Capturing Triumph and Suppression: Analyzing Muhammad Alis Iconic Knockout Photo

Abstract

Use bell hooks' essay "In Our Glory" to interpret the image of Muhammad Ali after knocking out Archie Moore in 1962 Photographs play an essential role in human life as they connect people with their past. They serve as a way of expressing ideas for others to see and enable people to see something they may never have noticed otherwise. Mohammed Ali's photos have been very iconic as they depict the moments that this heavyweight boxer became an athletic legend. Paying close attention to Mohammed Ali's photo after knocking out Archie Moore in 1962, one can hypothesize the impact of such an image on a population that remained heavily dominated by white supremacy. It is evident that America employs white supremacists, which undermines the potential of the people of color in all odds of life. Such a picture comes as a shock, contrary to the whites' assumption of their might over the people of color. It is an image that proved to the whites that even the people of color had defined abilities in areas like athletics that the whites had initially consumed all its glory. Consideration of bell hooks' essay "In Our Glory" will best help analyze Mohammed Ali’s photo from the white supremacist gaze. Like Bell's father's image, Mohammed Ali's photo reflects a happy man full of energy. The photographer captures Mohammed from a strategic position that enables the target audience to have a vivid expression of a happy athlete. However, unlike the glowing element that Bell's father's t-shirt reflected in the entire photo background, Mohammad's photographer decided to take a nude image of this great athlete. One can argue that the photographer would be white in the highest possibility. Why take a nude picture for such a great legend? One can relate it to whites’ perception of the people of color. Though happy, Mohammad's image fails to express human dignity associated with decent photography from a positive point of view. The people behind this great legend are well dressed and respectable. However, the main target remains nude as an expression of significant undermining of the people of color regardless of their abilities to shine in different areas of life. The positioning of his legs is a clear indication of discomfort regardless of the victory, as expressed through his laughter. One may ask whether his laughter is genuine or coined around the pains of being a black in a white supremacist nation. One can confirm that the person who took the photo did not care about Mohammed but instead defined a black representation and reflection in the eyes of the whites. Contrary to Mohammed's photo, Bell's father's photo that her sister V. held expressed a look that the girls rarely saw while they were growing up. Bell believed that the person who expressed his father's image in a compassionate and glowing manner cared for him deeply. The photographer minded Bell's father's image and its effect on the current and future target audiences. However, through this bright photo, Bell learns of her father’s fears of being a person of color. As Bell puts it, his father's snapshot before marriage expressed a carefree masculine identity that his father never expressed to these girls. Bell's father did not want to remember his before marriage life with the girls as it did hurt for reasons the author associates with the perception of the whites towards the black. According to Hooks (1994), a photograph has power as the image of a person as expressed in the snapshot can give back and take away a specific impression n the minds of the target audiences. Looking at Mohammed Ali’s photo, one can capture the impression of victory/success as expressed through his laughter. The photograph...