However, besides the image, in the article they don’t exactly sell the theory that he does anything suspicious at all. I don’t think they even suggested it. It seems he’s painting entirely as the victim.
This seeming contrast raises a fascinating point.
I totally agree with you of the importance of image messaging. Image analysis in the media of different countries is such a fascinating thing.
Like if you look at the representation of how: Black people are portrayed in American media; how Asian people are portrayed in American media; how white people are portrayed in Asian media; how Middle Eastern people are displayed in Anglosphere Western media — it’s very intriguing. By media here here I mostly mean the kind of editorial and advertising photography which you identified, wherever that is carried even in video.
It’s very a fascinating topic, and while it provides a clear window into the racial biases of different cultures it’s not extensively analyzed within the same channels that carry that imagery.
Yet it’s this powerful form of implicit messaging. The messaging functions through the presentation of a photorealistic “life like” (reflection of life) image that presents, programs, propagates and reinforces those racial biases.
Paradoxically, almost all cultures will pay lip service to wanting to do away with racism, while yet also dealing extensively in this imagery that implicitly carries negative racist messages. This creates a strange reinforcement of the stereotypes that, in words at least, a culture commonly says it seeks to reject.