Image Control: Art, Fascism, and the Right to Resist

by Patrick Nathan

Susan Sontag meets Hanif Adburraqib in this fascinating exploration of the unexpected connections between how we consume images and the insidious nature of Fascism

Images come at us quickly, often without context. A photograph of Syrian children suffering in the wake of a chemical attack segues into a stranger’s pristine Instagram selfie. Before we can react to either, a new meme induces an LOL and a share. While such constant give and take might seem innocent, even entertaining, this barrage of content numbs our ability to examine critically how the world, broken down into images, affects us. Images without context isolate us, turning everything we experience into mere transactions. It is exactly this alienation that leaves us vulnerable to fascism—a reactionary politics that is destroying not only our lives and our nations, but also the planet’s very ability to sustain human civilization.

Who gets to control the media we consume? Can we intervene, or at least mitigate the influence of constant content? Mixing personal anecdotes with historical and political criticism, Image Control explores art, social media, photography, and other visual mediums to understand how our culture and our actions are manipulated, all the while building toward the idea that if fascism emerges as aesthetics, then so too can anti-fascism. Learning how to ethically engage with the world around us is the first line of defense we have against the forces threatening to tear that world apart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Art, Audiobook, Criticism

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 17, 2021

About the author

Patrick Nathan is the author of Some Hell, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. His short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Republic, American Short Fiction, Gulf Coast, The Baffler, and elsewhere. he lives in Minneapolis.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Nathan's work of criticism is such a gift and so needed in this particular moment. He deftly tackles gay assimilationist politics, the aesthetics of "resistance" in the era of Trump, photography and photojournalism, and so much more. I especially appreciated Nathan bringing nuance to the concepts of identity politics and intersectionality as they often play out in modern leftist politics. Lots of ideas in here I'll be chewing on for a while, and a good reminder of the value of reading criticism as well.

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A rather strange book. It's supposed to be about fascism, but never actually defines what fascism is, besides stuff the author dislikes. He gets some facts wrong, and it's obvious he doesn't really know history or political science very well.

That said, the commentary on the Twin Peaks television show was very interesting.

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of staggering intellect and emotional rigor. Just brilliant.

[Adam Possehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this powerful work of cultural criticism, Patrick Nathan explores the myriad insidious connections between Fascism, Politics, Identity, Art, and Photography. Through surprising and insightful discussions of social media, memes, gifs, films, and literature, Image Control encourages us to watch the world carefully and actively, instead of only looking passively at images and propaganda. Nathan is a thrilling writer and thinker, and Image Control is an essential read for 2021.

[Allie]

I stopped reading seriously when he said that cancel culture will in the future be "on par with the greatest discursive movements against power--including feminism, Marxism, queer theory, and intersectionality--in critical history."

god help us if he's right. in the end he comes to some extreme, unsurprising conclusions:

"To be happy and pursue happiness among so much suffering is to become complicit in the creation and perpetuation of that suffering."

"To tolerate everything--or anything--that the Republican Party stands for or to excuse it as 'just politics' is to tolerate genocide"

[Leinani Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

See the full review in the 8/25/21 edition of Real Change News Seattle.
Here is a 2 paragraph "teaser".

The Personal is Political: 'Image Control' in the eyes of the beholder

The scenes of the Jan. 6 insurrection are burned into the minds of many Americans. “Image Control” discusses in depth about how terrible things are sensationalized. Pictures are repeatedly shown to us of refugees clinging to planes in Afghanistan, of fascists breaking into the Senate Chambers, of children starving and of homelessness right in our neighborhoods. “Fascism trades in death,” Nathan says, and these images of horrors should never be stripped from that context.

Images don’t solely serve to remind us, but they also distract us. Nathan talks about memes and how the use of pictures and incomplete text together can create relatable and funny scenarios for our friends and observers. When I post a photo of a raccoon leaning out the driver’s side window with watery eyes and caption it “me in the drive-thru when the barista asks how my day is going,” that sentence is incomplete. Even without saying it, the context is “I am having a bad day and a small act of kindness is enough to make me emotional.” I agree with Nathan that this continual manipulation of imagery is a fascinating form of communication.

[ChoCho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wowzers. This was eye opening in a very interesting way. Even though I may not have agreed with all the arguments, they were presented in such a convincing way—it beckons you to at least listen.

