Kimberly Vidal- The Dark Side of Fairytales

[Left side]-"The Dark Side of Fairytales"; [Right side]-Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153 1985

The selfie I chose to upload is of myself wearing a black dress while having my hair straighten down partially covering my face. As shown I was laying on the ground, with a bitten apple in my hand, while having someone stand right behind me. While I am on the ground I chose to have a blank stare that was inspired by and similar to Cindy Sherman’s Untitled #153 photograph in 1985. This blank stare can be interpreted in many ways, but as for my selfie it gives off a sense of fear, shock, and death. I chose the picture to be black and white because of how old fashioned fairy-tales were told in a fearful, gruesome way. Each fairy-tale had a dark side of the story which so happened to be the original story. People such as myself could not believe it.

While observing this image, most people can assume that this image is similar to the fairy-tale of Snow White where she takes a bite of the poisonous apple, falls to the ground, and instantly killed by it. Although in fairy-tales, it explains how a kiss awakens Snow White from her death, this story turned out to be different as well. It was said that the seven dwarfs enslaved Snow White before and when she was in the coffin waiting for a “true loves kiss,” the prince never came. This was the dark side of this story. In this photograph, the person in the back was the evil witch who handed me the poisonous apple causing the death of Snow White in which is lying on the ground. This demonstrates the similarity of the fairy tale being told but through its dark side.

This photograph inspired me through Cindy Sherman’s interests that included her love for old fashioned fairy tales that was not “cleaned up for kids” just yet. I found her interest in old fashioned fairy-tales interesting due to the fact that a couple years ago when I was growing up with fairy tale stories they had happy endings. From Cindy Sherman’s work, it shows how modern fairy-tales were changed to become happily ever after. Before, fairy-tales were gruesome and hideous stories that shouldn’t be told to kids. This is why Cindy Sherman pointed out how the stories were “cleaned up” in her documentary video “Cindy Sherman- Nobody’s Here But Me (1994).” For example, for Sleeping Beauty, it has been said that in the “original” story, the prince attacked her while she was asleep, raped her, and she awakens by giving birth. Each fairy-tale had a dark side.

In the Cindy Sherman Effect, many woman follow and admit to have been inspired by Cindy Sherman’s work, process and procedure of work, and hidden messages through her photographs. Many people admit that her work in the early days foreshadow the photography and imagery that we portray today. The Cindy Sherman Effect was the change in how people chose to become a different individual each day through make-up, clothing styles, photographs, and how he or she presents him/herself. This started with Cindy Sherman’s work as she “shape-shifts” to different personalities as she has done with all of her artwork. From young, old, tall, small, weird, non-weird, etc. she covers it all. What makes this even more fascinating was the fact that she enjoyed becoming a whole different person each time. She became her own model for all the photographs, which is similar to what we do today. Most of the pictures we take is of ourselves, and that is our selfies. This is how Cindy Sherman affected us. Because of her, women now use make-up and/or dress up to become a different but not so different person each day.  
http://www.artnews.com/2012/02/14/the-cindy-sherman-effect/
https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/