FOTO:
Analysis: CONTENT AND COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS/ SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS
Background information：
This is a picture taken by Liu Xiangcheng, a Chinese American photographer, who came to China in 1978 and recorded the life of Chinese after Mao with his camera.
The picture was taken in 1980 in Yunnan Province, southwest China. It is during the period when the Cultural Revolution had been to the end as President Mao died in 1976 and the Reform and Opening-up policy had just been carried out in 1980. It is in this period that Chinese again became more tolerant about the differences, especially the culture in the past, and the foreign culture. Because at that time, people no more devote themselves on class struggle but making a living, which means they got much more freedom to pursuit their own dreams and live in their own ways.
Content and compositional analysis:
By observing the environment in the picture, we can say that it might be taken in a cool day in autumn, since the three young men are wearing shirt and a normal coat, which means it could neither be a hot day nor a cold day. What’s more, it is likely that it happened in the daytime because of the lights in the picture and the clear distinction between black and white of the objects in it. We can see that the place was kind of crowed around the three men. Even though the focus of the picture is put on the three men, we can still notice that there are a group of people behind them. What’s more, through the reflection on their sunglasses, we can see the photographer and another group of people around him and it seems that they specifically saved some place for the photographer. Maybe some activity was going on at that place or it was time for people to go out for work or shopping.
The reason why the three young men were chosen to be the focus in the picture might be that their cool sunglasses made them conspicuous. We can find that at least two persons behind them also wore the same kind of hat as the three men. And the clothes the three men wore are normal in China at that time. Therefore, it is the sunglasses that make them different.
The sunglasses could be the symbol for the new fashion that is foreign to the Chinese at that time. The contrast between their traditional clothes and the relatively fashion sunglasses on the one hand shows their uniqueness from the others around them, which as well as makes them look confident and proud of themselves; on the other hand, it reflects the transition of the life in China: as I introduced in the background information, people in China became more open to the world. Life was not that politicized as it was in between 1966 and 1976 so that people could pay more attention to themselves.
In short, we can see the transition of their mentality through the three men in the picture, that is, in 1980, they might be still as poor as they were and wear the same style of clothes, but they were hopeful about their life because they were finally allowed to have their own dream and their own lives. Also, it indicates that the economic revolution was going to make a difference on the Chinese life style and living quality as more and more foreign culture was introduced.