urky picture of the dense forest. In a way, this picture of the forest does carry a significant amount of meaning. The overall appearance communicates to a viewer that the movie is scary. The forest is dense and everything looks the same, which makes you think of being lost. The red hue in the picture could make you think of blood or death. The image in this advertisement alone has the ability to state a number of things about the movie without the use of words. In his essay, Mitchell also discusses the ability of images to excite emotions. He cites Thomas Aquinas, who said that images can be used to “excite the emotions, which are more effectively aroused by things seen than by things heard.” This is a very good point. For example, images that represent something very close to us, can excite a lot of emotion in us. The advertisement for The Blair Witch Project invokes feelings of fear and suspense. Another good depiction of an image’s ability to excite emotion can be seen in Ward Churchill’s essay, “Crimes Against Humanity”. Here, Churchill discusses the effect that the use of American Indian images, symbols, and names in sports and popular media has had on American Indians themselves. His argument is that the use of these images and symbols in sports and popular media is blatant racism. Chuchchill and the Native American community are outraged by this. Churchill feels that American Indians are habitually presented to mass audiences one-dimensionally; devoid of recognizable human motivations and emotions…”, and are thus dehumanized. It is obvious that feelings of pain and suffering have been felt by American Indians as a direct result of the use of their images in popular media. The effect that the use of Native American in popular media had on American Indians is also an example of the power that images wield. Another strength of images, as described by Stephens, is their accessibility....
