Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Ana Paula da Rosa 208 of the attacked child as a synthesis- image of the conflict, so, an operation-image. The synthesis-image 10 , understood as the operation- image, is not simply the image that represents, configures, shapes the media event, but it is the image that surpasses the residue-images. Such images are those struggling, trying to show alternatives, bringing other angles. However, the consolidated synthesis-image does not allow the residue to overlay. They ex- ist, they circulate through invisible ducts, because they do not conquer space in the media nor are valued by social actors, un- like the circuit-image which surrounds us and is produced spe- cifically to end in cascade. In this respect, we bring up the synthesis-image of the Syrian crisis. Aylan Kurdi’s body, found at Bodrum beach, does not need to appear, not even to be mentioned. It is not that child, but its imagistic capacity for shading. The photograph of the child drowned on the beach, as a phantasmagoria, reappears in the productions of the White Helmets, of the 15-year-old young- ster, and the operation-/circuit- and residue-images do not go beyond the consolidation of the synthesis-image, because they do not deny it, but carry it. IV – The “rescue” operator who rescues synthesis-images When looking at the materiality that makes up our case of research, we see the more than frequent use of the word “rescue” as an operator of meanings. Whether it is on the news headline of the White Helmets video: “The moment when chil- dren are rescued fromwreckage after the bombing in Syria” (G1, 02/20/2018), or in the text produced by the Syrian teenager who pledges for a rescue of dignity and visibility, appeals that use this “rescue” operator are evident. The rescue is what saves, recovers, but also frees. How many rescues are up for grasp in 10 The term synthesis-image has appeared in the author’s studies since 2012 and has been constantly updated. A more recent text about the approach can be seen at http://www.compos.org.br/data/arquivos_2018/trabalhos_arquivo_XDFB 3DO7I9DNXSGSYMFL_27_6543_22_02_2018_07_01_08.pdf .