Connecting Essay 1

Connecting Essay

Sam Shaw

   

In Sam Shaw's image (left) we can see Marilyn Monroe doing her make-up, the main focus of this image is on her reflection in the mirror rather than her actual person. All her make-up is located on the table, spread out clear for us to see. There is harsh lighting in this image, we can see a single bright light shining down on her and making her face stand out more than the rest of her. The rest of the image is blurred making sure that the focus still originates back to her face in the mirror, everything else is wither blurred or darkened. In this image the stereotype of a 1950s woman is coming through as women during this period looked after themselves highly and enjoyed make-up and looking nice. Also, this picture could've been taken to show off Monroe as people looked up to her which could explain why she has a harsh light just on her face. The stereotype of women shines through in this image as it is associated with make-up and admiring her reflection.

In my image (right) we can see a girl with a wipe to her eye sitting across from a mirror. In the reflection we can see that she has her eyes closed. We could interpret this image in different ways, she could be removing her make-up or she could be sad and crying. The focus on this image is mainly on her rather than on her reflection because it continues to show her as week, it also corresponds to the fact that her eyes are closed so she isn't looking at her reflection making it smart to focus on her. Even though this doesn't show the make-up side of a stereotypical woman it still lets the stereotype shine through. In this image she is being shown as weak which is associated with women as they are portrayed not to be as strong as men.

These two images are similar because they both show the stereotypes of girls and women and they both have similar depressing effects as they are both photographed in black and white. However, Shaw's image has a happier vibe than my photo. I think these two image go together well because it shows that when women are wearing make-up they feel more confident and when they take it off they feel lower and depressed, this is how society believes women feel which isn't always the case. Also, it could show the difference in the time periods as women in the 1950s covered up with make-up because of influences they had, in the current period more women have learnt to take off their make-up and uncover their real faces and express themselves with their personalities rather than their looks.