{"id":459,"date":"2012-10-22T18:12:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T22:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/?p=459"},"modified":"2012-10-22T18:12:01","modified_gmt":"2012-10-22T22:12:01","slug":"no-good-with-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/2012\/10\/22\/no-good-with-faces\/","title":{"rendered":"No Good With Faces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before starting to read Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia<\/em> I looked up who Bellocq and Ophelia were. However, I found that reading the first sentence of the first poem helped me find a starting point for my research. I started from the painting that describes Ophelia as she \u201cdies face up, eyes and mouth open as if caught in the gasp of her last word or breath\u201d (Tretheway 3). In this passage, Tretheway describes John Millais\u2019s painting of Ophelia, a character in Shakespear\u2019s Hamlet<\/em>. It is known in Hamlet<\/em> that Ophelia\u2019s graceful time in the river is ended by her death, but this is not the case in Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

John Ernest Joseph Bellocq was a 20th<\/sup> century photographer who worked in New Orleans, known for his photography of prostitutes in the red light district. Most of his photographs were destroyed after his death, but some were found and published in a book. It was known that Bellocq would scratch off the face of the women he was photographing, \u201cthese plates are fragile\u2026showing me how easy it is to shatter this image of myself\u201d (Tretheway 42). \u00a0Although Ophelia is a prostitute, her relationship with Bellocq is unconventional. Their meeting at the hospital shows the depth of Bellocq\u2019s fascination with images that capture local life. His interest was beyond the nudity, going as far as to emphasize the other side of a prostitute\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

However, Bellocq was not the only photographer of Ophelia. The description of \u201ca doppelganger whose face I loathe\u201d perfectly captures the standard reaction to an owners mug shot (Tretheway 29). Tretheway also mentions \u201cTableau vivant\u201d which literally translates into living picture. People would dress themselves accordingly and pose without speaking or moving, and this \u00a0was a form of entertainment in the 19th<\/sup> century. It was said that this art form fused photography with painting. Tretheway describes Ophelia\u2019s strange postures, which then were accompanied by Countess\u2019s calling of \u201cTableau vivant\u201d which cued\u201cthe musical undulation of my hips, my grace, and my patience\u201d (Tretheway 14).<\/p>\n

Throughout Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia<\/em>, Opehlia is photographed frequently, and these photographs capture the many descriptive moments of her life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before starting to read Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia I looked up who Bellocq and Ophelia were. However, I found that reading the first sentence of the first poem helped me find a starting point for my research. I started from the painting that describes Ophelia as she \u201cdies face up, eyes and mouth open as if caught<\/p>\n