Iconicity, Legitimacy, and the Visual Field: A Comparative Analysis of Revolutionary Imagery from State Propaganda to Citizen-Generated Content

Abstract

This essay argues that visual imagery is not peripheral to political mobilization but constitutive of it, and that the shift from state-controlled propaganda to citizen-generated content has produced a paradox: while the democratization of the image has expanded the reach of political movements, it has simultaneously eroded the persuasive power of any single image, creating a crisis of iconicity. Drawing on Max Weber’s taxonomy of legitimacy and Murray Edelman’s concept of symbolic politics as theoretical anchors, the essay conducts a comparative analysis of four case studies spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: the Chinese Communist Party’s construction of Maoist visual culture during the Cultural Revolution; the American Civil Rights Movement’s disciplined deployment of mediated violence; the survival and censorship of the Tiananmen Square “Tank Man” photograph; and the Iran Woman, Life, Freedom movement and Black Lives Matter protests of the 2020s. Across these cases, three patterns emerge. First, control of the visual field has consistently functioned as control over political legitimacy. Second, the transition to citizen-generated imagery has created a trade-off between reach and durability, with strategic discipline, as demonstrated by the Civil Rights Movement, proving essential for achieving the iconic staying power of state propaganda. Third, digitalization has bifurcated imagery’s relationship to power: states can suppress images domestically but cannot contain their international circulation. The essay concludes that in an era of infinite content, the movements most likely to achieve lasting political change are those that understand discipline not as a constraint on expression, but as its highest form.