An Interpretation.

Robert Frank set out in the 1950s to photograph the American people. After taking over 28,000 shots in a span of two years, he cut it down to 83 photographs in a series entitled "The Americans". The series represented the post-war society that America had become, depicting all classes, races, genders, and much social commentary.

This specific picture "Charleston, South Carolina" was taken by Frank and shows an African American woman holding a caucasian baby. The ways in which we could interpret this photo according to "Film Art", as well as in "The Practices of Looking" vary, both including a literal meaning of the photo, as well as what the specific audience member reads into it themselves. In Bordwell and Thompson's "Film Art", also look into the referential, explicit, implicit and symptomatic ways of interpreting a work. With each of these meanings, the viewer goes deeper and deeper into the meaning of the work. Starting out with a literal meaning, of a woman holding a baby, and then gradually going deeper into the work, seeing the difference in races, relating that to the time period of the 1950s, and then expanding to draw conclusions about society from that. By using all of these different stages of meaning, the viewer is able to interpret the photograph as a social commentary on the idea of an African American woman taking care of a caucasian child that has more rights than her.

In Sturken and Cartwright's "Practices of Looking", the interpretation is not only about the literal meaning that the viewer makes, but also the meaning that they gather based on their individual self. Each one of us will interpret this photo in a different way, depending on the cultural background, class, race, political opinion, upbringing and many other things that made us who we are. Knowing about the fight for civil rights that went on in the 1950s and 60s as well as a knowledge of that time period in American history will make the viewer grasp a deeper meaning of this photo, compared to someone from a different country, background, and history. Having an idea of that time period allows the audience to see the possibility that the African American woman holding the caucasian child might be the caretaker, but does not have the right to do the things that the child can do, based solely on race. "Practices of Looking" argues that to interpret a photograph, one has to look at not only its meaning, but also how the photograph interacts and relates to society and how members of society will relate to it. Sturken and Cartwright further emphasize the notion that interpretation is all individualized. How the work is seen by different groups of people effects its interpretation, as some people may get the intended meaning of the creator, and some will reject it and produce their own totally different meaning and interpretation.