Appropriating Iconicity: Why Tank Man Still Matters

Abstract

This article explores the reappropriation of iconic photographs, examining what happens when the iconic “Tank Man” image is modified and repurposed to new political ends. It argues that such reappropriations push viewers to read against the grain of ontological security because the ubiquity of the originals motivates the questioning of taken‐for‐granted meaning in new contexts. In this case, the 21st‐century reappropriated Tank Man images speak less about the absence of political liberalism and democracy in China that were encapsulated in the original Tank Man image and more about their absence in the contemporary United States. At the same time, they also reflect changing global hierarchies in which the United States no longer automatically occupies a position of power relative to China. As such, reappropriations of iconic photographs have the potential to mobilize collective memory and political imaginations to new ends.

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