People say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm putting that to the test today. As much fun as normal photo analysis can be, I'm going to really test my chops and analyze a rather underappreciated form of art- weird stock photos. And I'm going to do it in one thousand words (discounting this intro, of course).
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The most obvious part of the image are the two women in the center, one being blindfolded by the other. There are apples on the table, but the blindfolded woman seems to be holding a pomegranate instead, or perhaps a tomato. Regardless of what fruit she's holding, though, it has an octopus sitting on top of it, and she seems a little... interested in the fruit/cephalopod combo, even if she can't currently see it. It seems to be a party, as there's wine glasses everywhere and ribbons off to the side.
My initial thought is that the blindfolding woman is the birthday-haver, judging by her crown and her ornate dress. Comparatively, the blindfoldee is wearing something relatively skimpy and seemingly less fancy. Neither of them can compare to the woman hidden in the mirror, though, sulking while in ordinary-looking clothes, and standing in the direction of the birthday-haver's gaze. If the birthday woman is the queen of the party, the blindfoldee is being shown dominance, and the other woman is being sneered at entirely.
What do any of these symbols mean, though? Let's start with the most obvious symbols, the fruits. Pomegranates, if that's really what she's holding, symbolize fertility, life, and beauty, but also death, power, and blood. Apples, meanwhile, are perhaps one of the most widely used foods when it comes to symbolism, ranging from the Apple of Discord in Greek Mythology to someone being "the apple of one's eye". In this case, though, I think the best meaning to use here involves apples as they relate to various mythological women- Eve, Helen, Idunna, and Gaia. While these myths are all different, they use the apple as a symbol of temptation and femininity.
The squid/octopus on the pomegranate is a bit trickier. These animals are secretive and strange, living at the bottom of the ocean and escaping predators through camouflage and ink. Through my research, though, a few similar themes did begin to emerge- the need to hide, avoiding danger; intelligence and knowledge; and subconscious threats. This could tie in not only to the obvious blindfold shielding the holder from the world around her, but also from the woman standing in the mirror, seemingly uncomfortable and being unable to blend in. Combining it with the pomegranate, and perhaps it means that there's a hidden threat in the form of a beautiful woman.
Wine is a symbol of wealth, fortune, and transformation. White wine in particular might be a symbol of purity, a somewhat laughable concept now that we've already established the hidden danger and sexual connotations of the rest of the image. In fact, I wonder if this meaning was chosen to be ironic, showing a positive drink in an uneasy context. What's the transformation here? Maybe it means the transformation from knowing to not knowing, from sight to blindness, from party to trap, from friendship to dominance and exclusion?
Mirrors are reflectors. In real life, this just means that they reflect light and show us an image of ourselves and our surroundings. Symbolically, this goes deeper. Mirrors are portrayed as truth reflectors, tools of discovery and magic, as well as portals to other worlds and other selves. They show your soul, and they show what's really going on. I believe this is the true purpose of the girl in the mirror. She reflects the true reality of the party, the uncomfortable and less-glamorous side that would otherwise be kept hidden from the audience. Where she's standing, the room looks cramped and bare, possibly even messy, and she's clearly not enjoying herself. Due to their similar hairstyles, it's tempted to say that she's actually the reflection of the blindfolder, but that woman isn't looking into any mirrors- she's looking at the audience and beyond them with a look of contempt on her face. And, beyond the screen, is the real truth of the party, shown only in the image of the mirror.
Finally, I'll break down the colors at play here. Red, like the color of the apples, pomegranate, and crown, symbolize everything from passion and lust, to aggression and danger, fitting with our previous analysis. Her dress is really more of a pink, which actually tends to symbolize love and tenderness, again adding a touch of irony to the picture. She's wearing a blue gemstone in the middle, and while blue can mean things such as tranquility and the sky, in this case I'm inclined to believe it stands for cold, sadness, and, fittingly enough, truth and the very concept of trust. The streamers, a mix of yellow and red, could be meant to enhance the joyful, exciting party atmosphere... but yellow also means deceit, cowardliness, and jealousy, making it yet another object with a dual meaning. The color gray, which is predominantly featured in the mirror, is a cold and neutral color, often representing age, but in this case likely standing for depression. Finally, the black top and blindfold represent sexuality, power, fear, evil, death, and mystery. We don't know why she's taking dominance and power here, and we don't know what the plan is, but we do know that we should be very afraid of this woman and her secret, underlying evil.
After all of that, what do I think is actually going on in the image? I believe that this image represents an interplay of power and sexuality, and the inherent danger of being lied to, forced, and shielded from the truth. It's a party, filled with delicious food and expensive wine, but the atmosphere is uneasy and needlessly fetishistic, with clear power dynamics at play and our only real glimpse of truth being the sad woman in the mirror. We're presented at first with what seems like nonsense-- random props, an awkward set up, and a general air of chaos. Nothing is organized or explained to us, and we're left to wonder what we're looking at, and why this exists, and why we can purchase it on a stock photo library for just a few bucks at most.
And, that, might be the truest meaning behind this image- confusion, deceit, chaos, and a need for power and dominance over those left in the dark. Those who are like us, and those who seek to understand the truth behind weird, surreal images found online.
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