Quote:
Originally Posted by nobusmindingi
I think you just hit it on the nose, Klondike.
As I was looking at these (amazing!) pics, I was thinking -- Many/most Europeans I know have a relaxed grace about them, no matter what they're doing.
On the other hand, Americans seem so much more frenzied, with a need to be always pushing something. DeTocqueville thought it was one of the things that makes us "great." And he may be right.
But in the digital, always-on info age, that translates to a nearly manic effort to appear "sexy" or to seem to be "having fun." Consequently, when somebody poses for a photo with any kind of sexy overtone, we often get overtly "sexy" body language and facial expressions. A "come hither" look turns into an outrageous vamp; and a flirty sexiness turns into a vulgar solicitation.
As we note with so many posts around here --many of them yours, yes?-- authenticity and natural-ness have a built in "sexy" quality that can never be replicated by effort. It's like trying to dramatize drama. Can't be done.
[Steps down from the lectern  ] Anyway, it looks like these photos reflect the much more natural European grace, and an ensuing magnetic sexiness.
GREAT photos. Thanks for your efforts. |
In America, fun is like an industry. It is something that gets packaged and sold, and along with that comes all this stuff that you mentioned. Blame Madison Avenue and Hollywood for creating an image of what "fun" should be all about. "Fun" is road trips, spring break, Havasu, all night keggars and stripping games. And like a boob flash it never lasts long enough, so you have to pack every ounce of party effort you can muster into it.
Don't get me wrong - Europeans are no strangers to party mania either (Ibiza), but Kazantip for example, lasts five weeks and pics from there don't have the frenzy of spring break pics. Babes there take off their tops and relax. After a few hours, they forget they are topless. That is something you don't see in spring break pics.
The resort and vacation industry in the US is based in New York, and it IS an industry. It wouldn't surprise me to see courses on how to hold wet-T shirt contests offered at the Cornell School of Hotel Management.
...OK, well on second thought, it would surprise me. You learn the tricks of the trade after class - wink, wink, nudge, nudge....
Klondike