Week 13: Positive Image
Images of people have always captivated audiences. There seems to be a deep
connection between the still images in a snapshot of time and space and
audience. A photograph can transport a person into the setting of a picture,
and it is the responsibility of the photographer to depict what the reality is
to themselves and to the viewer. When pictures are displayed, the
stories, it tells can be counterproductive, misleading, or even dangerous. But
those are not the stories most audiences want to see, but by discounting those
photographs that are challenging, it creates a problem by under-representing an
entire part of life. Jan Zita Grover’s “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging
and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs” explains how photographs are not a true
source of reality.
Lesbian photography before the 1990s were not about the sexual desire of
these women taking these photographs. It was about a portrait of the idealized
lesbian that makes everyone comfortable and able to transport in the
setting. Grover explains this by saying, “The lovingly crafted
portraits made by so many lesbian photographers in the 1970s and 1980s attested
to the growing wish for legitimation, the longing for recognition, of
individuals and couples in our community.” For the lesbian community to achieve
that longing they took pictures in a normal sense palatable for others’ sense
they know during that time homophobia was tremendously excepted and
exceptionally loud. They were trying to be seen as human, which they
have been and still are to this day, but many people want to dehumanize people
by othering them.
Now times are finally changing to being more accepting towards subcultures,
it is hard for a subculture or a marginalized group, it is hard to let go of
the attacks and implications of our group. This has led to marginalized groups
being on guard on how their communities are depicted as individual and as a
collective. There are only so many images of these groups where one photograph
can derail there standing in the new “norm”. Grover says it the
best, “so few representations, so many expectations: the burdens of scarcity”
she later explains how one heterosexual white woman depiction or choices do not
define all white women, even if her actions are distasteful or to that extent deplorable.
It takes one mistake and a whole community’s image will change and it never
seems to be for the better.
Jan Zita Grover, “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs,” 1991
Hi Rachel, I think you did a great job of addressing the ideas in the article. I like how you said that the non-sexual photos of lesbians in the 60s and 70s represented “the idealized lesbian that makes everyone comfortable.” One grammatical improvement that I can suggest would be to change “excepted” to “accepted” in the second paragraph. Do you think that subcultures today still have to be careful about the images they put out?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Isabel, I do believe that subculture still must be careful what images they put out because retaliation is still very real and dangerous. And form some reason subcultures have to wait for others to tell them it is okay form them to be themselves, which is very unfair to the people in the subcultures. The best thing subcultures is to makes people see them and it best when it is a positive image because it makes people more welcoming towards them.
DeleteWhat do you think the first step to acceptance is in accepting new subcultures and how can artists achieve this? It would be nice to just say to keep an open mind and accept people for the way they are but that seems like it would be a major leap for some.
ReplyDelete