Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl”

Networked Media 2019 Week 5

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

Nick Ut began his photography career at The Associated Press (AP) in Vietnam in 1966 and covered most of the Vietnam War. He also worked in Tokyo, and in 1977, transferred to Los Angeles and still currently works as a photojournalist for the AP.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyze (can you provide a link?)

I have chosen to look at Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” photograph from the Vietnam War (1955-1975).

With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?

“Napalm Girl” was produced on June 8th, 1972 during the Vietnam War.

How was the photo or video authored? 

Kim Phuc Phan Thi, the memorable “Napalm Girl”, had been hiding in a Buddhist temple with her family before the Napalm bombs were dropped over her village. When the fighting had gotten closer to their whereabouts, the family decided to flee and run towards ARVN forces. However, unfortunately, a passing strike aircraft had mistaken these forces as NVA and dropped Napalm bombs over the ARVN, only just barely making contact with Kim Phuc. The Napalm had hit her back and left arm, and she tore off her burning clothes as she ran down the street till she reached a makeshift aid station where many photographers happened to be stationed at. Nick Ut was, of course, one of those photographers and he immediately captured a photo of her before she reached the station to be treated.

How was the photo or video published? 

Nick Ut recounts in an interview with Michael Zhang in PetaPixel, that after developing the negatives of the film, many of his colleagues were confused about the image of a naked girl, and didn’t think it had a chance to be published. However, after Nick Ut explained to his editors and then to his boss the story behind the photo, they believed that the impact and power of the story overruled the rules of censorship, and immediately sent the image to New York to be published. I am unsure of which newspaper company were the first to publish nor can I find proof on how the photograph was sent from Vietnam to the United States. However, as these events transpired during the 1970s, it can be assumed that the image was sent through a photo transmitter, that scans the photograph one line at a time and then transmits the analog signal through a telephone line to whichever New York newspaper company.

How was the photo or video distributed? 

I also could not find any verifiable evidence explaining exactly how the “Napalm Girl” photograph was distributed, however, I did find interesting articles discussing how the nature of its rapid distribution – as well as the development of broadcast television – heavily affected the outcome of the Vietnam War. Also titled the “first television war”, the Vietnam War was covered all across the news globally, especially in the United States. During this time, accessibility to multiple forms of media was a lot easier and convenient, in particular, television and photojournalism. With this evolution of media information, there were affordances for more media practitioners to be on the field of the war to capture and cover more scope of the devastation for the viewers outside of the war to observe. As quoted by Marvin Heiferman in her introduction on Photomediations, Joana Zylinska highlights the powerful nature of photography to engage with audiences on an emotional and intellectual level. Thus, with more eyes witnessing the horrors of the war, many people, especially citizens of the United States, realized that the war, including America’s attempts to aid in the war, was doing more harm than good. These powerful documentations were thankfully produced at a time where methods of distribution were quicker and more accessible between newspaper companies, broadcast stations, as well as for viewers on the streets at vendors, or at home with their own television set. Thus, the photograph of the “Napalm Girl”, as well as many other war photographs and televised footage, has been considered a key factor in bringing the Vietnam War to its end.

 

References:

Beaujon, A. (2014). Nick Ut’s ‘napalm girl’ photo was published 42 years ago. [online] Poynter. Available at: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2014/nick-uts-napalm-girl-photo-was-published-42-years-ago/

Martinez, G. (2019). http://time.com. [online] Time. Available at: http://time.com/5527944/napalm-girl-dresden-peace-price-james-nachtwey/ 

Worldpressphoto.org. (n.d.). Nick Ut | World Press Photo. [online] Available at: https://www.worldpressphoto.org/person/detail/2094/nick-ut 

Stockton, R. (2017). The Widely Misunderstood Story Behind The Iconic Image Of “Napalm Girl”. [online] All That’s Interesting. Available at: https://allthatsinteresting.com/napalm-girl 

Time. (2016). The Story Behind the ‘Napalm Girl’ Photo Censored by Facebook. [online] Available at: http://time.com/4485344/napalm-girl-war-photo-facebook/