Apr 19, 2005Coulter and Colder--snip
Frankly, the picture of Ms. Coulter seems diagnostic. What you get is someone endlessly preoccupied with sexual and physical violence, going from riff to sadistic riff tossing off one-liners dedicated to retribution and revenge. You have someone with a history of charming and seducing men, but who seems to disavow significant emotional attachments with men and often displays flashes of hatred in response to male or female sexuality. You have someone almost pathologically opposed to revealing any personal information, especially if it conveys humanity, femininity or compassion of any kind. You have a person who insists her only professional motivation is personal amusement or the amusement of her friends. Finally, you have someone hopelessly addicted to nicotine who's greatest fear is being found irrelevant
--snip
What does the image suggest? Overall, it depicts someone who is not going to sit for getting her picture taken. By leaning forward, hunching her shoulders and giving you a stare, she's declaring herself off limits. As she does with her verbal behavior, she uses offensive maneuvers to keep you from getting near her or getting any real look at her. (By the way, isn't there some adage about not trusting a person if you can't see their hands? Or maybe, she's just not one to show her hand.)
Physically too, sexuality is a big part of the picture. The classic short black skirt and the hair dyed red at the ends -- and, of course, the in-your-face mile long legs (with shoes that suggest an evening out -- but also a little girl innocence, with the bow) is quite seductive. On the other hand, the tightly crossed legs, the elbows pulling awkwardly close to the torso, the tense forearms, the pursed mouth and, of course, the stare, all read as cold, colorless, closed, and sexually conflicted.
There is another way to look at this, however, if you take a developmental perspective. As an adult, Ms. Coulter's pose couldn't be more guarded, more defensive (in which the best defense is a good offense). The other way to understand this image, though, is if "Ms. Right" is simply a little girl. The bow on the shoes suggests that. The stockings that seem like tights also say so. The overall posture reflects it as well. As opposed to an adult who sits back and lets the camera take them in, young Ann looks like the little girl who comes into the photography studio and doesn't know how to sit, or needs to know what she should do. To this end, the gaze can also be an intense search for direction. The awkward scale reflects it also. All legs and head, arched forward with her feet hanging down into white space, she might as well be perched in a high chair.
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2005/04/sample_coulter_.html____________________________________
Michael Shaw always has a fascinating take on news photos. He has really gotten me to start looking at images differently.