“The Falling Man”

James Nachtwey was not the only photographer who captured images of the horror of 9/11.  Another journalist named Richard Drew was working for the Associated Press and was doing his best to cover the disaster unfolding in front of him. As the North Tower burned before his eyes, he watched in horror as tiny outlines of people began to plummet from the floors above the fire.  There were about 200 of these people how chose to jump from this extreme height rather than face the smoke and fire at their backs.  These people cannot explicitly be defined as jumpers.  “A ‘jumper’ is somebody who goes to the office in the morning knowing that they will commit suicide. These people were forced out by the smoke and flames or blown out.” (Cauchon, Dennis. “Desperation forced a horrific decision”. USA Today.)

The image itself is one of a series of pictures that Drew was able to take as these minute figures fell through the morning air. Each one is horrible in its own right, but only the one that became famous, “The Falling Man,” is aesthetically appealing.  The form of the man, perpendicular to the ground, is perfectly parallel with the lines of the tower behind him.  He seems poised, head down, awaiting his destruction.  What really strikes home with the picture is the inevitability of the death.  Like I discussed in my paper, impending death has its place in the media, and in the case of this picture garnered a powerful reaction from the public. Many people found the image disturbing, and because of the numerous attempts to identify the man, it prolonged the suffering of the people affected.

Richard Drew’s famous photo. 9:41:15 a.m. September 11th, 2001.

The picture, like Kevin Carter’s 8 years earlier, carries with it huge metaphorical weight. The identity of the man in the picture is still unknown.  Because he is unidentified, he represents the doom of every single person that lost their lives that fateful day.  His death, along with thousands of other innocent people, is imminent.