As you have no doubt guessed by the title, that means we won't be doing typologies this week. I saw some cool pictures spreading across the internet, so I decided to pounce on them before anyone else does. Early bird gets the worm, eh? So no typologies again. Sorry.
So, Disney...what recent Disney thing am I going to talk about? Can it perhaps be....another plug for my hit Disney-inspired-musical, Journey into Zombiefication Part I and Part 2?
Or can it be that I want to waste everybody's time, and post Nigel-Disney gifs?
Unsurprisingly, it's none of these! I'm going to talk about a photographer and his work! WHOOAA! GIANT MOVIE TWIST!
(Note: Not a Disney Movie)
Who is that photographer? Why it is none other, than world famous, super well known, internationally acclaimed photographer, Thomas Czarnecki!
Please note that Thomas's website is written in French, so I have no idea what his accomplishments are. But I think it says he's had expositions in Paris? Seems legit enough for me!
Anyway, what Thomas did was make a series of photographs called "From Enchantment To Down." What they show, is...dead/murdered Disney princesses. And like, before anyone freaks out, it's not the REAL princesses in the pictures. It's just models PRETENDING to be dead. You can relax, Cinderella is still safe.
Alrighty, let's dive into this. Cinderella, I choose you!
I think you guys are going to need to enlarge these to get the full details. But here, we've got Cinderella, who has fallen and can't get up. Glass slipper at the top, pumpkin at the bottom, and creepy "The End Is Near" writing on the wall. The streetlight does a good job of being the light source for poor Cinderella. Combine that with the vignetting going on, it pretty much brings your eye down the steps, and right to her. Personally speaking, this is my favorite of his set....which means...the next pictures I think are worse than this one! Haha! Briliant!
Onto Little Red Riding Hood!
Firstly, I'm not sure why she has what appears to be a wine bottle. Or champagne. I'm not wise when it comes to alcoholic bottles. But that's besides the point.
I think it seems believable. I mean, if she died there, in the doorway...then in theory, you would need a longer exposure to capture the barn interior, thus overexposing the exterior!
But....it doesn't really explain how she died. Like with Cinderella, you can maybe guess she fell down the steps or something. And I suppose we can assume that maybe a wolf attacked her upper half...but I think it would be cooler if we saw wolf tracks in the dirt. Unless that's not how she died. Maybe the manner of death isn't even important? Beats me. When it comes down to it, the picture works...but maybe it could be a bit better.
Chapter three. Snow White
Now we're starting to see a pattern form. This is pretty much the same exact thing as the previous picture, and pose as the previous two. I mean, I'm well aware that if one were to suddenly die in an open space, they wouldn't be standing or posed in a yoga position. But it's very...plain. Because it's a parking garage. I repeat, a parking garage. See, every other picture Thomas did, the setting was fairly believable for the story. You may argue Cinderella didn't have electric street lamps, but they had lanterns back then, and it could theoretically be possible.
But this? A concrete parking garage! Come on Thomas! Try harder! Nothing angers me more than a photographer who puts his subject in the center of the picture against a very plain background! Nothing!
Vier! Hier Kommt Alice!
I'm liking this one. It's got a bit of a Red Letter Media Movie Review vibe going, eh? ......No one is getting that joke.
I'll be the first to admit though, I don't really know much about Alice in Wonderland....I don't really like it. I got into a giant fight last year over it....with a teacher. So I don' really know how Alice got killed here. But dang it, I like it. She's not lying down! She's tied up in a chair in a basement! And although the light seems unrealistic, it really adds a nice dramatic flair. I think the obvious and stereotypical way to light this would have been to do an overhead lighting scenario, like in movie interrogation scenes. But I like what he did here, using her and her bright blue dress to contrast against everything else down there. Nice.
Next victim...Ariel!
I just added this one because it's a girl wearing nothing but sea shells and plastic. Next!
....Ok, fine, I'll talk about it.
Firstly, her positioning is...slightly different. She's on her back, as opposed to her stomach. I guess that's pretty good.
Cause of death? ...Well...I'm not sure. I don't know if that plastic is her fins, or if she was swimming, got caught up in garbage, died, washed up on shore, and her fins turned into legs.
My big problem though? The lighting! Again! All the other ones, it was...atleast ok. Streetlights, outside sunlight, and even for Alice and Snow White, an off-screen opening or doorway that's bringing light in. But here? Since she's out in the open, it's just this weird, bright light that shines over her corpse. It's a bit cringe worthy, really.
I don't know what I would do differently...but I would do a lot of things differently.
I mean, I've got ideas, but I figure I shouldn't say them, just in case I ever get falsely accused for murder in a way that is similar to what I'm thinking.
Not that like, I come up with ideas on how to murder princesses in my free time....or when I'm busy! I mean, I don't come up with any murder ideas at all! None! I am firmly against murder! Right?! Right! Next picture please!
Look at it. It's pretty much falling in line with the others ones. I think she may even be in the exact pose as Snow White and Cinderella. There's nothing really left to say about this that hasn't been touched upon in the other ones except....that smoke. Mein Gott! Everything up to this point has look fairly realistic...but man. That's some terrible genie smoke. Maybe they don't have smoke bombs in France? I'm not sure but...dang, that needs some work.
...Although if it turns out that it IS real smoke, then boy, am I ever going to have egg on my face.
And that's all I'm going to delve into. There's a Sleeping Beauty (but with adult magazines around in the picture) in a bed, there's a Pocahontas in a new pose, but surrounded by dead animals ( sad face :( ), and there's a Belle...but it's pretty much just a rehash of some of the others.
On a side note, I often find that unskilled writers, when needing to come up with conclusions to their writings, often begin with "In conclusion." To me, that's just shows laziness, and that they feel like they spent enough time talking about what they needed to talk about that coming up with an interesting phrase is too much of a hassel.
In conclusion, those pictures, as individual pictures, for the most part work. As a series? Ehhhhhh....I really think there needs to be some variety to them. But you know what? The man freakin' said "I'm going to make a photographic series of Disney Princesses and their deaths!" ...or, well, he probably said something more like "Je vais faire une série photographique de princesses Disney et leurs décès!" But no matter what the language, I think the idea is pretty commendable. Bravo Thomas. You have not achieved perfection, but you have slightly impressed me.
I loved this post! It's interesting to read about the different ideas people can come up with...as strange as some of your examples are, in general not just this post, they are always inspirational and make me think. good job as always :)
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