Being a resident of Northern Virginia, I have gone to Washington D.C. and toured through the monuments several times. However, I felt that today was a new experience due to the education I know possess from the readings and in-class discussion. Analyzing monuments in class, especially the research I've done for my paper, has caused me to view these memorials through a different lens. When I was younger, I never felt anything more than amazed at the grandeur of many of the monuments on the Mall. However, now that same level of grandeur causes me to question its meaning. Rather than just appreciating these memorials for what they are, today was the first time I walked through them and questioned all of the elements of each one. Why did the designers choose this location? What does that specific symbol represent? How are we supposed to interact with this? These are questions that never occurred to me before, but now they are my main focus when viewing the memorials.
What I came away with today was the sense that true power from a memorial is often. It derived from the large-scale of the monument, but rather, the more simple aspects. The Greco-Roman architecture and sheer size of the Lincoln Memorial was impressive, but I felt that viewing the names at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial invoked a more intense reaction. Many monuments seem to only serve to impress people, rather than invoke deep emotions. I saw this in the way the general public interacted with different monuments. I do not think that is necessarily a bad thing, but I think there is a time and place, and some monuments should work to invoke emotion, rather than just impress.
No comments:
Post a Comment