“This is really war” um olhar da visualidade sobre o ingresso dos Estados Unidos na Guerra do Vietnã em 1965

Abstract

Visuality represents an important avenue for comprehending International Relations, and it has been ascending in the last decades as a topic of interest and discussion. Its contributions have been especially observed in the field of security, making intervention, conflict and risk dynamics more evident. In this sense, History is an essential exercise, as it allows us to revisit episodes within the field through innovative and ample lenses. In light of these aspects, this research focuses on the Vietnam War, given its influence on cultural, imagetic and communicational terms throughout the trajectory of the United States and the world. Specifically, we aim to understand the moment when they decided to escalate their efforts in vietnamese land, in July 1965, dwelling on the way media and government behave to articulate an intervention, and what types of images were used for that. In order to achieve that, we chose the following visual materials: 1) the “Aggression from the North” poster produced by the US Information Agency; 2) the images published by The New York Times during July 1965; 3) and the documentary “Why Vietnam” (1965), also produced by the Information Agency, but vehiculated by television and other means. Through this study, we hope to better comprehend the role of images in global analysis through time, as well as perceive how the security field is transformed and deepened by this proposal. In addition, the research examines the relation between media and government in transmitting securitization narratives, coming from the intervisual and intertextual principle that images are central and not subordinated to discourse.