Photo Name: Waitress, The Diner
Photo taken: 1997-2000 on Lake Street [Minneapolis, Minnesota]
Photographer: Wing Young Huie
Project Name: Lake Street USA
Website: http://know.wingyounghuie.com/
Zoomed In
This photograph is of a older women and specifically her hair. Her hair is expertly pinned up with care. She is wearing a ironed collared shirt and a apron that says "The Diner". She is wearing earrings and glasses. She is photographed in the diner in which she works or so it appears. She is seated in a chair at a table with another cleaned and set table in the background.
Zoomed Out
Waitresses are commonly young women working a job just for money, we assume looking at this employee that she has has somewhat of a difficult life requiring her to work as a waitress at a diner. Her hair is pinned up in a practical but pretty way which signifies that she is aware of the work she must do but she also cares about how she looks. The earrings, her unwrinkled collared shirt as well as her hair show that she takes pride in her appearance even with customers who do not respect her. She wears glasses which shows she is practical and would rather not squint. She wears an apron which is probably required but also practical as she is dealing with food. She appears as someone who enjoys her job or at least sees herself as important despite her minimum wage position which implies that socio-economic status is not her primary concern.
Connection [Wing Young Huie to The Handmaid's Tale]
Huie presents "othering" through focusing on the waitress's hair. It is inferred that her hair is what is interesting about her as the stereotypical waitress can not have nice hair or would not waste time to look nice. Atwood presents "othering" in a similar way as she discusses the societally made stereotypes. These stereotypes and rules mainly center around women being less than men. One example of this is how Luke treats Offred when she loses her job in the pre-Gilead days: "Hush, he said. He was kneeling on the floor. You know I'll always take care of you. I thought, Already he's starting to patronize me" (Atwood 232). Her husband was not overly concerned or outraged when the government stopped allowing women to work. He, even before the oppressive society was fully in control, did not believe that she as women was equally important to him which is adhering to a stereotype. In both these stereotypes are defied because the waitress does take time to make her hair look nice as a wealthy women would and Offred survives for a time while breaking the rules just like some of the fellow men did but, she survives for arguably longer than them which shows she is smarter and thus possibly more important.
Jenna-
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun picture to choose!
Be sure that you are thinking about the artist's choices in format, structure, image, color, etc. and how they relate to his intention or purpose. You should see that there is some connection and have no need to make assumptions or generalizations to create an analysis.
Hey Jenna!
ReplyDeleteI really like this photo and you presented some ideas that I did not think of upon first glance! I agree with what you said about how "waitresses are commonly young women working a job just for money," because I work in a restaurant and can relate to what you are saying. I wanted to discuss what you said about the women seeing "herself as important" and caring "about how she looks," being the reason she pinned up her hair and ironed her shirt. While she may have done these things because she values herself, I would almost argue that the waitress looks this way because she is somewhat required to look nice for the job being a women. This notion is present even today, where statistics have shown that women who look more put together or pretty are more likely to get hired for a job. With this being said and the fact that the photo was taken in the late 1900s, I would argue that Huie is presenting the "othering" of women through beauty standards. Women are required/urged to look presentable in order to get a professional job and have customers/clients. This has further separated the divide between men and women because as a result, women spend hundreds of dollars annually on beauty products. Therefore, I would argue that the reason Huie focuses on the hair is because he is showing the "othering" of women through beauty standards! I'd love to hear what you have to say! Great response!