Marlboro Marine

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Under the title Marlboro Marine or Marlboro Man , the picture of a US marine smoking a cigarette, taken by photojournalist John Sinco, became famous in November 2004 . More than 100 US newspapers and, according to photographer John Sinco, more than 150 newspapers worldwide printed the portrait. In 2005, Sinco was named one of three finalists for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in the feature photo reporting category .

The photo, taken on November 8, 2004 during the second battle for Fallujah , in which between 1264 and 1270 people died, shows the face of the smoking Lance Corporal James, looking into the distance, smeared with dirt, camouflage make-up and some blood and framed by his helmet Blake Miller in front of a clay-colored house wall; Miller's name was initially unpublished. Photographer Luis Sinco of the Los Angeles Times worked during the battle in the unit of Miller embedded journalists ( embedded journalist ).

Effect and interpretations of the photo

For the most part, the reactions in the US media have been very positive. In the opinion of some authors, the picture, published for the first time on November 10, 2004, became a patriotic symbol, especially in the right-wing media. Because of its impact, the portrait has been described by journalists as an “ icon of the Iraq war ”, “the face of the Iraq war” and “a symbol of the Iraq war”, and some newspapers have hyped it as a “symbol of [American] triumph” in Fallujah. In countless e-mails, the Los Angeles Times was asked mainly by female senders how they could contact the initially nameless marine. US President Bush sent Miller a package of cigars, candy and souvenirs from the White House as a result of the public outcry . Major General Richard F. Natonski, who heads the First Marine Division , personally visited Miller to offer him a return from the war - because the American public did not want their newfound hero to die or be wounded. The Marine Corps attempted to obtain the rights to the photo and hire Miller as a recruiter for young Marines.

The effect and popularity of the photo was explained by various parties, including the photographer Sinco himself, with the Abu Ghraib torture scandal that became known in May 2004 . If the pictures from Abu Ghuraib had caused shame and horror, the Marlboro Navy allowed positive identification and pride in American heroism again. Sinco himself had seen exhaustion, horror and survived mortal danger in the eyes of the Marlboro Marine (see below ). Shocked by the stylization of the photo as a “symbol of triumph” he assumes, “(...) a certain section of society wanted to see something different in the photo - something strange, perverse about American masculinity.” From the perspective of fashion and Konsum explained that the Marlboro Marine "captured the casual heroism of the ground troops, who are rough, independent, hard-working, and most of all male." Like the promotional character of the Marlboro Man, whose notoriety inadvertently helped create the impact of the photo, depict a special heterosexual masculinity in the Marlboro Marine , which draws its strength in symbolic places far from the domestic, feminine or urban.

Critics of the image and its effect particularly criticized the strong reference to the western hero motif and the uncritical handling of the war. The narrow picture frame hides all context and reduces the photo to the face of a single individual. Questions about democratic legitimacy or the meaning of the war would be wiped out. Instead, it shows two models - the battle-hardened soldier embodies the state and its monopoly on violence , and the Marlboro Man the market and its advertising for addictive consumption - a "triumph of (neo) liberalism ". The journalist and globalization critic Naomi Klein described the picture as a “ridiculous copy” of Marlboro Mans, who in turn copied John Wayne , who in turn was based on the American myth of the western hero . She condemned the fame of the photo in the US compared to images depicting the suffering of Iraqi civilians and injustices committed by American soldiers.

The peace researcher Möller goes one step further, who even sees the widespread dissemination of the image in the media as a deliberate strategy to cover up the mistreatment in Abu Ghraib. Although the image in its use of the western hero stereotype actually represents a parody of this American iconography, it instead resulted in its confirmation. For Klein, on the other hand, the Marlboro Marine ultimately symbolizes the impunity of the United States, who stand outside the law and are not held responsible for their actions.

In various letters to the editor to American newspapers, the positive representation of harmful smoking was criticized. Klein, on the other hand, criticized that the letters to the editor worried about harmful smoking, but did not condemn the positive portrayal of the (deadly) war.

Background of the photo

James Blake Miller (born July 10, 1984 in Pike County, Kentucky ) joined the Marines at the age of eighteen and was with the Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion of the 8th Marine Regiment in Iraq. The famous portrait of him was made when his unit had fought almost non-stop against Iraqi insurgents for 12 hours and had not slept for about 24 hours. During a brief pause in the fight, the heavy smoker leaned against a wall on a rooftop and gazed at the rising sun; as he later told the photographer, Miller was wondering whether he would ever see another sunrise. Sinco himself later described the moment when he took a picture of Miller: "I noticed the expression on his face. It looked to me: scared, exhausted and happy to be just alive. I recognized [the expression] because I felt the same way. "

After returning from combat, Miller developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , suffered from nightmares and dissociations , that is, he did not experience certain periods of time consciously and could not remember his actions afterwards. When he once one in this state Marine attack soldiers, which a grenade -like sound was created, Miller was on 10 November 2005 due to a personality disorder discharged, so for medical reasons, prematurely (honorably) from the Marine Corps and is since then a disability pension for veterans. In the summer of 2006, the National Mental Health Association honored him for bringing PTSD into public discussion. Miller had phases of suicidal thoughts and to this day (as of 2008) suffers from severe PTSD and depression. Some newspapers have revisited Miller's story since his discharge from the Marine Corps and portrayed Miller, who has meanwhile seen the Iraq war as pointless, as a returned, psychologically badly damaged veteran.

