Media captions can invert a placid image into a symbol of threat

Evidence

When Time magazine devoted its major story to Islam on April 16, 1979, the cover was adorned with a Gérôme painting of a bearded muezzin standing in a minaret, calmly summoning the faithful to prayer; it was as florid and overstated a nineteenth-century period piece of Orientalist art as one could imagine. Anachronistically, however, this quiet scene was emblazoned with a caption that had nothing to do with it: “The Militant Revival.” There could be no better way of symbolizing the difference between Europe and America on the subject of Islam. A placid and decorative painting done almost routinely in Europe as an aspect of the general culture had been transformed by three words into a general American obsession. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 132

Categorization

• SEED: Strong example for an essay on how framing/captioning recontextualizes images into opposite meanings — media semiotics in action.
• SHARE: Great specific anecdote for someone working on media framing or Orientalist art: Time’s 1979 Gérôme cover captioned ‘The Militant Revival.’
• XREF: connects to: Mediatised collage aesthetics can immunize provocation against censure

Related

• Mediatised collage aesthetics can immunize provocation against censure (similarity 0.83)