When visually representing war, writers often limit themselves to a biased portrayal of their own side; they do not mind denigrating the other side's image, but when it comes to their own, things are often sugar coated. We have all browsed through pictures of current and former wars, whether online, on the news, or in a newspaper. A factor that all of these images or composites of images (videos) share is how they choose to represent the subjects or two sides involved in a conflict. The artist/journalist chooses whether or not to show something, and how, which affects our reaction to the image. Laws established by society regarding the way war is portrayed are subconsciously applied by composers of this “war media”. In American culture, we can observe that images—still or in motion –censor the misfortunes of American war victims by “covering up” their faces and limiting the graphic content included in the frame. At the same time, the “other” fathers, sons, and husbands are being explicitly shown in degrading images that make your stomach turn. While there are restrictions that apply only to American subjects, foreign cultures lack these, and are being disrespected through American media. Susan Sontag sums it all up when she states that "the frankest representations of war, and of disaster-injured bodies, are of those who seem most foreign, therefore least likely to be known. With subjects closer to home, the photographer is expected to be more discreet." (Sontag, p. 61-62) Clint Eastwood also plays with this issue as he attempts to consider the “other” perspective in his film Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). He makes an effort to illustrate the Japanese point-of-view of the Battle of Iwo Jima, but fails at doing so as he limits his boundaries to those set by the American society. Eastwood fulfills the expectations that Sontag discusses by graphically showing Japanese soldiers committing suicide, being burned alive, and getting blown up by grenades. On two occasions he even shows a soldier’s detonated arm gushing blood, and another’s face which had been blown off almost completely. Meanwhile, even though Americans are not the main focus of the film, they still appear battling the Japanese and never do you encounter them in images as macabre as the ones presented involving the Japanese. Even when an American soldier is being brutally stabbed by Japanese soldiers, the camera turns away before the American dies. He is never displayed dead, and neither are any Americans in this film.
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