Photographs, TV, and Movies

On occasion, I pause to think about how much everything around us changes on a regular basis. For my grandparents, the world was just learning to fly when they were born, and they saw us go to the Moon. They also experienced two World Wars and a few localized ones. Photographs were nothing new to them, of course, but moving pictures were introduced during their lifetimes, and then sound was added. Along the way, radio and television helped change the way people lived.

You can see evidence of that latter statement in the way we build our houses. Before radio and definitely before television, homes often had expansive front porches. They served two purposes in warm weather. Families could stay outside while their homes cooled off after the day’s heat, and they could also visit with neighbors and people walking down the street. Television drew us indoors, and it’s a good thing the advent of air conditioning came along at about the same time. Consequently, porches began to get smaller and smaller.

The oldest surviving picture of a human being was taken nearly two hundred years ago in 1838! It shows a man getting his shoes shined on a busy street in France. He’s the only one in the picture because he’s the only one standing still long enough for the picture’s exposure time to capture his presence. He's down in the lower left of the attached photograph.

Since that time, photographs have become a national pastime. We take pictures of ourselves at special events, and if one’s not handy, we’ll take pictures anyway. We take pictures of our vacations, our friends, our family, landmarks, and our meals. I sometimes wonder if we’re spending so much time recording our lives, we’ve missed some golden opportunities to actually live them.

As a sidenote, you probably have noticed that people didn’t smile when they posed for pictures in the old days. I always assumed it was because they had to hold their pose for so long, a smile might be difficult to sustain, but it turns out people didn’t smile when photographed because they considered smiles inappropriate. The transition from paintings to pictures had some carry-over of old traditions and beliefs.

One of the things I like about looking at old photographs is they capture a point in time that has long faded away. In essence, no matter how old the picture may be, we’re staring into the past when we look at it. Because of that, we can see Abraham Lincoln conferring with General Grant during the Civil War. We can see Mark Twain in his white suit sitting on his lawn smoking his inimitable cigar. We can also see the horrors of the Holocaust and the aftermath of atomic bombs being dropped on Japan.

Television and movies have amplified the ability to see the past. If you want to know what the world was like when I was born, watch “I Love Lucy.” Television programs and movies not only reflect the times in which they were made, they also teach us a little bit about the world as it existed before they were around. Technological achievements aside, their efforts to show us what parting the Red Sea might have looked like, or demonstrate how humanity and inhumanity can exist side-by-side. We can witness the great power of love and compassion, as well as the terrible evil of hatred and prejudice. 

While photographs, television, and movies may entertain us, they can also educate us. If you don’t believe me, make a point of watching “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Read the book, of course, but watch Gregory Peck portray Atticus Finch. Watch “Judgment at Nuremburg.”

There is a downside to it all, of course. My wife and I have a mutual appreciation for movie musicals. We’ve started listening to their soundtracks as we go to bed. Last night, we listened to “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She’s from St. Louis, so she has a special connection to it. By the time I’d heard “Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie” in its several iterations, the tune was stuck in my head. By the way, the movie features the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904. Sandy’s grandmother told her about attending that great event when she was young. In fact, one of the places Sandy took me on my first visit to St. Louis was the Art Museum, and it was built for that World’s Fair.

All of it is captured in photographs.

Take care. Be safe.

cma