For Dress
Rehearsal, Massachusetts-based photographer Blake Fitch invites girls to
play dress-up, quietly observing that time in a young woman’s life when she
becomes enamored with the idea of princesses and make-believe adventures.
Contacting family members and friends with children, as well as approaching the
parents of girls she encountered out in the world, she photographed the young
princesses in their favorite Disney costumes as they romped about the New
England landscape.
Fitch became
concerned with princesses in relation to her own four-year-old daughter, who is
now facing a media frenzy often referred to as Princess Culture, a sensation by
which young girls have been taught to idolize the heavily-marketed Disney
characters. In directing her gaze at the girls themselves, Fitch takes the time
to genuinely listen, to question the role of princess culture without
projecting any preconceptions about the phenomenon in relation to gender roles
and femininity. Hoping to capture the girls as individuals rather than
archetypal females, she encouraged them to incorporate their personal
belongings. She set each shoot in the outdoors to find moments of exploration
and courage removed from the confines of the home or domicile where female
characters are too often confined.
I really liked the
role the photographer uses the little girls and the role of princesses in a
young girls life. Where some mothers and academics insist that the princess
phase is simply a normal part of growing up, others argue that Disney
princesses and similar characters place a damaging emphasis on physical beauty,
conformity, and docility as key elements of a feminine identity.
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