By David Walker
M*A*S*H/I*R*A*Q
Photographs by Thomas Dworzak
143 pages/80 color images with black-and-white stills from
M*A*S*H/$35
Trolley Books
In this life-imitates-art production, images from Iraq by Magnum
photographer Thomas Dworzak are interwoven with frame grabs from
M*A*S*H, the CBS sitcom about a military field hospital in South
Korea that aired from 1972 to 1983. The show's anti-war message was
carried by its brilliant writing. In this book, Dworzak's images
are pretty standard fare, but his photography isn't the point here.
The point, driven home by the snappy, sarcastic and ironic bits of
dialogue superimposed on the M*A*S*H frame grabs, is that that the
Iraq War is a travesty. The problem is that the message is too
blunt and literal, and the use of a sitcom to drive it only ends up
trivializing the war. For instance, one M*A*S*H image shows a
character in a kitchen declaring, "Field Marshal Rommel said, 'You
can judge an army by its kitchens.'"Cut to a Dworzak shot of a
soldier in Iraq looking at a grill full of cheeseburgers. Another
M*A*S*H frame grab shows a character above the de-contextualized
(but doubtlessly ironic) words, ". . .the American policy of benign
military intervention." It is followed by Dworzak images of
American soldiers on patrol that insinuate quite the opposite. This
book is supposed to stir outrage, but unfortunately, it is too
lacking in subtlety, and too hard to take seriously.
M*A*S*H/I*R*A*Q
Dec 2, 2007
By By David Walker
M*A*S*H/I*R*A*Q
Photographs by Thomas Dworzak
143 pages/80 color images with black-and-white stills from M*A*S*H/$35
Trolley Books
In this life-imitates-art production, images from Iraq by Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak are interwoven with frame grabs from M*A*S*H, the CBS sitcom about a military field hospital in South Korea that aired from 1972 to 1983. The show's anti-war message was carried by its brilliant writing. In this book, Dworzak's images are pretty standard fare, but his photography isn't the point here. The point, driven home by the snappy, sarcastic and ironic bits of dialogue superimposed on the M*A*S*H frame grabs, is that that the Iraq War is a travesty. The problem is that the message is too blunt and literal, and the use of a sitcom to drive it only ends up trivializing the war. For instance, one M*A*S*H image shows a character in a kitchen declaring, "Field Marshal Rommel said, 'You can judge an army by its kitchens.'"Cut to a Dworzak shot of a soldier in Iraq looking at a grill full of cheeseburgers. Another M*A*S*H frame grab shows a character above the de-contextualized (but doubtlessly ironic) words, ". . .the American policy of benign military intervention." It is followed by Dworzak images of American soldiers on patrol that insinuate quite the opposite. This book is supposed to stir outrage, but unfortunately, it is too lacking in subtlety, and too hard to take seriously.
