UNDERGRADUATE

counterculture. The efforts of the flower power movement
are positively represented: we find the innocent flower
child on the right easier to empathize with than the
faceless Guard on the left. The photograph validates
the voices of those in opposition to the war. Beyond this
historical moment, it also encourages the public to speak
out in times of conflict. This image also emotional not
only because of the interaction between Kasmir and the
faceless Guard, but for the events we imagine occurring
before and after the photo as well. As we will see with the
photographs taken during Russia’s Orange Revolution and
the more recent riots in Romania, these pictures embody
comparable emotional and semiotic scenarios. Lastly,
contradictions and crises are at the center of this picture,
as represented by the emotional bodies and semiotic
meaning of various compositional elements. The good,
physically defenseless girl on the right promotes peace,
while the evil, armed and protected National Guard seems
to represent a fight for what they think is justice. This
image selectively depicts one aspect and one perspective
of the war, perhaps oversimplifying the seemingly twodimensional
forces framed in such stark opposition.
As I looked for information about this photograph,
searching for terms such as flower, woman, peace, in
various combinations, I came across a handful of other
photos. These images interestingly mimic certain physical
elements of the original “Flower Child at the Pentagon", as
well as build on this iconic photograph’s visual rhetoric.
By mimicking this image that is already recognized as
representative of a certain era, and communicative of
a specific ideology, that of peace, these other images
are able to create a new, richer meaning of their own.
Additionally, they create a dialogue between their own
perspective, similar images emerging in times of chaos,
and with the original itself.
Flower Power
Photographer Bernie Boston took a similar photo, Flower
Power, in nearly the same time and space as “Flower
Child at the Pentagon"—October 21, 1967, at a March on
the Pentagon. 2 It is also in black and white, and depicts
a man in a turtleneck sweater who places carnations
down the barrels of soldiers’ rifles. The soldiers appear
as anonymous as they did in “Flower Child", making it
easy to understand the protesters as simply victims to
this overpowering, ruthless, faceless war. The soldiers
are only helmets, uniforms, and weapons. Other people
stand behind the flowering man. They are unarmed,
and seem to curiously peer into the crowd of soldiers.
Interestingly, the man is also on the right, in the position
of the benevolent side of this photograph. We do not see
his face, however. He turns away from the camera and to
our left. Kasmir is not alone, even though she appears
to be in “Flower Child at the Pentagon". Other people
at the same event that day similarly share flowers with
the soldiers outside of the Pentagon. Both photographs
capture the innocent flower child on the right, offering
indicators of the movement they represent to the armed
soldiers. These photographs serve as an American
memory that conveys the conflict between the anti-war
counterculture and the Vietnam War.
Despite these apparent similarities, there are noteworthy
differences that separate these two pictures, leading to
one being more iconic than the other. For one, the framing
of this second picture is noticeably more unconventional
and nontraditional than “Flower Child". The camera faces
downwards, capturing the tops of protesters’ and soldiers’
heads. This framing disrupts our ability to emotionally
relate to the image’s subject. We do not have the same
intimacy with the subject as we did with Kasmir. We saw
her eyes and her unique expression; here, the young man’s
eyes are covered by his hair, and he is less vulnerable,
surrounded by other protesters. The soldiers are also less
intimidating. Rather than being uniformly lined up, they
are scattered and unorganized. While this image certainly
captures a similar crisis as “Flower Child at the Pentagon"
and to some degree emotional and semiotic scenarios, it
2 Flower Child can be viewed here:
http://www.famouspictures.org/flower-power/.
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
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