A Locked Door

Both Guimond and Alinder contest that photography, particularly documentary photography, is a medium through which history can be read using intertextuality. Guimond writes how in the images he examined, “the photographers connected the social and environmental causes with the human consequences of rural poverty by composing their images so that factual connections were dramatized”. Guimond argues how photographs are a text, which showcase the successes and failures of the American Dream but in a way that supports the specific point that the documentary photographer is trying to prove. In photographs, happiness and prosperity can be seen; conversely, snapshots can portray hardship and heartbreak. And yet documentary photographs allow the photographer to pick which story they want to tell. Alinder illustrates, through his specific example of the photographs of Japanese American incarceration, that though photographs seem objective, they are often used to bolster a specific narrative.

The picture above portrays the entrance to a restaurant in the Old Capital Mall. However, upon further examination, we can see an interpretation of the American Dream (and Nightmare). We see pristine white, fake wood and beautiful frosted glass windows. These represent the allure of the facade of the entrance to the American Dream. The door is locked, and only those with keys can enter. In the same way, the American Dream is something most Americans aspire to obtain, but only a few, those who have the keys, can enter. Specifically, these may be keys related to class, race, gender, ability, sexuality, or anything else that filters people into in-groups and out-groups. The frosted windows further illustrate the falsity of the American Dream by appearing to be of use, but then forbidding those who are unwelcome to glance inside.

As a documentary photographer, I am using this picture to bolster my narrative. Had I taken this when the door was open, I could have potentially made the exact opposite argument, which is exactly the point that the two writers were trying to illustrate. I was able to connect the locked door to the American Dream with this photograph in a way that fit the argument that I was trying to make.