McAllister 1

Meaghan McAllister
20 September 2016
Professor Wilson Clasby
Composition II

Above these words, a gut-wrenching photograph is shown. Feelings of discomfort wave

over one when looking at the beheading of a North Korean. This photograph hit the earth in 1952
when Margaret Bourke-White took it during the Korean War. Margaret Bourke-White was one of
the most successful female American photographers of all time. Her career as a photojournalist
led her to many achievements including having some of her works in Life magazine, as shown
above. This breathtaking photograph may be hard for some to look at, but that is part of the
reason White took it.

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The photo that White left behind was captioned A member of the South Korean National
Police holds the severed head of a North Korean communist guerrilla during the Korean War,
1952. The caption given directs different emotions associated with the photo than without.
Without the caption, one may feel like the enemy is the man holding the ax like weapon and the
victim is the beheaded. With the caption in place, one realizes that the enemy is actually the
beheaded. The intended audience for this photograph was all readers of Time Magazine. What
White did that was so outstanding was that she photographed the side of the Korean War that
people never saw. She photographed the lives of the Korean civilians, the citizens who had to
live with this war going on around them. White was assimilated into the warfare of Korea. She
even had to carry her own gun around for safety. The Korean War was a fight against
communism. The United States and other countries aided South Korea in their fight against the
communist North Korea. As Americans, we supported the fight against communism, therefore
this photo, although graphic, may seem victorious to some. The American public at first were all
for the Korean War; that support gradually declined when the war was getting very expensive.
This photograph could have been used as propaganda. Also, it could have been used to display
the brutality in this war. The audience can interpret this photo in many different ways. For the
people who want to end communism in any way, this may be full of victory. For those who are
sympathetic to the brutalities of war, this may be stomach churning and unsettling to see.
When first looking at this photograph, your eyes are immediately drawn to the chopped
off head to the right side of the landscape. The head is closer to the photographer. It is unsettling
to look at because it is so barbaric and animalistic. It is then drawn to the other man in the
photograph, the South Korean. The smile on the South Koreans face is what really can draw the
viewer emotions. The vectors of attention are from the beheaded head down to the left of the
very much alive human head. A visual point of tension is the hand holding the beheaded man by
the hair on his head. The tension makes one feel so uncomfortable about how ruggedly the head
is being held. The tension of the hand has the viewer focus and question on what else is going on
outside of the frame. The viewer doesnt have access to the person who is holding the head
besides the display of the hand. In the photograph, there is a contrast of the two subjects and the
background. The background of the photograph is completely blurred out, making the viewer
focus simply on the two subjects and not get distracted by anything else. In the frame, the
subjects are viewed side by side. The difference is that the beheaded subject is closer to the

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photographer. This gives the viewer a closer up look to the beheaded since it is so graphic. The
graphicness of the beheaded intrigues the viewer to be focus on the beheaded. It is the main
subject.
Margaret Bourke-White was very close up to these subjects when capturing this
photograph. White claimed the Koreans to be very welcoming. In her autobiography, she said
that the Koreans were the Irish of the orient (Bourke-White Portrait of Myself). The photo
seems posed and perfectly timed for the hand to hold up the head. This close up distance shows
that the White had almost a personal relationship with these South Korean soldiers. She felt
comfortable enough to go up close to them and they allowed it. The viewers have a closer look
and it makes the photograph more effective and emotional. The image is framed where you
completely are focused on the two subjects without any other major distractions. The framing
cuts off the lower half of the South Koreans body and the arm that is attached to the hand holding
the North Koreans head. White did this for the viewer to focus completely on whats important
in this photo. We didnt have to see the lower half of the North Koreans body. We only needed to
focus on the weapon he is holding and his facial expression. Also, the arm thats cut off keeps us
focused and stray away the distraction of another subject.
White was born in 1904 in the Bronx, New York. Unlike many women of her era, she
was privileged enough to attend the prestigious colleges of Colombia University, University of
Michigan, Western Reserve University & Cornell University. Bourke started photography when
studying art at Colombia. Photography wasnt really her main focus at first. It wasnt until she
started to sell her photographs of Cornell University when she didnt have a job. Her talent
shined through these photographs and they had gained a lot of attention (Oden Margaret
Bourke). From there on, her career as a photojournalist had taken off. In 1929, White was the
staff photographer for Fortune Magazine. It was there where she had the privilege of
photographing the Soviet Union. She and her husband were the only foreign journalists in the
SU. This was a huge deal. Then in 1936, she joined the staff of Life Magazine. That magazine led
her to the opportunity of taking the photo above in Korea. Another one of Whites employers was
the U.S. Airforce (Simkin Margaret Bourke-White.). This amazing woman never failed to
reach success in a world where there was a restraint on it for women. While in Korea, White

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developed Parkinsons disease. This brought her road of photography to an end. She passed away
in 1971 from Parkinsons (Oden Margaret Bourke).
The controversy of this photograph is present in the story behind it and the story thats
shown. It represents Americas changing view on whether or not we were for or against the
Korean War for numerous reasons. It represents how war can be barbaric and can make the
reader question whether or not war is really the only way to solve certain problems. Americans
were torn on if this war was more beneficial or hurtful to the country as a whole. When seeing
this photograph at first, it can be unsettling and graphic when you dont know the story behind
the subjects. The photograph is extremely drawing. It is one where it is hard to look at but also
hard to look away from. It tears the viewers emotions apart making them possibly confused on
how to feel. When this photograph surfaced, many other Korean War pictures rose also. These
photos at the time allowed other American viewers to actually see similar things to what the
Korean civilians saw and dealt with on a daily basis. Margaret Bourke-Whites photography of
the Korean War brought Americans an insight on some of the things that were truly going on.

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Works Cited
1. Bourke-White, Margaret. Portrait of Myself. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963. Print.
2. Cosgrove, Ben. "LIFE in Korea: Rare and Classic Photos From the 'Forgotten War'"
Time. Time, 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
3. History.com Staff. "Korean War." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 20
Sept. 2016.
4. "US Enters the Korean Conflict." National Archives and Records Administration.
National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
5. By This Time Caldwell Wanted Margaret to Marry Him, but She Would Not Agree. She
Wrote in Her Autobiography,. "Margaret Bourke | International Photography Hall of
Fame." International Photography Hall of Fame. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2016
6. "Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971)." Women Photojournalists:. The Library of
Congress, 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
7. (john@spartacus-educational.com), John Simkin. "Spartacus Educational." Spartacus
Educational. Spartacus Educational, Aug. 2014. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.