Project narrative (part 2)

Exercise 14 – Martin Shields photograph of the “Football Boys”

Read the accompanying text and answer the following:

1.       Does the text relate to your initial deconstruction of the image? If so, how?

2.       Does the text change your perception of the image? If so, how?

To summarise, the articles discusses the council tenants’ agreement, by ballot, that the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) should take control of the city’s entire council stock, some 83,000 houses.

The article also provides the ‘normal’ information regarding:

·       Ballot numbers – number of residents, attendance, voters pro and against

·       Interviews by relevant politicians – the Social Justice Minister; a senior Glasgow Councillor; a member of the Scottish National Party and a union convener from Unison.

·       Estimated time plan for the regeneration of the area.

Note: I appreciate this is not the complete article, so my comments relate to the piece of the article included in this document.

Question 1: Does the text relate to your initial deconstruction of the image?

The general dilapidation of the houses was a ‘must’ to be included in this text, however, whilst there was obviously a human interest element to the article, at no point did it communicate the feelings or concerns from the point-of-view of those involved – the tenants. The ‘Football Boys’ image also implies a socially motivated theme, however, because of any the lack of information regarding community benefits, I would suggest that article was politically motivated. 

Question 2: Does the text change your perception of the image?

Yes, the article changes my perception of the image. I feel that it was deliberately selected to engage me in a story about children making the best of living in ‘difficult’ conditions. Instead, I was hoodwinked into reading about another political tussle between the government and the opposition regarding privatisation.

Whilst the image is certainly aligned to the text; I do not believe it communicates the ‘crux’ of the story.

What would I do? I don’t think I would go with just one image. I think Shields’ photograph is great and certainly captures the feel of the tenement area, I would perhaps have been better if the boys were dirty (post game). In addition, to better and more completely communicate the story I would add another image. A photograph of the GHA putting up a billboard showing an artist impression of what this particular estate will look like once the development is completed. I would have the two boys from the original image looking, with anticipation, at their future.