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Film Stills Cindy Sherman Analysis

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In this essay I will look at Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills discussed in A WOMAN’S 69 LOOKS by Daria Ioan (2011), the purpose of this essay will be to argue that her photography can be seen as a form of simulacra, how this effect is constituted by both the creator and the viewer, and as a result how this is an instance of “the death of the author”.
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer who, between 1977 and 1980, released upredicted and unusual photographs portraying femininity. The complete untitled film stills – in which Sherman created a mix of film culture and photography, the series consisted of 69 untitled portrayals with herself as the subject; mentioned by Ioan (2011) as “the film still”, this photographic approach has not been used by others before her. “The series deal with the baroque theme of the qui pro quo and the everlasting quest of the wandering feminine …show more content…

“… [T]he birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author” - Barthes emphasizes the idea that while the intention of the work may lie with the author, how it is perceived is in the control of the reader. According to (https://tristonrobinson.wordpress.com/tag/film-still/. ) “the viewer’s perceptions, interpretation is influenced by their exposure to Hollywood mythology and their perception of the female role in contemporary culture” – in this case Sherman as the artist “dies” and her intention becomes irrelevant.This photograph is not a self-portrait of Sherman, even though she is the physical subject. Sherman is able, through her intricate execution, to both be in her image yet completely out of it, and with this Sherman’s photography results in an instance of what Barthes (1967) refers to as the “death of the

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