Polaroid Propaganda

[Abishai100]

The American camera company Polaroid manufactured countless instant cameras in the 1980s and 1990s which became colloquially known as simply 'Polaroids.'

Polaroid was the company that introduced consumer audiences to the instant camera, which today has been effectively replaced by the disposable camera and the smartphone camera.

Polaroids would give you instant print-out photos of snapshots which would air-stabilize in a small amount of time and be ready for viewing.

I remember the Hollywood (USA) film "Unbreakable" (2000) which presented the story of our culture's developing social appreciation for comic book art, art that presents characters of exaggerated proportions for the purpose of celebrating the yearning for strength. In one early scene of this entertaining film, a mysterious comic book collector presents a rare print of an original comic book cover between a super-hero and a super-villain and suggests that the print represents a snapshot in time of the dynamic field of American strength fantasies.


The Greeks has Achilles, and the British Empire had King Arthur, but Americans have less individuals representing social values and more demographics-representative general social icon symbols (such as Captain America) representing social values.

Comic books can then be considered as Polaroids of American culture. Special comic book characters such as Two-Face (DC Comics), a maniacal vigilante who determines punishments at the cold flip of a coin, and Mysterio (Marvel Comics), a strange terrorist who uses illusions and confusing traps to create panic and hysteria, embody America's fascination with (capitalism-culture related) risk-assessment paranoia. It's no surprise that the colorful and fabled American college football team the Notre Dame Fightin' Irish presents as its team mascot a symbolic fortune-hunting and gold-hoarding Irish folklore imp called the Leprechaun.


Yes, Americans love consumerism, and Americans love money. Americans have found a way to create an underground culture appreciation for prosperity-themed folk tale avatars --- the comic book heroes and villains.


If you are walking down the street one day, and you realize that you just think you met a real life super-hero, perhaps fresh out of an otherwise playful and even nonsensical comic book, you might just wish you had your Polaroid on you to take a snapshot, not because you're a comic book fan, but simply because you are an American.





Instant Camera



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[Johnrap]

Plus one sir.