Social Commentary

2018-11-22
19:21
Canon EOS Rebel T3
EF-S18-55mm
1/15
f/5.6
ISO 3200
45 mm focal length
No tripod

2018-11-22
19:50
Canon EOS Rebel T3
EF-S18-55mm
1/80
f/5.6
ISO 2000
48 mm focal length
No tripod

2018-11-22
19:39
Canon EOS Rebel T3
EF-S18-55mm
1/20
f/5.0
ISO 3200
18 mm focal length
No tripod

I had originally planned to base my social commentary project on the importance of the spirit of Thanksgiving. My landlord kindly invited me to her family’s Thanksgiving celebration, and I took a few photos of friendly interactions during food prep, but nothing spectacular that spoke to me particularly for my project. I was hanging around the living room listening to the conversation around the football game and chatting with the very amiable extended family, when I glanced at the TV and saw the very ending of an ad for something about a special shopping deal or something like that, I can’t quite remember. What jumped out at me was the fine-print footnote at the bottom of the screen that said “Begins at 6:00 pm except where prohibited by law.”  I wondered what that could possibly be referring to before I remembered (perhaps subconsciously suppressed knowledge) that the next day was Black Friday, and with a slight gut-wrench, that the big box stores had, in the last couple years, begun starting the Black Friday frenzy on Thanksgiving day. While this grim reminder of capitalism and consumerism taken to the Nth degree momentarily depressed me, I perked up when I realized I now had the perfect social commentary project. I briefly debated trying to wait for another Black Friday (Black Thursday?) ad to appear on the TV, and get a shot of it with the Thanksgiving/family festivities in the foreground, but decided instead to focus fully on the shopping frenzy itself. After Thanksgiving dinner and dessert, I headed out towards 24^thSt. and King Ave, having decided to take pictures at Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. I contemplated, again only briefly, taking pictures inside the stores, but saw many potential pitfalls and issues with that. So instead, I decided to take pictures of how full the parking lots were at each of the three stores—the symbolism would be strong enough. 

I would like viewers of these three pictures to keep in mind that all three were taken between 7:00 and 8:00 pm on Thanksgiving day—I had been enjoying delicious food and warm friendly company less than three hours earlier, and the stores had already been open almost half the day. The messages I hope to convey with these pictures (my thoughts and feelings during the process of doing this project) include a perverse juxtaposition of thankfulness, togetherness, family, friendship, and, dare I say it, sacredness with an over-the-top, extravagant display of consumerism and materialism. Two polar opposites that don’t even have the stroke of midnight to separate them any more, which in a sense violates the spirit of Thanksgiving even more than when Black Friday really did wait until Friday to start, not least because of all those employees working retail jobs, probably at or near minimum wage, on the most hectic and stressful day of the year for them, who had perhaps the one bright spot of this time of year (Thanksgiving dinner) snatched from them because they had to report for work at 2:00 pm on Thursday afternoon instead of merely on Friday morning like in the “good old days.” 

I think we as consumers and especially as fellow human beings should take a long hard look at the meaning and importance of holidays like Thanksgiving and how much we’re willing to let them be corrupted—the clock on Black “Friday” starts earlier and earlier each year.