Photoshopping history

[The Mikado]

Someone recently sent me this image:



It's interesting what they did to the iconic image of the Soviets liberating Berlin for the American edition, right?

I found myself thinking that, ironically enough, that's exactly the sort of image manipulation that the Stalinist USSR became notorious for.  Post your favorite history-altering image manipulation here in this thread.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The game was developed by Russians so the Russian cover was likely the original.  Hence, I suspect whoever did the American cover was ignorant of the picture's iconic status and Americanized what E thought was simply a generic war image.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The game was developed by Russians so the Russian cover was likely the original.  Hence, I suspect whoever did the American cover was ignorant of the picture's iconic status and Americanized what E thought was simply a generic war image.

Honestly assumed it was just a generic war image that could be changed to suit different markets.

[The Mikado]

What they did is literally the equivalent of turning the flag in "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" to the Hammer & Sickle.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What they did is literally the equivalent of turning the flag in "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" to the Hammer & Sickle.

sh**t man. That's messed up. "Faces of War" seems like a pretty generic title. Sounds like they could've replaced it with any WWII photo and it would've worked, but here they are changing what apparently is a pretty iconic image just to suit the market.

[Yelnoc]

Here is the historical inspiration, Cathcon.

[Rooney]

I always love the Capa image of the dying Spanish Republican Soldier which he set up. I don't know if it counts as Photoshopping but it is setting up a photo, which is what the Soviets did at the Reichstag.

[minionofmidas]

What they did is literally the equivalent of turning the flag in "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" to the Hammer & Sickle.

Except that this image is just as iconic here and I think elsewhere in Europe... that's not true of Iwo Jima I think (or maybe the Japanese all know it?)

[dead0man]

I always love the Capa image of the dying Spanish Republican Soldier which he set up. I don't know if it counts as Photoshopping but it is setting up a photo, which is what the Soviets did at the Reichstag.

And Pallywood (and Hezbollywood to a lesser extent) has used the practice to great success in the Western press.  Often with complete collaboration with them.  It feeds racists with information that fits with their preconceived notions, so it goes on and on.  It would be funny (like the Iraqi Minister of Information) if not for the very real consequences from it.

[Rooney]

I once heard that the man crying in this famous photo is crying tears of joy and not tears of regret because he was French fascist. Is there any truth to this story?

[minionofmidas]

The picture was not taken in Paris as the Germans first marched through (which is what it was circulated as in America) at all. This man is M. Jerôme Barzetti, photographed in Marseille, La Canebière, at passage of flags of dismounted regiments, sent in Algeria, after collapse of France. Date: approximatively Feb.19, 1941.

That would explain the mix of emotions on all the people around very well.

[Rooney]

The picture was not taken in Paris as the Germans first marched through (which is what it was circulated as in America) at all. This man is M. Jerôme Barzetti, photographed in Marseille, La Canebière, at passage of flags of dismounted regiments, sent in Algeria, after collapse of France. Date: approximatively Feb.19, 1941.

That would explain the mix of emotions on all the people around very well.

You, sir, are a hero. That clears up a lot of questions for me about the photo.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

[ag]

I found myself thinking that, ironically enough, that's exactly the sort of image manipulation that the Stalinist USSR became notorious for. 

I think, you are bit mistaken as far as what characterized image manipulation in the old USSR ) The problem w/ that was not so much that it was ridiculous, as it is here, but that it was totalitarian: the original image was gone from public domain.

Idiots make idiotic mistakes: this is exactly what happened in this case. It is sort of like a recent Russian postcard or poster (I don't remember each) designed for the WWII vets in which the heroic-looking soldiers actually happen to wear Wehrmacht uniforms: another idiot didn't bother to check the source of his photo. This is no more than a curio of human idiocy: not a deliberate editing of history, Soviet style. If it were the Soviet union, all owners of the Encyclopaedia Britannica would have received in their mail a new page with edited version of the photo with instructions to cut out the original pp. 227-228 of volume 7 and replace it with the new version, contained in the envelope. And, in fact, most would have complied.