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Criteria for Analyzing Visuals Visual Analysis of the Image ‘V-J Day in Times

Square’

I Introduction

Do artists use visual arts to reach a targeted audience? Can we have a world where a piece of

visual art is absent? Absolutely no, these visual arts are works with intended meanings that need

to be analyzed to infer their significance. The artists have hidden meanings impacting on culture

and social consciousness of historical time. Thus for visual analysis, The St. Martin's Guide to

Writing offers a "criteria for analyzing visuals" to structure and organize the analysis of visual

texts. The guide provides a systematic framework to analyze the structure of the image, the

people in it, and the purpose of the image and evaluate the quality of a visual text (Eisenstaedt,

pg. 46). The criteria for analyzing visuals are a set of questions used to explore the structure of

the image and analyze the visual text for its meaning and potential effects on the reader.

This paper provides a deep visual analysis of the image ‘V-J Day in Times Square. The

analysis describes what the image depicts in a way that represents all the visible aspects of the

image by providing the main dominant features such as characters or subjects contained, the

location of the image, the medium and creation technique of the art and principles of design

portraying artist’s intricate perspective for the work.

II Composition:
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The image displays two main characters. The visual depicts a lady being kissed by a man.

She is dressed in a white dress and white shoes. She looks like a nurse. The man is dressed in a

black shirt and black trousers, and he is holding the lady by her waist. There is still a smiling

man on their left and many ladies on their back dressed in white dresses. In the background of

the visual, there are tall storey buildings. The visual is coloured in black and white. The

significant intention of the artist could be how strong love could be (Eisenstaedt, pg. 46). The

two kissing shows an expression of affectionate love to each other. The background depicts other

people walking, which may imply the two had stayed for so long before meeting each other—

interpreting how separation could trigger two lovers to kiss even in public, which is awkward in

the setting background.

In addition, the focus point of the visual is the mouth of the lady and the man, which

draws the attention of the people around. They seem to be doing an act well known to the people,

but we can see how puzzled they are. It seems they are doing the right thing but in the wrong

place. Despite being puzzled, the people seem to be excited by the way the lady and the man are

kissing, which could be interpreted that the artist wants to imply that affections can happen in

any place regardless of the surroundings (Bowen &Tracey, pg. 709). The angle of the visual art

seems to be taken from below the focal point. Thus, the photographer was fascinated by the act

and focused on the mouths of the two kissings.

III People and other main features

People are depicted in the picture portraying different meanings. From the image, the

main characters are two people kissing a male and a female. The lady seems to be around 30

years and dressed in white. This look displays beauty; hence, she looks attractive to the man

kissing her and the people around them. Other characters in the visual seem to react to the act of
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the two kissings. They are starring at the people kissing. They seem surprised how people can

kiss in town, and they are still laughing at them. The artist’s message communicated could be a

change in the culture of the characters displayed (Eisenstaedt, pg. 46). Kissing in public to them

seems to be the norm.

IV Scene of the image

The image seems to have been taken from a background containing storey buildings both

from past and present. The background of the visual has tall storey buildings. There is also a

large screen displaying a person's picture (Bowen &Tracey, pg. 709). Before the scene, people

were in their regular business and walking around the town normally, but the kissing drew their

attention. After the scene, we see that the people will pay attention to their businesses. There

might be other people still doing their regular business beyond this visual. Some people might

not have noticed whether anything is going on that can draw their attention.

V Words;

In the background of the visual, there is a text 'BOND' which could be showing how

these two have a perfect relationship. A kiss is one of the key features of a bond relationship

built on love. The artist seems to be relating the art to the background text written 'BOND 'for a

lasting love between two lovers.

VI Tone;

The visual depicts the tone of the image by expressing the mood of the characters. The

people in the visual are laughing, which conveys a joyful mood. Rhetorical context is shown

whereby the artist conveys the primary purpose of the visual. A reader can use the image to show

the love that couples should show and how people around us could be impressed by it. The visual
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is most likely advantageous to married people as they seem to be the target audience. It can help

them know how to show love to each other. Alfred Eisenstaedt (Eisenstaedt) is the art author,

and he tries to convey this message.

VII Social context, historical and intertextuality

We see that the people around the area where the visual was shot have a culture of

marrying only one wife. Kissing in public seems to be unfamiliar with the people (Bowen

&Tracey, pg. 709). They are staring at the people kissing, which shows that they are not used to

people doing this in town. The visual relates to the text ‘BOND’ in the background by showing

that the people genuinely love each other. It supports how love could be enhanced between

lovers and build a lasting bond.

Conclusion

Analyzing visual content is a fundamental skill for all learners. It enables them to

effectively analyze visual content and extract information. Students need to be able to interpret

visual content to develop a deep understanding of content and concepts. Analyzing visual content

is not restricted to a particular subject area and can be applied to different content areas. It is an

essential skill in the digital age that learners must be exposed to while learning and teaching. The

learning environment must be designed to encourage students to analyze visual content. It should

also support the use of visual content, including video, for teaching and learning. Could it have

been possible to describe love without acts of love expression like kissing?
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Works cited

Bowen, Tracey. "Assessing visual literacy: a case study of developing a rubric for identifying

and applying criteria to undergraduate student learning." Teaching in Higher Education 22.6

(2017): 705-719.

Eisenstaedt, Alfred. "V-J Day In Times Square - Wikipedia". En.Wikipedia.Org, 1945,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-J_Day_in_Times_Square.