THE FRAGILITY OF POWER & THESE RAVISHING OLD WOMEN
an appreciation and defense of Cindy Sherman's "Society" photos
By Travis McFlynn
 |
| ©Cindy Sherman/Untitled #466 |
At the speed of light we calculate and record the world through our tastes and fears. If this is perception, do we ever truly see things as they are? Taste might subtly sway how we take in what we perceive; fear certainly distorts our understanding of the world. Our brains are like a surging neuro-chemical cocktail caught in a self-centered and baffling tangle of assumptions, judgments, and, of course, again, fears. This ‘auto-judgment-mode’ syndrome happens without even a pause for a second thought and this is why truism, received wisdom and convention rule the day, like an audio track on endless repeat. It’s hard to account for the cumulative and degrading force this type of narrow thinking has on our cultural life, but you can be sure that it is at the root of all kinds of prejudicial behavior—against different races, sexual practices, religions and even the aged. We want to believe that the world around us is static, fixed and predictable, but that’s because we can’t stand for it not to be and aging is the surest sign that what we want we cannot have.
