In 1977, the renowned French literary theorist, Roland Gérard Barthes, began writing “Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (1981)” as a personal reflection on the complicated relations between subjectivity, meaning, and cultural society. In his book, Barthes attempted to show how a photographic image could represent implied meanings through its possession of two distinct qualities. The first is the obvious symbolic meaning of a photograph, known as the STUDIUM, which refers to the range of meanings available and obvious to everyone. The second is a more subtle but powerful quality that is purely personal and dependent on the individual, known as the PUNCTUM, which ‘pierces’ and ‘wounds’ the observer. The difference of these two qualities can be simply summarised as a distinction between interest and passion.
We can explore Barthes’ theory of the Studium and Punctum by using them to interpret a photograph. This image was taken, by Vladimír Lammer, an experienced Czech photojournalist, on Wenceslas Square, Prague during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The photo was captured using a roll of black and white 120 medium format film. It depicts a man watching as a line of tanks drive past him towards the National Museum. The man is most likely a middle-class Czech businessman, watching in shock and surprise as foreign Soviet tanks roll through the main city square unopposed. In his book, Barthes described the Studium as ‘a kind of education (civility, politeness) that allows discovery of the operator’. It is this element that creates a basic interest in the photographic image. In this photo, the Studium is a combination of the monochrome chiaroscuro, which contrasts the dark man and medium toned tanks against the washed-out buildings that surround them, the engaging composition of man vs machine, and the perspective that follows the line of tanks advancing into the distance.
The second element, that exists alongside the Studium, is the Punctum. This is an object or image that jumps out at the viewer from within a photograph, and was described by Barthes as ‘that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)’. The Punctum can coexist alongside the Punctum, but disturbs it, by being an ‘element which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow, and pierces me’. In this photograph the Punctum, is an anachronistic empathy with the emotions of this Czech man. The invasion was unexpected and occurred overnight, causing surprise and confusion amongst the population. This can be seen in the blank expression on his face. His motionless pose is echoed by the man standing behind him, holding a similar briefcase. Both people are frozen in astonishment, as their daily life suddenly crumbles before them, like the rubble on the ground in front of them. The often-busy main square is surprisingly devoid of people, which is symbolic of the isolation Czech people felt, as they were left defenceless by their government, and abandoned by the United Nations’ failure to intervene.
As someone who is currently living in Prague, that man’s emotions are a Punctum that carries a powerful weight, since the repercussions of that invasion many years ago can still be felt resonating in Prague today. Their strong anti-Soviet resentment has persisted for many decades, and gradually evolved into a pessimistic attitude of suspicion towards foreigners, that will be difficult for the nation to overcome.
References:
1. http://www.wwg.cz/aktuality/vladimir-lammer-prazske-jaro-1968
2. Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981.
3. https://selfierhetoric.net/2015/02/05/barthes-punctum-and-the-blind-field/
4. https://georgepowell.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/studium-and-punctum/
5. http://csmt.uchicago.edu/annotations/barthescamera.htm
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