We analyze photos at BAGnews. Serious photos. With semiotic analysis. Big words. Context. Sometimes intelligent. We pride ourselves on being one of the view media websites that cuts through the visual spin put out by government and traditional media.
Sometimes, we get accused of cattiness. Or echoing an another bloggger's cattiness. In this case, an artist, Kelly Hanrahan, posted her take on Sarah, plain and simple on her website and we wanted to talk about it.
How would Sarah sell without the paint and hairdo?
Now some accused us of being mean-spirited. Maybe. But I actually think she looks better without all the paint and accessories. And what's wrong with a woman in today's media looking like who she is? She's a middle-aged woman. A grandmother. Why do we need to fool ourselves?
Why do we default to accusations of meanness when Palin can carry her own visual weight, thank you very much. How much make-up does a male politician wear for his close-up? I think these are valid questions.
But this is celebrity and politics. Given Palin's baseline attractiveness, a consistently au naturel appearance would lead to the Today Show staging an Ambush Makeover. People Magazine offering a photo essay making her up instead of down as the artist did here. Saturday Night Live might choose another actress to impersonate Palin.
With or without make-up (and, as someone who has worn the stuff, I can tell you the "without" photos are not entirely make-up free), she is still an attractive woman (if you go that kind of muscular librarian face), as shown here:
or at least better without the craptastically tacky pin. I think it's fair to ask ourselves, what does a middle-aged grandmother look like? She'd still be the woman she is, but with a little gray, less paint, and little less visual or accesorized noise.
Why do we automatically default to "eew" when we look at a woman without goo?
But here's the larger point, one missed by the liberal blogosphere since the ancient days of the George W. Bush regime....missed by the White House most recently in their mocking of Sarah Palin's hand notes....Is the gaudy flag pin Sarah's preferred piece of jewelry? The Alaska pin? Is she loving the fact that she has to spend hours in make-up and hairstyling prior to an appearance? Is she dressing to attract Vanity Fair or Vogue or Detail? Are her hand notes aimed at getting her into Harvard?
Of course not. All this is for her peeps. Her base. Her voters. Her devotees.
And as long as we fail to recognize that, we'll mock her make-up, her 'do, scribbles, and Play Right Into Her Hands.
(photos: unattributed. Modified by Kelly Hanrahan)