Abbey Wilson
English 100
Professor Wills
11-4-12
Invisible Children Response
Susan Sontag argued that in our society, it is normal to be superficial and ignorant, but that we don’t have the right to be like that anymore because of the technology available to us. In Invisible Children, three students showed the world that our understanding of life is flawed because we trust what the media feeds us. They traveled to Sudan, Africa in 2003 to find adventure and the truth of the war that’s been going on for 20 years. They shared their experience with a documentary called Invisible Children to spread awareness and attempt to help. In the beginning of the movie, one of the videographers says that in the United States, “media is life”. That statement affirms Sontag’s position because our society’s superficiality and ignorance is a result of burying ourselves in the media.
Our understanding of violence is much different from that of the Sudanese. A child in the U.S. thinks of violence as more of a game and doesn’t fully understand the consequences due to television and computer and video games. On the other hand, a child in Sudan may be desensitized to violence because they were abducted and forced to kill along with many other children, but they understand the affects of violence. The same videographer said that he was afraid that people would think differently of him if they see Invisible Children. People will realize that he is not just the superficial surfer guy they saw him as, and that he has more depth to him. That thought scared him because our society often ignores the fact that everyone has depth and more meaning to him or her. These three guys decided not to ignore what they had seen and heard about, and take time out of their lives to make a difference in others.
Before I watched this documentary I was not aware of how often children were abducted and turned into soldiers. The violence that everyone in Sudan is exposed to is shocking and tragic. It is not the kind of violence you see in the news or in videogames. It is something that is truly hard to watch. But as Dan Eldon said, “It disgusts and inspires.”