/archives/biographies/theresebonney/bonneybio.htm
Toni Frissell Fashion Photographer biography (2004). http://blog.jewelryaccessories.com/fashion-photographers/370-toni-frissell.html
