Media
Out Of The Borders
Circus TV or the art of doing fear as a spectacle by Pablo Rubio
A reflection on the power of the mass media over its audience, exploiting instinctual reactions to content such as morbidity in unpleasant events.
Harry Gruyaert. TV shot of a couple in soap opera. 1972
One afternoon in September 2001, the 5-year-
old boy that I was was returning home after a bike ride. School had not yet started and the remains of a hot summer were still in the air. When I arrived at the dining room I found my family gathered around the television. Two immense towers were spitting out puffs of fire, collapsing like a stack of cards. The streets of that city, which I had seen before in many movies, were now a turmoil of blood, dust and tears. How can I keep this memory so vivid and not others?
© Magnum Photos
Fear is one of the most powerful and primitive emotions humans possess. It helps us stay alert and avoid danger. Being 5 years old and seeing violent images, in a western setting, having as protagonists people with a familiar look, induces an irrational fear and, at the same time, a certain curiosity. We are mortal creatures and we know it, but when we are only indirect witnesses, mere spectators, we find a certain happiness in being spared; “the dead one is not me”.
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