30 Days of De-Objectification: The Photographic Lie

It may surprise you to learn that this cat was not actually rolling this watermelon out of the lake

30 Days of De-Objectification:

The Photographic Lie

We’re going to get esoteric here. So, if that sort of thing really isn’t your bag, Baby, feel free to skip this post.

I will say from right out of the starting gate that I have no intent of arguing with anybody about the existence of spirits or any ability I may have to communicate with them. Believe it or don’t. I have no fucks to give one way or another. What I also don’t have is patience for debate, and I refuse to acknowledge any straight-up asshole commentary.

That being said, here we go.

When people die at a young age, there can be a tendency to see them as eternally having the sort of beauty which exists for only a very brief time. Hell, who knows, maybe in spirit they do possess such eternal “beauty”. I generally believe in the continuation of the personality after death. However, if I have indeed communicated with spirits, they have all been bemused over the preoccupation of the living with physical appearance.

“That’s not me,” they say. “This is me.”

“Me” is energy without physical form.

These “beautiful” people were not their bodies.

They were also not the images captured in photographs.

Those photographs depict an infinitesimally brief moment in time.

The person could have sneezed violently and farted at the same time a moment after the photo was taken. That isn’t sexy or glamorous.

The fact of the matter is, none of us are sexy or glamorous most of the time.

Many of the people we see as sexy or glamorous don’t think of themselves that way.

Many of the photographs that people find enticing are the result of carefully planned lighting, expertly applied makeup, and precise posing of the subjects.

With live concert photographs, there are more that don’t make the cut than that do.

The selected photographs are often retouched before being printed.

With people who died young, we have no way of knowing what they would look like had they survived.

With people who were able to age, the faction of “fans” who were only drawn to them for their physical appearance tend to ignore their increasing infirmity in favor of viewing photos from their youth and believing that this is the person who currently exists.

To say that photographs lie isn’t entirely accurate.

What photographs do is capture a select moment in time, which may have been staged.

People lie to themselves regarding the content of photographs.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~