August 26, 2017

"There are probably few forces as capable of driving the meme space as stock photography..."

"... a source of endless, just-generic-enough, just-specific-enough photos the viewers can imprint their own values onto. The latest in this series of stock-photography memes is a photo... titled 'Disloyal Man Walking With His Girlfriend and Looking Amazed at Another Seductive Girl,' which features a scuzzy dude looking back at a woman as his girlfriend looks at him shocked and betrayed. And it’s a metaphor for … everything?"

From "The Hot New Meme Is Giving in to Your Worst Impulses" (NY Magazine).

24 comments:

David said...

The girl in red is "seductive?" She may be attractive but she is doing nothing more seductive than walk down the street. Check your sexism, Mr. Writer.

rhhardin said...

The girl needs to be blonde. Then it's an ad.

rhhardin said...

There's a lot of bad new DVDs, like three last night

Ghost in the Shell
Come and Find Me
Lucy

On the other hand there's the old friends on the table

Two Weeks Notice
Get Smart (2008)
Notting Hill
Edge of Tomorrow
etc

So it seems to be the reverse of the stock photo.

Ghost in the Shell was interesting in a lit crit way though I bailed out.
It's all CGI with no plot, and is about whether machines have souls.

Sort of a metaphor for the film itself. Whether films have plots.

SukieTawdry said...

If my husband is looking at "another seductive girl," I probably am, too.

madAsHell said...

I am the worst offender. My wife catches me, and promises I won't have a pot to piss in.

Fernandinande said...

I hate the fact that I helped drive the meme space to a complicated expanded universe by reading that garbage.

gadfly said...

The angles make it difficult, but it looks to me as if the young ladies could be sisters. If so, that would really be the guy giving in to his worst impulses and signing his death warrant at the same time.

clint said...

Red and blue dresses... the guy is clearly the American electorate.

chuck said...

Bad case of AWS, attractive woman syndrome.

Ann Althouse said...

I guess you guys don't find stock photos funny...

fivewheels said...

The best use of stock photos is the tumblr blog "Pornhub Comments on Stock Photos".

Pure gold. Truly.


Darrell said...

John-Oliver funny.
Meaning not funny at all.

wild chicken said...

There was one on Twitter today, same guy looking back at a smiling, thumbs up Trump, while Marco Rubio looks on. Sad!

gg6 said...

I agree with 'Darrell'.....and even John Oliver for the first time in my life?!?
This - or any - stock photo is NOT a 'metaphor', its a visual 'cliche' - which is essentially the best working definition of a 'stock photo'. But, yes, every cliche-filled human can 'see' just about any cliche they prefer in any stock photo. But that's a function of the dumbed-down person, not the dumbed-down photo.

Bill Peschel said...

I saw this on The Chive only yesterday, so it must be one step away from your dad putting it up on Facebook if New York just noticed.

I've seen funny, clever memes. This wasn't one of them. And seeing a dozen of the same photo with different captions doesn't make it funnier.

Wait, I just finished the "article" in between writing this. That's it? What the hell does the headline mean? That people have opinions New York hates? That must be it.

Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you ...

rehajm said...

Mr. Shutterstock is a young self made billionaire. Thats not funny.

Christopher said...

This is the kind of thing where you really had to be there. I've seen probably dozens of three-part captions for that photo on Twitter, and lots of them are hilarious.

tola'at sfarim said...

Seductive, scuzzy..... So much sexism packed into one comment

tola'at sfarim said...

Seductive, scuzzy..... So much sexism packed into one comment

MadisonMan said...

The meme I like in this series mocks a mesothelioma lawsuit. I wish I could find a link, it's awesome.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

This one is not bad...

Edmund said...

The film/video counterpart is "B roll". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItFvB0Upb8

bleh said...

Hide The Pain Harold is a personal favorite.