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VISUAL SELFHOOD : (THE SPECTACLE ((In Machado's The Husband Stitch,…
VISUAL SELFHOOD :
THE SPECTACLE
In Kim Kardashian's Selfish, she uses the hyper-visibility of the spectacle of the feminine body to her advantage, and takes control of society's perception of her public self portraiture. By publicly posting her nude photos as well as hundreds of other photos taken of herself by herself, she is able to attach empowerment and subjectivity to herself as a spectacle.
In Edgar Allen Poe's The Oval Portrait, the painter's obsession with the woman and her beauty transformed her into a spectacle, so much so that he ended up conceptualizing her and dehumanizing her in the process. #
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark ends with the same fate as the woman in Poe's story. After obsessing over Georgiana's birthmark for so long, Aylmer works to remove it so that she may achieve absolute perfection. When he finally succeeds, Georgiana dies, and remains as an immortal spectacle. #
In Machado's The Husband Stitch, the narrator's husband becomes so fixated on her ribbon, that he cannot separate her being from the one aspect of her that is not meant for him. After years of obsessing, she finally allows him to untie it, and she dies as a result. Her husband conceptualized her to the point of her becoming a spectacle that will never satisfy him. #
In Machado's Real Women Have Bodies, the women in the story allow themselves to become spectacles for the sake of prom. Prom creates a spectacle of young women and pressures them into adhering to societal norms, which dehumanizes and dilutes their individuality and being. #
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Berger describes the concept of the surveyed vs. the surveyor where he compares the social energies of women with those of men. He says that "men act and women appear," implying that the social energy that comes with femininity turns women into the spectacle.
In Edith Wharton's House of Mirth addresses the concept of the spectacle with the characterization of Lily Bart. The male characters, especially Lawrence Selden, see
Lily as a spectacle, because she is an outlier in an upper-class society.
BEAUTY CULTURES
The formation of beauty cultures depends on the prescribed societal norms. This leads to social alienation of those who do not fit the description of what someone should look or act like.
In Syreeta McFadden's article Teaching the Camera to See My Skin, she talks about how the camera was not made with the photography of darker skin in mind. Since the camera was invented by white people, it was made to photograph other white people. #
In Machado's Real Women Have Bodies, women are attaching their physical and spiritual selves to the materialistic things that society has prescribed "the norm" for women. They get sewn into seams of prom dresses so that they can tie their identities to something, after the female body being so overly policed and conceptualized
In Kleeman's novel, You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, relationships and dynamics between the characters relies on the enforcement of beauty cultures. The way B idolizes A, and tries to emulate her entire being is a result of internalized stigma surrounding the aesthetic of the female body.
MACHINE V. HUMAN
Often times, selfies are criticized because the intervention of technology in portraiture is seen as a barrier to the "absolute truth." Kim Kardashian uses those criticisms as motivation to prove the power and positivity behind selfies and modern day portraiture. #
Elkins attempts to answer the question, "what is a face," through which he comes to various different conclusions and explanations including:
-something responsive (that responds to you)
-a center of power
-a faciality machine
-something incomplete
-something that demands to be read
-expressive of a mind
HISTORIC REACTIONS
Early reactions of photographic technology focused on the idea that the invention of the camera was seen as a channel to a sort of absolute truth, free of bias and human intervention. With the mechanical properties of the new invention of the camera, people began to feel like art will become self explanatory, and that “All nature shall paint herself.”
Soon after the initial invention of technology, people began to recognize photography as an art form. And they expanded on the idea that all art, especially photography, is biased. People choose what they capture and create, and it is impossible for an artist to detach themself from the art.
THE VEIL
W.E.B. Du Bois describes the existence of the veil in reference to the differences of the literal skin of black people, white people’s lack of ability to see African Americans as “true” Americans, and the black population’s lack of ability to detach themselves from the ideals prescribed by white Americans. #
Du Bois says that living within The Veil provides people with a "double-consciousness", which can be a skill as well as a heavy burden. It combines not only the self awareness that comes along with being a minority in a white society, but also the same negative lens that the white people see them through.and says Black people in America continue to carry two conflicting identities that are constantly intertwined with each other.
Frederick Douglass addresses the bias that comes with The Veil, and wanted photography to be recognized as a form of empowerment for the oppressed, or those who live within The Veil. He photographed black families, students, neighborhoods, and himself. Through that, he shed light on the lives of black Americans so that the society in which they live can finally begin to blur the social color-line.
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In all of these stories, not only does the creation of the spectacle stem from men's obsession and dehumanization of women, but also from the female subject's passivity and obsession with the male perception of them. :warning: :warning: :warning:
Those who set and enforce the beauty standards in society are those who are forcing minorities into The Veil :warning: :warning: :warning:
McFadden talks about the perception of black people through the camera lens, which is similar to the concept of the veil. Those who are outside of The Veil are unable to see minorities as the people they are. She says, "Is that how you see me? Could you not see blackness? Its varying tones and textures? And do you see all of us that way?" :warning: :warning: :warning:
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Both Frederick Douglass and Kim Kardashian fought social biases through their distinct versions of self portraiture :warning: :warning: :warning:
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