I really liked the exhibition “American Beauties”, because the pictures were interesting and very different from each other.

A lot of the pictures dealt with sex, drugs and violence, that is why I think the title “American Beauties” is an ironic one, because the overall topic of the pictures is really negative.

There were different pictures that especially fascinated me.

The one that I found most shocking showed a young pregnant woman injecting herself heroin with a syringe. The fact that she was pregnant caused pity not only on the woman, but especially on the innocent baby. Considering the next photograph that showed a dead baby in a coffin, the observer got a really good impression of the consequences of drug abuse.

Nan Goldin took the picture that I found most interesting: a woman lying on a bed, half-dressed, and, sitting next to her, a naked man smoking a cigarette. Their faces wear a very sad expression, and their looking in different directions, although they look like they just had sex with each other. This picture is in my opinion a very interesting one, because in this situation, the people look like they once loved each other but now they don’t care about each other anymore. It shows how through their everyday life and other aspects people drift apart and stay together just to keep their routine.

The picture that I liked best showed the model James backstage, lying on the floor and smoking a cigarette. It caught my attention and I like the warm colors in the picture and the chaos in the background.

I found that this picture is also the most suitable one to the title – an American model, the essence of what I would think of if I heard the expression “American Beauties”.

All in all I think that the exhibition was very interesting and it makes the observer think about the bad situation some people get themselves into.

1. Collect comments of the author
He doesn’t comment because he is objective

2. Collect facts on McNamara

• He was Defence Secretary from 1961 to 1968 during Vietnam War under Johnson and Kennedy
• He was hardliner concerning the “containment”[1] policy
• He was pursuing the Vietnam War very determined è Vietnam War’s nickname became “McNamara’s War”
• After he left his office he became president of the World Bank
• Nowadays, he criticises the Vietnam War including all the mistakes which led to war and partly made by him
• He wrote a book “In Retrospect: the Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam” in which he wrote down his memoirs

3. What reasons are given for publishing the book

• It is his wish to show America why and which mistakes were made and how to learn from them
• He thinks that his generation owes the future generations to show that America was wrong, so that the future generation won’t make the same mistakes they did
• It is his opinion that it is important for the American people to watch the actions of the government critically and not to trust them blindly

4. Which reasons does McNamara give for the failure of the war?

• Misjudgement and exaggeration of north Vietnam’s geopolitical intentions
• America has seen the Vietnam people as individuals with same ambitions for freedom and democracy
• America underestimated the nationalistic attitude

è AMERICAS IGNORANCE CONCERNING OTHER COUNTRIES

• America thought high-tech would outplay geographical knowledge and experience in the jungle
• America didn’t realise that although they are a world power they needed international, especially moral support

5. Do you think your article is objectively informing you?We think that the author is pretty objective because he does not comment the opinion of McNamara, he only describes what he says about his book and the Vietnam War in general.

As the snow flies,
On a cold and grey Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born in the ghetto
And his mama cries
‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
It’s another hungry mouth to feed in the ghettoPeople, don’t you understand
The child needs a helping hand
Or he’ll grow to be an angry young man some day
Take a look at you and me,
Are we too blind to see,
Or do we simply turn our heads and look the other way? Well the world turns
And a hungry little boy with the runny nose
Plays in the street as the cold wind blows in the ghetto
And his hunger burns
So he starts to roam the streets at night
And he learns how to steal
And he learns how to fight in the ghettoThen one night in desperation
The young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car, tries to run,
But he don’t get far
And his mama cries As a crowd gathers round an angry young man
Face down in the street with a gun in his hand in the ghetto
And as her young man dies,
On a cold and grey Chicago mornin’
Another little baby child is born in the ghetto
And his mama cries
In the ghetto
In the ghetto

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