The example below is taken from a recent article in the online edition of a Canadian weekly newsmagazine, Maclean’s.
The image, taken by the writer of the article, is a picture of Dave Resser, sheriff of Benewah County in northern Idaho.
- Preferred reading: Adnan Khan has portrayed Sheriff Resser in what looks like a self-satisfied pose with his hands across an ample stomach, staring off to camera-left. He is in uniform, with a large (outdoor?) western hat, surrounded by the U.S. and Idaho flags, and seated in a messy office that displays, stars, badges and awards. The large sign hung from the desk looks like it might be from the last election for the sheriff’s position. A gun in its leather holster lies on the desk in a prominent place in the foreground of the image.
Canadian police officers do not dress like this and their weapons are not normally displayed so casually. If anything, Khan is likely counting on Canadians to read this image with distaste and perhaps with condescension: the scene is foreign to their experience, and it plays to stereotypes that many in this country have concerning American law enforcement, American attitudes toward firearms, and supporters of Donald Trump (the thrust of the article). Khan and his publisher are probably confident that they are on safe ground portraying the sheriff as “The Other” in this piece. - Negotiated, or most common reading: I expect that many readers of Maclean’s will read this as confirmation of common Canadian attitudes about the U.S., its politics and its gun culture. Canada has a long history of reassuring itself that, in spite of whatever faults this country may have, at least we are not like our neighbours to the south. Even Canadian readers who do not buy fully into the national smugness may look at this picture with something like pity and the thought, “Well, what do you expect from them?”
- Oppositional reading: a different reading of the image might begin with seeing it as something of a setup. Khan could probably have posed his subject in many different ways and locations, but has chosen to portray him as a kind of stereotype: he is the cartoon sheriff of a hundred Hollywood movies. Sheriff Resser could have been shown meeting people, outdoors, talking to children, positioned in an orderly setting, captured head-on without a hat… the options go on. In short, his portrait could have shown him as a normal man with a responsible job, rather than as a caricature. The tools and trappings of his trade might have strengthened his authority, rather than undermined it.
Seen this way, the political views expressed in the article might be viewed as those that reasonable people might hold, rather than being the commitments of armed and dangerous individuals. It is possible that some viewers/readers could feel as though they are being manipulated by the image and resent the expectation that they would automatically buy its messages.
However much one might agree or disagree with the stance of the author and the magazine, the ethics of representation in this portrayal of Sheriff Resser are debatable.
Reference
Khan, A. R. (2020) What’s in store for a post-Trump America? An Idaho town may have the answer. At: https://www.macleans.ca/politics/whats-in-store-for-a-post-trump-america-an-idaho-town-may-have-the-answer/ (Accessed 03/01/2021).
The Self and the Other 