{"id":4283,"date":"2020-02-18T22:23:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T22:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/liberatinglens\/?page_id=4283"},"modified":"2020-04-19T19:07:05","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T19:07:05","slug":"appel-sara-donegan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/liberatinglens\/appel-sara-donegan\/","title":{"rendered":"Appel, Sara Donegan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thesis & Background<\/h2>\n
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Lauren Greenfield is a photo journalist and also has created films. She focuses on the capitalistic society and explores how Americans are obsessed with consumerism. In Girl Culture<\/em>, Greenfield shows what girls’ lives are like and what they strive to be. The New York Times<\/em> article \u201cFollow the Money (Then Take a Picture)\u201d discusses Greenfield\u2019s documentary \u201cWealth Generation\u201d and also her past exhibitions and documentaries and childhood. <\/span><\/p>\n

Greenfield grew up in Los Angeles and in 11th grade went to the private Crossroads School, \u201cwhere she befriended some of the city\u2019s wealthiest teens. This formative experience ignited her obsessions with \u201cmaterialism and class,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause my parents had rejected it so much\u201d (Soller, New York Times<\/a>). Her family, she stated in many articles, were focused on education and not material wealth, even though she grew up and was surrounded by a community of wealth and flashiness. She is \u201cconsidered a preeminent chronicler of youth culture, gender, fashion, media, wealth, beauty, and consumer culture as a result of her groundbreaking photographic projects\u201d (Institute<\/a>). I am interested in focusing on youth culture, gender and beauty in my project as these topics are most prevalent in Girl Culture<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lauren Greenfield said she was \u201cinfluenced by Juliet Schor\u2019s concept of the vertical reference group, and how we changed who we compared ourselves to\u201d (White, The Atlantic<\/a>), meaning that with the onset of TV and mass media people no longer compare themselves to people around them they compare themselves to what they see on TV and in the media. This is shown through her work in Girl Culture<\/em> where you see girls and women striving to be the \u2018perfect\u2019 kind of girl, with a perfect body. Girl Culture<\/em>\u00a0also addresses the pain and issues that striving to be perfect can play on a girl or woman. Greenfield said that the hardest part of shooting these images were the ones she took in the eating disorder clinic because of the extreme situations that the girls there experienced (Interview<\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am going to focus mainly on the photos taken in Edina, Minnesota and a few others that I could personally relate to. The photos of Alli, Annie, Hannah, and Berit going to their \u201cfirst big party of seventh grade\u201d and getting ready for that party stood out to me because not only can I picture my middle school self in the same situation but can also currently relate it to my life now. <\/span><\/p>\n

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I also liked the photo of the popular clique in the seventh grade at the cafeteria because you can imagine what they are gossiping about and their relationships they have with each other. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Lastly, I am going to focus on the photo of Hillary and Olivia doing their \u201cafter-school Tae-Bo workout.\u201d Looking at the photograph this week I can relate to it because my friends and I have turned our house into an at home gym during the corona virus quarantine. I think it will be interesting to look into how girl culture has changed in the onset of being quarantined due to the spread of COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sara,<\/p>\n

This is an excellent start to your final project. A couple of technical points that will strengthen what you have written.<\/p>\n

Keep your paragraphs short. For example, start a new paragraph with “Greenfield grew up . . . ”<\/p>\n

Use italics for titles of books, newspapers (e.g. New York Times<\/em>), and quotation marks for articles and films.<\/p>\n

Insert links to the specific articles that you cite (e.g. White, NYTimes) as the best reference.<\/p>\n

The sentence beginning “Meaning . . .” isn’t a sentence.<\/p>\n

Your overall plan of work is very good. You can insert the three photographs that you mention into this opening statement if you wish. I know what you’re referring to, but others won’t. Also, be aware that one of the girls in the Edina group of four is Jewish.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>

Methodology<\/h2>\n
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Lauren Greenfield\u2019s photographs are full of color and emotion. She uses saturated colors to make the photos pop. She distills\u00a0 moments from the girls and women’s lives to focus on things that almost all girls and women feel or have experienced. She claimed in an interview that she is \u201cuncovering reality\u201d through her pictures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to take her photographs she puts herself in these women’s lives, meaning that she spends a lot of time in the environment getting to know the women. Then she takes their pictures and interviews the girls that she focuses on. She believes the interviews are important to go along with the photographs because some of the pictures are pretty and flashy whereas the interviews depict the girl’s true emotions. The photographs are not staged; they are raw images of the girl’s lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

Within the photographs that I am focusing on there is movement in all of them. Although the girls are posed in one, viewers still see the activity that these teens are taking part in. Her point of view as a women shows that she understands and can relate to these girls because the issues they face are applicable to many women’s lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to depict girl culture in my own work I reflected on my own life and what kind of issues are relevant to me and my friends. I watched how my friends and I are going about our lives in quarantine over the next week and photographed our daily activities. I also interviewed each of my roommates and had them reflect on their lives in quarantine so far.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sara,<\/p>\n

The methodology that you propose is good, although I think that you might want to substitute some oral interviews with your friends rather than asking them to write. You can ask them if you can record the interviews and then edit the interview as Greenfield does so that they comment upon or are in dialogue with the photographs.<\/p>\n

Start a new paragraph at “Within the photographs . . .<\/p>\n

And be sure to use possessive apostrophes when you need them (e.g. the girls’ true emotions).<\/p>\n

Good luck with the photographs.<\/p>\n

DDM<\/p>\n\n<\/div>

Photo Analysis<\/h2>\n
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Photos & Analysis: Presentation of your own photographs inspired by that point of view. Text articulating what taking your own pictures taught you about the photographer\u2019s point of view and its relevance. What is liberating about the point of view you\u2019ve chosen to explore? How does it challenge you to look at the world differently?<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, I have taken pictures of my roommates responding to the COVID-19. This has allowed me to understand the importance of friendship because I have seen how we have relied on each other in this time of stress\/confusion. It has also made me think about the privilege that we have to be quarantined together, having fun and making the best out of the situation.<\/p>\n

Gallery:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1bqe5gVxqr6gWKALv-Hc3rwVAS2jJizBn5NojQnLX0Cs\/edit?usp=sharing<\/p>\n