According to a recent Yahoo article, Shelbyville, Indiana based photographer Amy Haehl is drawing ire for including a replica gun in a recently released infant photo inspired by the perennial film A Christmas Story.
The photo features some of the most iconic props from the popular holiday film, including glasses, the pink bunny costume, and the leg lamp, but it was the baby-sized wooden gun replica that created the initial controversy. In a Facebook post, Haehl, who runs Coffee Creek Studios, wrote that she'd long wanted to create a photograph inspired by the beloved movie, and that staying true to the movie meant including the object of Ralphie's feverish Christmas desires.
“This photo is not about a baby posed with a 'gun'… it is about love, tradition, family, and happiness,” Haehl wrote on her Facebook page. “['A Christmas Story'] has encouraged smiles, laughter, and happiness for 35 years. It also happened to be filmed right here in the Midwest where I was born and raised."
Not all commenters agreed with Haehl's sentiments, however. According to a Fox News article, the following comments, left on the original Facebook post by unhappy users, have since been deleted.
Some Yahoo commenters also wondered whether the photo was in good taste considering the current political climate around firearms.
"I don't know. How can we think this is cute when again there is a massacre with kids involved. I just can't think this is cute."
After searching through comments sections on the news articles and original post, though, most comments seem to be highly supportive and encouraging. Even Haehl herself said, in her Facebook statement, "other than a few negative comments which is to be expected, there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to this photo and loved by many."
One wonders whether a few negative comments were worthy of the original article, and if articles of this kind are being written merely to create and take advantage of online knee-jerk outrage. What will this trend mean for photographers in the future, when a few negative comments can spawn several articles on large media outlets looking to take advantage of potential outrage? In this instance, it looks like a talented photographer is benefiting from the coverage and receiving loads of support, but how will such a trend affect photographers in the future? Will we see efforts at causing controversy merely for the potential press, or will photographers hold back from sharing images in fear of online reprisals?
Do you think the content of the photograph deserves critique? Do photographers have a responsibility to tip-toe around emotionally charged issues, or is our first duty to our own creative impulses whether it offends others or not? Sound off below.
Lead image used with permission of Amy Haehl
"Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits" lol.
What will Looney Tunes mean without Elmer Fudd?
Not touching this one. Someone might shoot me.
Finally! A photo of you. It is you, right?
A Christmas Story is a fave of mine, and this is just so darn cute. I went thru the comments and didn't find the negatives, and she only had 6 'angry' faces. Quite interesting....
Should we tip toe around issues? Nope. Art is meant to be subjective and thought provoking. One should not give up their freedom of artistic expression because the current political climate may find it offensive. As long as you're not hurting anyone, or doing something illegal you shouldn't be censored.
Guns will not be banned or regulated any more than they already are this century. Some people think that's bad. Some don't.
The strong majority of people use guns for things other than violence on other people.
Some people will always blame guns and not evil people. Some won't.
Some people care about anti-gun peoples opinions about guns. A lot don't.
Some people think the comment section will change people's minds about guns or gun laws. Some don't.
Some people think their experience with guns, good or bad, make their voice important or worthy of listening to. Some don't.
Some people have trouble understanding how unimportant their opinion is. They are one opinion in a sea of 8 billion people.
I see nothing wrong. Should we also get triggered over photos of cars and knives?
Knives? You might want to ask the people in London, England about that. There is talk of some sort of 'knife control' there.
See what happens when you ban guns? Criminals will always find or make something else to use in their place. It's not the gun that's the problem, it's the person holding the gun.
I'm as left-wing as it gets on gun control ---and I think this is ridiculous. It's a wooden prop directly referencing a classic Christmas film.
Some people are insane.
#ammophobic is stupid.
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the baby is cute
the bb gun (replica) is even cuter...
awwww...
Outrage culture. It's the new black. If you're aren't upset about everything all the time, you're not hip don't ya know?
:-)
"You know who's got hands? The devil, and he uses 'em for holdin'."
My two cents:
1. The "outrage" about this photo is just stupid.
2. How the hell is this photo setting off an argument about larger issue of the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership? It's a movie-inspired shoot featuring a baby with a fake BB gun—not a baby with a real assault rifle...
TLDR: Get a god damned life.
"other than a few negative comments which is to be expected, there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to this photo and loved by many."
I would be worried if that resulted in 'an overwhelmingly positive response' in my country.
Oh please. you throw a gun into a picture and social media (and this forum) loose their collective mind. Meanwhile everyone is paying to go sit a theater to watch people murder-death-kill each other. Don't openly cry about this photo unless you openly want to ban the movie it represents, and all movies that show guns for that matter.
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She's now selling prints of this photo. Really does make you question the motives now given the massive influx of new followers, and no proof of negative comments.
Maybe she told the folks giving her a hard time to go pound sand.
I think everything is this photo is so well executed. The lighting the props the story...well done. I mean you have guns in tons of cartoons and movies right? Why so sensitive?
This is the dumbest baby photo I've ever seen.