[Sara Shocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

very thought-provoking, desperately wished for endnotes

[MeatyMarvel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how to read. The book over looked cool and so I decided it was five stars (I’m here cuz of the insta live with shelfbyshelf)

[chasingholden · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this unique and interesting criticism of our current lives Patrick Nathan makes us stop and really think about what is going on around us. Images are constantly flying towards us before we have time to react digest another then another. We are used to it, so it seems harmless, normal even and so we fail to realize that we are losing our ability to think critically about the world and everything in it, including ourselves. Pulling from photography, social media, art and his own personal experience we are shown not only how problematic our current culture is, but teaches us how to step back look around and regain control of your self.

Brilliantly researched and a truly fascinating read Image Control is a book unlike any I've come across before yet it has inspired me to keep digging in order to improve upon the life in which we live.

If you like to challenge yourself, question common practices, or simply like to learn about the idea's fueling and influencing society this book is perfect for you!

3.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion, yet still highly recommended. If this concept intrigues you, don't hesitate to pick it up and dive in. You wont be disappointed.

Thank you to netgalley and publishers for providing an advance e-copy of this book so that I may share my honest opinion.

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine my delight when on my trip to a certain Midwestern city I found this little guy in a great downtown bookstore, recommended by one of the store's staff via card-hanger thingy. And imagine my further delight when upon purchasing the book I learned that its author was an ACTUAL EMPLOYEE of said bookstore! And then continue to imagine my delight as I ripped through "Image Control" because it was at least as good as aforementioned card-hanger-thingy said. (Which, if memory serves, promised something like John Berger, i.e. something cool.)

Of all the Trump-era non-fiction political books I've read (and I've read several, looking back, many of which have not aged well at ALL (looking at you, "Once and Future Liberal"!)), Patrick Nathan's seems most destined to last. Even now, we still have supposedly serious commentators pretending like Donald Trump was an anamalous fascist force that came out of the nowhere to up-end American norms, and not the predictable apotheosis of rampant, racialized capitalist forces. What "Image Control" does so well is to describe the cultural context that could create and sustain and creature like Trump. It is as much a philosophical tract on aesthetics as it is a screed against the Republican party (who Nathan correctly identifies as the world's most powerful terrorist group). Against simplistic distopian ideas that suddenly had a weird amount of currency circa 2016 ("Big Brother is Watching You," etc), Nathan argues that our contemporary fascist nightmare works thanks to an "ecology of images" that's gone totally haywire. It's not hard to turn one group of people against another (and Nathan has no illusions about this, either, refusing to "both sides" a situation with clear power differentials) in a world where every experience is atomized, ripped from its context and place on a forever scroll next to insurance ads, clips of Black kids being murdered by cops, little games, etc.

Susan Sontag is the main point of reference here (I still have to read her! Bad Jack!), but Nathan engages with a variety of people, ideas, and traditions, in language that is artful but always clear and morally exacting. Art is a powerful thing, but its power won't necessarily be used for democracy unless a strong critical tradition pushes it in that direction. Critics like Patrick Nathan will be crucial as we continue to fight for the full empowerment of all people (and bash the fucking fash).

[Joel Azose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inconsistent and (perhaps deliberately) unfocused, Image Control swings wildly between insightful, thought-provoking passages and snobbish, elitist commentary on specific works of art.

At once too personal and not personal enough; too academic and not academic enough.

If you, like me, found your enthusiasm flagging in Chapter II, feel free to skip it.

I can't say I wouldn't recommend Image Control, but it comes with caveats.

[Jaia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author doesn’t seem to know what Fascism actually is, nor does he seem to do any fact checking. That said, his philosophical insights on the parallels between time and the image are fascinating to read. I was also amused by his love of Twin Peaks. Not a great book but it wasn’t completely wasted time.

[John Treat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erected atop quotes from other thinkers, Nathan's book is erudite and passionate, and even broader than its subtitle's advertised theme of art, fascism and resistance. It's really about how people, and especially people like Nathan (I am one), should dare to live nowadays, and especially here in the United States. Magnificent.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent survey-type exploration, Nathan's offering is both familiarizing and a solid bridge connecting the reader to sources for further research.

[Brian Durance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poignant and painful, as an American in today’s good ‘ol US of A

[Lynn]

DNF

[Miles Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

gotta say… this is a really good book. nathan doesn’t define fascism (have fun doing it yourself), which doesn’t knock it down a whole lot. nathan’s strength is in his analysis of semiotics and photography (of which you may benefit from a prior reading of susan sontag’s bibliography), all buttressed by my immense appreciation for his artistic critique and intersectional reading of identity politics. i just like having books wash over me at times and engage me at others, and this scratches those itches