Web links

  • Example of a cover (cover of the tabloid New York Post , in German for example: "Smoking - the Marlboro men win big in Fallujah or hot - the Marlboro men kick [the opponents] in the buttocks")

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b John Pettegrew: Brutes in Suits: Male Sensibility in America, 1890-1920. JHU Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8018-8603-4 , p. 333.
  2. ↑ a b Luis Sinco: Two lives blurred together by a photo. In: Los Angeles Times . November 11, 2007, p. 1. (accessed November 23, 2008)
  3. ↑ 2005 finalists. on: The Pulitzer Prizes. (English; accessed November 23, 2008)
  4. ^ A b Robert Hariman, John Louis Lucaites: No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy. University of Chicago Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-226-31606-2 , footnote 7, p. 398.
  5. ↑ The Marlboro Man by Luis Sinco mediastorm.org (accessed November 23, 2008)
  6. ↑ Jenny Eliscup: The troubled homecoming of the Marlboro Marine. This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same. In: Rolling Stone . Issue 1049, April 3, 2008. (accessed November 23, 2008)
  7. ↑ Jim Warren: Marlboro Man is home, living, coping and healing. In: Knight Ridder Newspapers. January 19, 2006 at the latest. (Newspaper from San José, California ), reprinted a. a. from Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky) on January 19, 2006 and from The Seattle Times on January 22, 2006 (accessed November 22, 2008)
  8. ↑ a b Jenny Eliscup: The troubled homecoming of the Marlboro Marine. This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same. In: Rolling Stone. Edition 1049, April 3, 2008, p. 5. (accessed November 23, 2008)
  9. ↑ Luis Sinco: Two lives blurred together by a photo. In: Los Angeles Times. November 11, 2007, p. 2. (accessed November 23, 2008)
  10. ↑ Jenny Eliscup: The troubled homecoming of the Marlboro Marine. This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same. In: Rolling Stone. Issue 1049, April 3, 2008, p. 5. (accessed November 23, 2008)
    Robert Hariman, John Louis Lucaites: No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy. University of Chicago Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-226-31606-2 , footnote 7, p. 398
    Frank Möller: Of mice and hooded men: "Banal militarism", visual representation and collective memory. In: Fabian Virchow, Tanja Thomas (Hrsg.): Banal Militarism: On the everydayization of the military in the civil. transcript Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89942-356-9 , p. 54.
  11. ↑ in the original: Sinco was shocked, however, when media outlets presented the image as a symbol of triumph. (...) " (...) But people were looking for any shred of American heroism in the wake of Abu Ghraib. And a certain segment of society wanted to see something else in the photo - a weird, twisted thing about American masculinity. " Jenny Eliscup: The troubled homecoming of the Marlboro Marine. This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same. In: Rolling Stone. Edition 1049, April 3, 2008, p. 5. (accessed November 23, 2008)
  12. ^ A b Regina Lee Blaszczyk: Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture, and Consumers. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8122-4037-5 , p. 187.
  13. ↑ a b c Naomi Klein: Smoking while Iraq burns. Its idolization of 'the face of Falluja' shows how numb the US is to everyone's pain but its own. In: The Guardian . November 26, 2004 (accessed November 23, 2008)
  14. ↑ Frank Möller: Of Mice and Hooded Men: "Banal Militarism", visual representation and collective memory. In: Fabian Virchow, Tanja Thomas (Hrsg.): Banal Militarism: On the everydayization of the military in the civil. transcript Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89942-356-9 , p. 54.
  15. ↑ in Iraq up to 5½ or 6 packets per day:
    Matthew B. Stannard: The war within. In: San Francisco Chronicle . January 29, 2006. (accessed November 23, 2008)
    David Zucchino: Iconic marine is at home but not at ease. In: Los Angeles Times. May 19, 2006, print edition: P. A-1. (English; accessed November 23, 2008)
  16. ↑ in the original: “ His expression caught my eye. To me, it said: terrified, exhausted, and glad just to be alive. I recognized that look because that's how I felt too. “Luis Sinco: Rescue operation aims to save a wounded warrior. In: Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2007.
  17. ↑ Luis Sinco: Two lives blurred together by a photo. In: Los Angeles Times. November 11, 2007, p. 3. (accessed November 23, 2008)
  18. ↑ Video The Marlboro Man, by Luis Sinco. In: Los Angeles Times. -  Transcript from The Marlboro Man, by Luis Sinco. ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: mediastorm.org (accessed November 23, 2008) Jenny Eliscup: The troubled homecoming of the Marlboro Marine. This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same. In: Rolling Stone. Issue 1049, April 3, 2008. (accessed November 23, 2008)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mediastorm.org
  19. ↑ Jim Warren: Marlboro Man is home, living, coping and healing. In: Knight Ridder Newspapers. January 19, 2006 at the latest. (Newspaper from San José, California ), reprinted a. a. from Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky) on January 19, 2006 and from The Seattle Times on January 22, 2006 (accessed November 22, 2008)
    Video The Marlboro Man, by Luis Sinco. In: Los Angeles Times. -  Transcript from The Marlboro Man, by Luis Sinco. ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: mediastorm.org (accessed November 23, 2008) Jenny Eliscup: The troubled homecoming of the Marlboro Marine. This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same. In: Rolling Stone. Issue 1049, April 3, 2008. (accessed November 23, 2008) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mediastorm.org