I have also previously explored this topic of women and their role in the world whilst researching Cindy Sherman. Cindy Sherman is an independent photographer who took photographs in the 70’s. Something I find particularly admiring, is how she she took her camera and pointed it at HERSELF, instead of photographing someone else. I find this very unique and actually brings more meaning and creativity to the photos she created. This gesture then became her signature thing and showed her strong views on gender and the construction of identity through key times when opinions and personalities where particularly changing in history. She also mad many different character that she would pretend to being her photos and experiment with makeup, hairstyles and costume to demonstrate these characters.
I really like the idea of femininity and women in todays age as it is a subject that I, myself live through and endure. I can also use other young women enduring this in order to convey my message. I hope to express my theories on gender and identity and how women can be interpreted in different ways and do not need to fit a specific narrative. Analysing Cindy Sherman has aided this idea as she, herself has worked on how women can be interpreted in different ways and all the multiple narratives they can fit. Although, a difference I would like to express Is a positive light on women and how they can in, fact be strong and independent compared to an idealised view of being helpless and dependent on men.
Cindy Sherman originally studied painting and began by painting self portraits of her, in which she was herself, as characters which she would see in magazines and photographs. She then began to work on altering her face with makeup and different costume and first produced 5 images of different personas such as a clown and a young girl and many others. These photos helped to soar her fascination for impersonation and self transformation.
She then began to visit thrift stores to purchase new outfits for specific characters. She quoted “So it just grew and grew until I was buying and collecting more and more of these things, and suddenly the characters came together just because I had so much of the detritus from them. She then began to wear these different characters and at as them whilst attending different gallery openings.
Cindy Sherman’s work which was her most famous, was her Untitled Film Stills which are small black and white photos where Cindy has impersonated different female characters through glamourous and meaningful images. Throughout these film stills Cindy Sherman imitated different lifestyles and character stereotypes which shows how women and women’s bodies are perceived by the mass media and by the male gender. Whilst moving to New York, Cindy Sherman continued to role play in disguises and characters and photographed her imitations as the Untitled Film Stills. Although she took many of her own photographs, some photos were shot by family and friends. The voyeuristic perspective of Cindy’s work creates an imposing feeling on the viewer, as if you are secretly observing the character and she is always the subject of the controlling male gaze instead of the object of masculine desire.
Cindy Sherman’s Inspiration for Untitled Film Stills.
Eleanor Antin is an inspiration to Cindy Sherman’s work and she has said herself hat her Untitled Film Stills are related to the feminist performance work of the 1970s. Eleanor was an early influence to Cindy Sherman as she herself used to dress up and transform herself into multiple characters. s Her works are are considered conceptual, feminist classics such as “CARVING: A Traditional Sculpture”, “100 BOOTS”, where she created her 3 personas: The King, the Ballerina and the Nurse. Which he became particularly known for and helped her to gain fame and acknowledgement to express her message. Her multitude of characters explored the idea of roles and power, including how the artist is a subject in society. Eleanor critiques historical narratives and gendered power structures through fictional personas such as the three characters as they highlight different roles in society and hierarchies. This came in favour to Cindy as she took inspiration and decided to transform herself into different characters also. These two artists work are similar as they both use their bodies and self-representation as tools to critique identity, gender, and the roles women are assigned in society.
Eleanor Antin’s work themes consist of Identity, gender, history, the body, power, social roles, self-representation.
Cindy Sherman’s work themes consist of Gender, identity, representation, the male gaze, stereotypes, popular culture, societal roles.
Although these two artists also differ as Cindy Sherman’s work mainly focuses on deconstructing media representations of women, whereas Eleanor Antin’s work focuses more on exploring historical and social roles. I feel both these artists are essential to have knowledge on throughout this personal study as I have gained knowledge on different peoples interpretations on gender, identity and feminist views throughout history in order to create my own vision and my own message in response to other peoples work from the past.
Film Stills.
Untitled Film Still #10-
Wearing a hairstyle reminiscent of a Dorothy Hamill wedge cut, the heroine might be a working girl at the end of a rough day, caught just moments after her groceries have toppled to the floor. Maybe she’s someone’s girlfriend trying to prepare a nice dinner before her guy walks in the door. Perhaps she’s a struggling actress living on scrambled eggs and Campbell’s soup. None of these scenarios is right or wrong, but the essence is the same: a young woman is caught off guard by someone standing just outside the frame. Regardless of the narrative, the viewer is intrigued and unsettled by what will happen next.
Untitled Film Still #7–
A floozy in a slip dress with garter exposed and martini in hand, Sherman looks up behind sunglasses and feigns surprise at an off-screen presence. She portrays a confused woman trying to grab the attention of someone or trying to communicate with someone. The persons Identity is concealed ad makes the viewer wonder who the woman is trying to gather the attention from and why.
Untitled Film Still #13 –
The woman appears to be reaching for a book, and her attention is directed upwards towards the shelf. She is depicted with a headband in her hair, and her attire suggests a look from a past era, possibly aligning with the late 1970s aesthetic, or perhaps even earlier, evoking the style of the 1960s. The scene mirrors those from mid-20th century films, where a character might be caught in a contemplative or decisive moment. She is not looking directly looking at the camera and she is displaying her vulnerability and role in society.
