INTRODUCTION
The subject I have selected for my photo essay is the banning of the controversial Andrew Tate across all social media. Before his ban on many sites, Tate was known for his intense misogyny, ignorance, and lack of tact when discussing gender roles. He would often discuss that men should “own women,” and how their subservience should come naturally. Of course, all of his points were awful, but the worst aspect of his influence was how easily it was for him to reach an audience. Young men were exposed to an incredibly poisonous way of perceiving themselves and others. His ban was controversial, as some agreed that such harmful speech shouldn’t be allowed to propagate. In contrast, others questioned the authority to take away free speech over social media platforms. I feel like this topic embodies the importance of media literacy and the absolute power that social media can have over society.
PHOTO ANALYSIS
The first photo sets the scene by using the TikTok logo, helping to establish the grounds around where the event took place- over social media. The framing is fairly solid, providing a sharp contrast between the bright logo and the dark background, and I don't think the photo needs anything else, as it's purely used for establishing TikTok's prevalence. The second picture gives a nice detailed shot displaying his background as a kickboxer, while also developing a sense of whom he is before seeing his face. Including his face would have helped to better establish his beginnings. The framing is nice because it allows viewers to develop a larger picture of where he came from, rather than just show what he has done. The third and fourth pictures are both portraits, but in different timeframes, showing his difference in style and how he envisions himself. I chose to display both timeframes to again- give a better sense of his transition between periods.
The fifth photo perfectly frames his mindset of focusing heavily on income and his endless flaunting of money. There needed to be a picture that represents what he preaches, and this one fills that role. The sixth photo is closure for what happens to him in the end, with rather simple but effective framing to get the info across. The last picture is a great finisher, as it targets the heart of the issue- the power and influence of social media. The framing of including the action of opening FaceBook is engaging and brings to perspective how easy accessing these global platforms truthfully is. Having other social media apps on the home screen would help to get the point across better, but showing FaceBook alone is enough.
CONCLUSION
I chose these images to establish the prominent social media setting and Tate's background and views, as well as the overall state of social media and its influence. Choosing to ignore his athletic background would result in the loss of connection between his fame in the sports industry and his infamy in online spaces. I also could've included more recent photos of him, but I felt that it was better to include pictures of him across different moments in time to better contrast how he carries himself. There aren't any major ethical concerns, but someone could just view a few of the photos that contain him, without reading each caption, and assume I support his views.
Visual reporting in today's current environment is rather tough to establish uniqueness but is necessary to get the job done. Due to the large and fast influx of news and other messages over the Internet, people are often only attracted to visuals and not text. Visuals need to be authoritative enough to gather attention to possibly direct it to text. Visual reporting will most assuredly continue to develop to be the deciding factor as to if someone clicks on an article or not. As the trends are going, articles will get shorter and images will grow in number. It's far easier for many to see what Tate has said or done than to read about it.