Photography, Fantasy and the Modern Woman

(George: you wanted to see an example of "the posts that never made it" - here's one. It's a bit lengthy though!)

Forget world recession and the dawn of a new age, the most important global news item on the planet last month was what frock Michelle Obama was wearing. The entire future reputation of the United States of America hung on this single fact. Oh yes indeed, let’s ignore the fact that the new First Lady graduated from Princeton and has had a dazzling career…I mean, like…who cares!?! But did you see those fantastic Jimmy Choo’s? Which new designer was she wearing? And how often does she work out so she can stay so slender? It seems that although we are happy to judge Mr Obama by his intelligence and wisdom, we are still unable to drag ourselves out of the middle ages and judge a woman by anything other than her appearance.

Throughout history, women have always been judged by their looks. Nowadays, thanks to the modern media, this has become increasingly the case. Needless to day, this patriarchal-driven discrimination does not apply to men. Guys can get away with scruffiness on the basis of genius. For example, consider computer geeks, engineers or scientists: for them, personal appearance is irrelevant because they are judged by their brains not brawn. Even Obama himself has looked decidedly tired and worn on occasion, but it doesn’t matter because his exceptional intelligence excuses any occasional lapse in appearance. Alas the same could never be allowed to apply to his poor wife. From now onwards, if she ever steps outside the White House in jeans and a pair of slippers, sans make-up, her future would be permanently in ruins. So much for cultural evolution. Despite the numerous women’s rights movements, brilliant academic females like Michelle are still judged according to their appearance.

Those jeans didn't go down too well last time (Photographer: Emmanuel Dunand)

I sympathise. The truth is that if you want to be taken seriously in your profession, then you have to look the part. People judge women according to how they see them. For example if I go into a city business meeting in jeans and trainers (yes I’ve actually done this) then other people look through me as if I’m not there. I’m judged sloppy, unattractive, less intelligent, and I’m dismissed and ignored (the same does not apply to guys, incidentally.) However if I go to the meeting in a smart suit with high heels (I hate heels) then people take notice. I fit the mould – I am accepted as an intelligent female, and I am included. Elegance and style matter in the boardroom, they matter absolutely everywhere.

Nowhere is this emphasis on appearance more visible than in our photographic world. It is a central tenet of the entertainment industry. When was the last time you saw a female celeb in jeans at an industry knees-up? Heck, the poor souls get slammed by the press if they pop out to the corner shop looking anything less than perfect, and yet the male equivalent gets away with it all the time. The ports of the best photographers on MM are crammed full of beautiful people dressed up to the nines, each worthy of appearing in many thousands of stylish magazines. In fact, this is their very goal – these models are elegant illustrations of our obsession with appearance, with our mantra of “image is all.”

As I have blogged before, IMO photographers perpetuate this philosophy – overwhelmingly they choose to photograph women who conform to the modern industry standard of what “look” is judged to be beautiful. Modern people photography is therefore less about the individual subject but more a record of our culture, our emphasis on style, our obsession with judging the female of the species by her appearance. As this is a patriarchal society, this is somewhat inevitable, I guess. Most photographers in the entertainment industry are men, and let’s face it, this is what guys are hard-wired to do. And anyway, this dogma is part of the shoot specification – this is what the shooter is hired for. The MUA and stylist use their years of professional training and the photographer must tailor his best lighting skills to create the appearance of perfection and modern beauty. Even though the model might look rather plain and ordinary away from the camera, this is totally irrelevant, because for the purposes of the shoot, she must be transformed.

It is the photographer’s job to sell the fantasy that every woman could and should try to look equally physically perfect and well groomed. In every magazine feature or advert you look at, the model will always look flawless, because how else can they sell the end product?

"Don’t you want to part with a week’s salary for this fabulous perfume ----daaaahling ? And if you do my dear, then you too will look as gorgeous as Nicole Kidman…and you too will find happiness, self-worth and be the perfect woman. You CAN be the Barbie doll you’ve always wanted to be, if only you buy this perfume. Go ahead, live the dream…"

So when you look at a photograph of a beautiful woman in a magazine advertisement or feature, you see a fragment of how we ordinary folk would like to see the world. Because the photograph is so crisp and detailed, it is like glimpsing a slice of real life, but the trouble is that like any art-form, such constructed photographs are not real. They are created in a studio by a photographic team purely for the purpose of perpetuating a myth…the myth that appearance is a better way of valuing a woman rather than what’s inside her head.

Because our modern society defines itself via photographs, we are increasingly moving towards believing our true identities should be like these constructed images. The fantasies have been absorbed into our psyches, and they are corrupting our ability to think as individuals, not to mention the potential damage to our self-worth. We are perpetuating the practice of judging women by their appearance because we are copying the imaginations of the original photographers and stylists who invented the thousands of glossy photographs we see every week. We see the world through rose-tinted-glasses and we think it is real. We want it to be real. The more photographs which are produced over the years, the more society depends on them to define its reality, the more appearance matters, and the more we women are expected to identify with and adhere to these glossy fabrications that we see every day in the media.

Because of our entertainment “biz”, these fantasies, these unreal, superficial constructed identities have permeated who we think we should be as women. The fantasy has become reality. Photographs in the media dictate how we are expected to look and behave, and they strongly influence the way we think. Like millions of other women, my smart-suited successful day-job persona, my constructed identity, “who I am seen to be” and even how I feel about myself are all reflections of the ever-evolving photographic landscape. Photographs are way more than mere recording devices. They shape our past, present and future on both a cultural and individual level.

Never underestimate the power of the photographers. It is they who will decide who we will become.

And as for your dear First Lady, those photographs of her in her pretty Isabel Toledo dress and Jimmy Choo pumps will be remembered long after her lofty career achievements are forgotten.