From Alexis:
It’s a Friday night and that means it’s time to go out with friends and celebrate the weekend (in a world where COVID doesn’t exist). As you are looking for something to wear you realize everything you are trying on doesn’t seem to look right on you. You are trying to find the perfect outfit for the night, but every outfit you are trying on just frustrates you more because it doesn’t look good enough in your eyes and, in a way, you are kind of insecure about the way you look. The subtopic I chose to base my photo assignment on is girl culture. I resonated with this topic a lot because growing up I feel like many girls, including myself, experienced many hardships as we really started realizing what “Girl Culture” was. But then the question arises: What is girl culture? Lauren Greenfield, the creator of the visual exhibition “Girl Culture” uses symbolic images of girls to explore the relationship between girls’ inner lives and emotional development, and the material world and popular culture. She reveals femininity through moments of vanity and performance in everyday life. In other words, she uses symbolic images to give others a glimpse into what girls go through and how it’s something that affects them emotionally, physically, and even mentally. Then we get more in depth in what the photo means by observing the creative techniques the photo itself shows.
In my photo I used several creative techniques to give more meaning to what my photo actually means. When you first look at a photo your brain is trying to process what the photograph is of, and in mine, at first glance you notice it’s of me trying on clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary, but then once you really start to look at the photograph you notice the creative techniques that gives the image more of a meaning. One of the first things you may notice in the image is my facial expression seems very down and glum. I’m frowning and my body language shows that I look dissapointed. This is an example of the creative technique senses/face and it plays key roles in expression; we can tell how someone feels by observing their body language and facial expression, me looking upset or not satisfied is one of the main highlights of the image. With this observation you can infer because of how I’m looking at myself in the mirror you can make the conclusion that I’m not happy with what I see; this is another creative technique known as gaze. Gaze is what the eyes are looking at and how it makes the audience feel, this technique is similar to sense/face. Now, as you look at the image you will notice all the clutter of clothing on the floor (as a matter of fact this is probably the first thing you will notice when you see the image) , the drawers open and how chaotic my room looks. It’s very intense and this creative technique is known as Background/Foreground, this technique is essential because it adds more of a story and more detail to the photo, we get a better understanding about what is going on in the picture, and this is where those who are looking at the picture can make that realization they are trying on every piece of clothing and put together different outfits but can’t seem to find the right one. Many more techniques were used in this image, but I would like to point out that another creative technique that was used was symbolism which I believe is important. If you look carefully at the dress you can see that the top halter part has sparkles, I believe this is an example of symbolism because sparkles are very flashy and always catch attention. When you wear something flashy there’s no doubt that heads will turn right away, so how does this represent symbolism? Sparkles, in a way, represent excitement and joy and a glowing appearance but in the image my emotions are more down rather than beaming.
But even after viewing the image and trying to understand it a question to ask is: How does this add to gender socialization? Well, when we are young, we were introduced and exposed to toys that aligned with what girls did such as playing dress up, doing our make-up, playing with barbie dolls etc. As we grow up, we are then introduced to what dressing up is like and what happens when you wear make-up (you get some attention and get praised), what happens when you dress good and look pretty, this is where we start to have insecurities and it influences how we see ourselves. So that is why I chose to make this photo represent how we look at ourselves in girl culture, we want to look good and feel good when we go out and sometimes, we will get frustrated and get disappointed if something doesn’t look right on us because of the way we look. My photo shows the struggles of struggling with body image and what we will go through to make sure we feel comfortable and good in what we wear.
2 comments:
I very much am picking up on your message here. The photographers perspective is very familiar to me. It is a very similar view that I had growing up as a little sister. From this camera angle, the viewers get to step back from the madness you are feeling trying to find the perfect outfit. From this outside point of view, we see the madness women go through when all of their clothes don't look the way they'd want. The most profound element I see here is that the image of Alexis produced in the mirror is literally half size. The way she sees herself in the mirror is not as she really is. Her line of sight is all up and down her body which is understandable. However, you can tell she is judging how it looks and not how she feels in it. It reminds me of an underconfident young Disney princess like Cinderella. She gets all dressed up for the ball and still doesn't see how beautiful she is. As a woman I can also recognize nervousness about the way your belly looks in a dress. As a girl with curves myself, I can also recognize elements of dysmorphia. We use our hands to cover small areas of our bodies. Dress after dress, girls get disappointed with the way they look. It is hard not to compare yourself to what a Victoria's Secret model looks like in a tight dress. One other element of girl culture I see is looking down on oneself. Alexis is literally looking down on that minimized version of herself. In fact, my mind sees the two images of Alexis combined with the drawer opened and thinks "Pandora's Box". It is another symbol of the can of worms this photo opens in terms of girl culture.
From Amber
I admire you using an image of yourself for the assignment. I too experienced detrimental influence from "girl culture" and this picture really resonated with me. I can remember specific nights when i was younger when i would spend hours getting ready. My bedroom, living room and bathroom would look like a tornado had passed through the house because i had torn everything apart just trying to look right. The issue wasn't just that my clothes werent new and expensive like the other girls who lived in my area, my hair was too thin, my hips were too chubby and nothing looked right no matter what it was. I would always do my hair and make up first before i even looked in the mirror with my outfit on because i alone wasnt good enough without piling on foundation and putting in hair extensions. I really enjoyed your use of body language in this and the foreground and background really made the photo!
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