Gulf war, 1991
A related material page containing TWO TEEEC paragraphs analysing one or two images from www.coutausse.com that support your perspective on the statement and a link to the concluding page (You may choose an alternative visual text if you wish)
Coutasse's photojournalism captures the profound impact of political change on individuals and societies. As seen in the reunification of East and West Germany, the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi leadership represented an end of dictatorship and symbolic beginning of democracy. Coutausse represents this image through his juxtaopistion of the American flag and a mosaic mural of Saddam Hussein in the photo "Kuwait, Liberation of Kuwait City: U.S. soldiers run up a flag in front of a Saddam Hussein mural on the road to Basra in February 1991". The flag is depicted in motion as it is blurry, and its vibrant bright colours make it seem stronger that the drab mural. The sense of motion within the image reinforces the idea that this photo captures the end of one political order and the beginning of a new one. and suggests that this is a positive, energetic moment. Whereas in "Good Bye Lenin" the removal of the icon Lenin had been a moment of loss for Christiane, the suggested perspective of the American soldier on the left creates sense that this is a fun, exciting moment. Coutausse's image captures the powerful sense of political change on Kuwaiti society in this image.
However, Coutausse presents the liberation of Iraq from a perspective that also seems critical of American military intervention. The images taken within the midst of battle seem to present the American soldiers as casual and disrespectful to the lives lost in battle. The photo "KUWAIT. LIBERATION OF KUWAIT CITY. U.S. soldiers speak near an Iraqi soldiers’ corpses in February 1991" uses the visual depth of the photograph to tell three stories simultaneously. In the foreground the image shows Iraqi corpses, the middle ground shows American soldiers smoking and smiling, whilst in the distance a big fire burns. The seeming casual happiness on the face of the solder is the focal point of the image, and his body creates a vector line down to the corpses on the ground. In this way the image creates a narrative for the viewer and suggests that the soldier is happy about the corpses. Of course, this is the reality of war; victors are happy when they win, however the media rarely shows us this clear and awful relationship so clearly and the harshness of these images side by side emphasises the barbarism of war. In so doing, Coutausse reveals a powerful ramification on the individual of political change; the soldier in this image appears to be morally sullied by their participation in the political change, and no amount of rhetoric about just wars can make up for the stark image of a man apparently laughing at the death of another.