men_in_full (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} men_in_full) wrote,@ 2008-05-09 12:41:00 |
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| Entry tags: | photography |
Middle men - men and their torsos
We're all familiar with the infamous "headless fatty" torsos; it shouldn't be necessary to dignify them with examples. There are those where an unsuspecting person in a crowd gets snapped by a photographer. The image is cropped to remove the face and other identifying marks, leaving it looking dehumanized. Often the images emphasize some degrading or gross association with fat (like ill-fitting clothes, or "junk food," or a bizarre photographic angle), and are used to illustrate yet another "Burgeoning Obesity Epidemic" story.
Many fat people find these photo illustrations obnoxious, and for good reason. But the torso shot in and of itself doesn't have to be degrading, especially if the man is deliberately shot that way, and the treatment is respectful.
This one below is one of my favorites for its whimsy. It served as a spark for my NaNoWriMo novel last year. The image of a fat man stripping the flesh off of a fish, leaving only the bones, stayed with me to the point that I had to use him as a character.
Fabi83 has posted some self-portrait torso shots which appeal to me for several reasons. In "Opulent Fat Whatever" (below), the from-beneath camera angle makes it look like you are staring up at a cascade of flesh about to descend upon you like an avalanche. The golden-orange lighting gives the skin a warm, sensual quality.
A more typical side shot is softened by the same warm light. I like the casualness, and that the stretch marks aren't 'shopped out. It's perhaps part of the human condition that "desirable" means "stylized." In the dominant version of style, stretch marks are treated as "imperfections" to be removed. Personally, I prefer the naturalistic bits of reality that tell us this is a body, not polished marble.
"The Black One" (below) at first looks like a typical "headless fatty" shot, but it isn't. The fabric is crisp yet not stiff, with an inviting texture. The shirt fits; there's no strain on the buttons - which you will rarely see in one of the offensive media shots. Even though we don't see the man's face, his chest and body have a relaxed and comfortable appeal.
Fabi83's shots raise a question for me - are they supposed to be erotic, and if so, how is that eroticism conveyed? A deliberately erotic image is often one where the person or people follow a standard "look." We see the indicators that visually indicate "sexiness" (hair, costume, body shape, any special articles or props.)
These shots to me suggest not just the "look" of a fat man's torso (which is pretty sexy), but also suggest the *feel,* the physical, sensual and tactile experience of the body. Much of what we perceive as erotic comes in "through the eye," especially through those visual cues defined as "sexy" (which is why there are so few erotic images of fat men aimed at women - fat men are not supposed to be sexy to women, according to the "arbiters of taste.") These sensual photographs of fat men, to me, also come in "through the skin."