Sherman appears as a seductress, who is lying with a longing facial expression. She is looking worried and concerned, and is possibly longing for a sense of purpose or companionship during a lonely life without a specific purpose. Possibly speaking of one such image, she said, “To pick a character like that was about my own ambivalence about sexuality- growing up with the women role models that I had, and a lot of them in films, that were like that character, and yet you were supposed to be ‘good’.
I really like Cindy Sherman’s work and I hope to find similar photographers to her to demonstrate my vision. Although In my personal study I would not include pictures of only myself but also of other women. I really like how Cindy Sherman experimented with hair, makeup and costume to portray different characters and I would like to do the same. Researching Cindy Sherman’s work has helped me to understand a historical side to the male gaze and how times have changed, but not really. Society has still created an inaccurate.
I would possibly like to do a ‘Modern Day’ take on this or maybe choose a more ‘Past’ approach, or do a comparison of them both and include different interpretations of past times and modern times and show how different females live different lives according to identity, sexuality, wealth and lifestyle.
Photo Analysis.
Technical:
The soft and naturalistic lighting in this photograph demonstrates that it is a photo from the past and is meant to display the time of the late 1970s. Which explains the low quality and slightly pixelated camera settings that are not very focused. I think that high contrast lighting, with a wide difference between highlights and shadows, brings a sense of intensity and depth to an image with dramatic qualities, which is what Cindy Sherman has done with her lots of her work. The aperture is also slightly blurred and has a higher sensitivity ISO which causes a grainier image with a lighter grey monochrome tone rather than cool colours. This black and white tonal structure has a colder impression which displays a sense of loneliness and emptiness in the image. The use of shadow and light in the Untitled Film Stills, heightens mood and tension, which isolates the subject within the frame. This dramatic lighting also helps to portray a specific genre of film such as drama, mystery or even horror. I think that Cindy Sherman’s use black and white photography is significant as it gives the images a sense of timelessness and universality, which provides the aesthetic of classic cinema.
Visual:
Accompanied with the black and white colour, this staged cinematic scene has meaning to it within its 2D format. The image has a woman as the central figure in the middle of the image with a door behind her stood in the corner of a room. There is also coats and clothing hung up to the left of the woman which has a dark black colour which attracts the viewers eyes towards the middle of the photograph, right next to the characters face. The photograph has a portrait angle which has been cropped into a tight famed rectangle shape. This framing of the images creates a cinematic feel to the photo and Her work mimics a multitude of low-budget narratives of different characters from 1950s-1960s television. Having settings such as homes, bedrooms, kitchens or streets conveys the message of domestic housewives living stereotypical lifestyles. The characters Cindy Sherman portrays are also seen as mid motion and candid to give a ‘frozen-in-time’ impression, this adds to the mystery and explains the deliberately vague stories that are without a clear plot. This frozen moment in time makes the viewer question the context, time-period and situation the character may be in whilst the photo is being taken. This image has no clear narrative unless the photo is deeply looked at and questioned. After establishing her outfit and role, the viewer is able to create an assumption on what the woman’s purpose is and it is then established that this is a small section of a much larger story.
Contextual:
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills includes contextual layers that address essential historical issues of gender, identity, and media representation. She created these photographs throughout 1977-80s, however they are based on the 1950/60s. During this period of the 70s, second-wave feminism was arising and women were beginning to challenge gender roles and opinions on women in media products were being raised as women began to question and challenge their portrayal and how they were being objectified and seen as an object to please the male gender. The “male gaze” refers to the way women are depicted in visual culture for males, Cindy Sherman chose to display her cultural and social concerns about the roles and representations of women in tv, cinema and media products. This work is technically ‘mocking’ the media as the series of images contains a female subject that is both the object and the creator of her image. The roles she portrays are characters which may demonstrate a victim, an innocent woman or a seductress. This creates a way for Cindy Sherman to control the portrayal of female objectification as the turning the camera on herself to expose the true meaning behind these roles. In this image her portrayal of a working class woman can be seen by her outfit and demonstrates the time period this photo is alluding to and women’s’ role during this time.
Conceptual:
This photo explores the male gaze. As number 80 film stills, became iconic. Chose herself for the model. Washerwoman maid in a feminist move way to redirect the male gaze to show she was in charge. Her angry expression by looking over her shoulder at us to show she is ‘done‘ and wants to find an escape from her current position as a housewife or domestic worker and move onto bigger dreams. She is stood slightly hunched and is wearing an apron and a blouse which shows the viewer that she is lower class and is ‘insignificant’. She is mid- movement and has a slightly distracted expression on her face whilst not making direct eye-contact with the camera which demonstrates her vulnerability and distraction. The message from Cindy Sherman portrays the reality of a ‘happy housewife’ who is safe and content at home when in reality, they are lonely and struggling mentally. The lack of context to this images, causes the reader to assume and create their own interpretations on the photo. The vulnerability, beauty and individuality of the character makes the audience feel sorry for the woman and feel a sense of reflection and remorse for women during this period.