Week Eight - The Image as Documentary: Decoding the Image as ‘Fact’

When seeing an image such as children fighting wars in we may be be shocked and feel disgusted that this could be happening in the world we live in. Do we really know what is going on and are the documentaries truthful in what they tell us. I feel I automatically would believe something if it has the word documentary next to it, because that is what I have been told.

I came across a documentary on child soldiers in Myanmar. The Myanmar war was claiming lives, they force teenage men to join the army against their will. The army would arrest the underage children and send them to military training schools. They threaten the soldiers with prison sentences if they do not join the military. Many if not all of them are scared to fight in the war, with guns going off all around them and their friends being killed in front of their eyes. Children are abducted and brought to join the army, the Myanmar army would pay people to go out and find recruits, that is why 70% of soldiers are serving against their will, the army does not have enough troops that willingly join. If it wasn't for the soldiers being there against their wouldn't be much of an army at all. The Myanmar army destroy villages and are known to rape girls that work on the village farms, they would kill them afterwards, they kill people for no reason and children are being forced to join them if they do not want to be killed. Other men and teenagers would join the Karenni army to fight against these evil people. Soldiers were forced to kill friends they had made in the army if the friend disobeyed orders. If the soldier did not kill them, they would be killed. The soldier this happened to shot his friend then shot the commanding officer who gave the order. He then ran away and escaped. The number of child soldiers in the Myanmar is still increasing today.

You can find this documentary at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR_Iz98KFL8

What we see.
When I saw this documentary I was extremely sickened and shocked by what is going on in this world. Footage of the soldiers and escaped soldiers telling stories of what it was like for them. Some of the footage was reenacted so I don't feel this is true fact but it still got the message across.

What it tells us.
The documentary told me what it was like in the Myanmar war and what sick things they do. The worded information along with the images made me feel empathy towards the soldiers and the sense of needing to help them.

References. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR_Iz98KFL8