--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Photographs objectify: they turn an event…" description: "\"Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.\" — Susan Sontag" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/733/susan-sontag-332_events_photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event_55688.jpg" --- # Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into… ![“Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/733/susan-sontag-332_events_photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event_55688.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/733/susan-sontag-332_events_photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event_55688.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/733/susan-sontag-332_events_photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event_55688.jpg) > “Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photographs reduce complex subjects to static images, making them objects that can be owned or controlled. **In simple terms:** Images turn lived experience into possession. Key Takeaway Visual media can commodify reality. Themes representation possession media criticism subjectivity culture power Mood reflective critical thoughtful Type observation philosophical cultural When to use this quote - museum curation - social media sharing - journalistic reporting - personal memory keeping - advertising campaigns Key Concepts visual representation objectification ownership interpretation Practical Applications - critical media literacy - ethical photography guidelines Questions to Reflect On - How does viewing a photo change your perception of the original event? - Can a photograph ever fully capture a person's essence? A Different Perspective Images also preserve memory and foster empathy, not merely possessive objects. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Objectify](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objectify-541292/) [Objectify Turn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objectify-turn-774832/) [Person Possessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-possessed-774831/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Photograph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photograph/) [Photographs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographs/) [Photographs Objectify](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographs-objectify-774830/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Possessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possessed/) [Turns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turns/) ## Related quotes > [“You know what can make a person possessed, Sylvie? It's not Satan or Lucifer or any of that nonsense. Do you know what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-searles/you-know-what-can-make-a-person-possessed-sylvie-it-s-not-satan-or/) [John Searles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-searles/) > [A person possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-anthony-froude/a-person-possessed-with-an-idea-cannot-be-reasoned-with/) [James Anthony Froude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-anthony-froude/) > [“...the exorcist should not believe too readily that a person is possessed by an evil spirit; but he aught to ascertain by the signs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-peter-blatty/the-exorcist-should-not-believe-too-readily-that-a-person-is/) [William Peter Blatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-peter-blatty/) > [“Objectify women and it's fuckin' on, you'll be dead and gone like ancient Babylon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/objectify-women-and-it-s-fuckin-on-you-ll-be-dead-and-gone-like/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I would never ever dare to objectify anyone who has fed me, protected me or loved me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/badshah/i-would-never-ever-dare-to-objectify-anyone-who-has-fed-me-protected/) [Badshah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/badshah/) > [It's OK to tell your partner to objectify you. That's part of the fun of having a partner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mallory-ortberg/it-s-ok-to-tell-your-partner-to-objectify-you-that-s-part-of-the-fun/) [Mallory Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mallory-ortberg/) > [I would say that, of course, it is wrong to objectify women. But at the same time, entertainment should not be inter-mingled with commodification.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malaika-arora-khan/i-would-say-that-of-course-it-is-wrong-to-objectify-women-but-at-the/) [Malaika Arora Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malaika-arora-khan/) > [Those who believe they are ugly / objectify the rest of us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-grahn/those-who-believe-they-are-ugly-objectify-the-rest-of-us/) [Judy Grahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-grahn/) > [I don't objectify myself. I hate looking at pictures of myself, they're usually awful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-astbury/i-don-t-objectify-myself-i-hate-looking-at-pictures-of-myself-they-re/) [Ian Astbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-astbury/) > [I don't like to objectify the people I play. I always try to go for the truth in any part.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-kane/i-don-t-like-to-objectify-the-people-i-play-i-always-try-to-go-for/) [Carol Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-kane/) > [If a man wants to objectify a woman, he will do it even if she's clad from head to toe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/urvashi-rautela/if-a-man-wants-to-objectify-a-woman-he-will-do-it-even-if-she-s-clad/) [Urvashi Rautela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/urvashi-rautela/) > [We do objectify women in our culture. We're starting to objectify men a little bit more. And there is nothing wrong with that. Objectify…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-ford/we-do-objectify-women-in-our-culture-we-re-starting-to-objectify-men/) [Tom Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-ford/) > [You want your partner to objectify you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-arquette/you-want-your-partner-to-objectify-you/) [Patricia Arquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-arquette/) > [Photographs trade simultaneously on the prestige of art and the magic of the real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-trade-simultaneously-on-the-prestige-of-art-and-the-magic/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-take-a-photograph-is-to-participate-in-another-person-s-mortality/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? 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To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [What I expect from writers-and from myself as a writer-is to articulate a complex view of things. To incite us to be more compassionate.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/what-i-expect-from-writers-and-from-myself-as-a-writer-is-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Events quotes > [History is, in its essentials, the science of change. 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