She probably didn't realize it, but every print they made sucked a little more out and a little more out, and gradually it took her longer and longer, and it took more and more makeup, for her to become Marilyn (gold flashing lights Marilyn, the silky satin Marilyn we love and think we know).

What did she get back besides money, besides more people wanting to possess her in person, as well as suck her celestial soul out through her images? By the time she died, she looked 20 years older than her material self, and as soon as her celestial self dissipated, it sprinkled out into all the universe of sparkling gold images of silky satin Marilyn.

Wait a minute. Am I saying photographs steal your soul?

Not exactly. Marilyn was a special case. Most of us don't open ourselves so completely when we're photographed; even if we're in love with the photographer, we merely glimmer a little.

But there's still something evil in photographs. Rather, in the commercial use of photographs to make us hate the celestial self and long for a perfect material self which does not - and can not - exist.

The difference between art photography and commercial photography is simple. An art photographer strives to evoke an emotion - to imitate the way we really see - and to convey a non-verbal message. A commercial photographer has one purpose: to sell. But they're not just selling a product or service; they're also selling an ideology: the consumer culture.

As anyone who has taken an introductory business course can tell you, sales depend on the Law of Supply and Demand. If there is no demand for a product, you need to create a demand. That's where commercial photographers come in. Their job is not only to create a demand for whatever credit card, facial cream or gizmo they're selling, but also to perpetuate the myth that happiness can be achieved only through material gain. The models or actors in these mini-consumer dramas are ecstatic over their possessions: whatever is lacking in their lives is suddenly fulfilled as soon as they shell out the cash.

"If I could only be that happy," the consumer is supposed to think. "Well, maybe if I buy that product I will be."

The emphasis on the material extends beyond the product itself. By selecting models who have unusually thin physiques - sometimes cadaverous - by plastering them with makeup and hair gel, and then by altering the photographic image with computer retouching to lengthen legs or remove blemishes, the commercial photographer "sells" an image of physical perfection that no one - not even the models themselves - can achieve.

 

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