“If Vietnam Were Now”
A political piece by artist Claude Moller
Mattie Bruton
-This piece, created by
political artist Claude Moller,
uses a famous photo taken
by Pulitzer winning
photojournalist Eddie
Adams.
-It depicts South
Vietnamese general and
American ally Nguyen Ngoc
Loan preparing to execute a
North Vietnamese prisoner.

The Adam’s photograph
sparked great controversy
over the American
involvement in Vietnam.

In 2004, Moller’s piece was
used by the activist group
Street Art Workers. It was
made into posters, which were
displayed throughout the city
of Chicago.

This piece is designed to
guide the viewer’s eye to
focus on General Loan’s
profile by making it the most
definite and clear part of the
picture, and by framing it with
the TV screen. The more
disturbing aspects of the
photo are blurred. Why is
this?

By choosing to have only
General Loan’s face within
the TV screen clear and
unaltered in his artwork,
Moller enforces his point
that reliance on media
over exposes Americans to
one-sided stories,
portraying negative or
morally conflicting details
with ambiguity.

The TV screen broadly
symbolizes the entirety of
American media, and more
narrowly the wealthy
corporations like CNN and Fox
who supply most Americans
with their news.

Moller uses this symbol to
make a point about bias in the
media.

In 2004, the US was heavily involved in
Operation Enduring Freedom in
Afghanistan.

One of the purposes of both the war in
Afghanistan and the Vietnam war was to
aid and liberate oppressed people.
(Bernard Weiner, Ph.D, anitwar.com)

I believe Moller chose this image because
it shows one of the “good guys” of the
Vietnam war demonstrating spine-chilling
brutality. His intent seems to be to
provoke Americans to consider whether
current conflicts might be similarly multidimensional, instead of made one-sided
by media coverage.

Here, without the alterations, the
focus is shifted from General
Loan to the anguished expression
on the victim’s face. The detail is
heightened, and the “whole
story” can be seen clearly.
Without the words and the
symbolic TV screen, the message
of the photograph is a statement
on human cruelty rather than a
statement on misleading media
coverage.

As a political piece, this image
is directed at the American
public in general, and more
specifically towards the citizens
of Chicago, where the poster
was displayed by the Street Art
Workers. The artist probably
hoped to reach socially
conscious American adults with
this work encouraging them to
have greater skepticism of
mainstream media.

The words “If Vietnam were now,
what would you see?” (as well as
the piece’s provocative title “If
Vietnam Were Now” make the
image’s purpose and meaning
explicit. Claude Moller’s phrasing
of a rhetorical question with a
blunt, brazen, almost
confrontational tone encourages
viewers to question issues that
they may have never considered,
or may have uncomfortable
considering.

The viewer feels that,
logically, citizens should
be entitled to unbiased
media coverage in order
to be fully informed voters
and Americans. Having
comprehensive awareness
of the actions of one’s own
country makes logical
sense.

Claude Moller chose to
work with a very famous
photo from an acclaimed
expert photographer,
thereby making the image
more credible. Viewers feel
they can trust the message
of the artwork, because
they know for certain that
the original photograph is
depicting an actual
moment of American
history from the Vietnam
war.

This artwork appeals to the
sense of guilt, and the human
(and perhaps particularly
American) frustration with
injustice. Viewers become
guilty that they may be
letting political atrocities pass
under their noses, and angry
at the media for disguising
the truth. This emotional
appeal is intended to rouse
viewers to action.

Lucas, Dean. “ Vietnam Execution.” famouspictures.org. Famous
Pictures magazine, n.p. 10 2 Feb 2007. web. 28 sept. 2011.

Moller, Claude. If Vietnam Were Now.2004.Yo! What Happened to
Peace? Exhibition, Los Angeles

Tsuri, Alexander. “Laying Bricks to Build Social Change: An
Interview with Favianna Rodriguez and Josh MacPhee”
identitytheory.com. Matt Borondy, 3 Jul. 2008. web. 28 sept. 2011.

Weiner, Bernard. “ The Vietnam-Afghanistan Mirror.”antiwar.com.
n.p. 10 Nov 2001. web. 28 sept. 2011.