"FastForward" by Lauren Greenfield

"Fastforward" by Lauren Greenfield



I thought that Lauren Greenfield's web page was amazing! She captured teens in today's society perfectly in all of her photos from FastForward. It's very interesting to me how you can see the difference in the social class and way of life and almost see someones personality from just a photo that only captures a moment of that persons life.



"The young and privileged in Shanghai don’t care about politics or communism but are obsessed with MTV, Fashion TV, Gucci, and L.V. (Louis Vuitton). Milanese youth don cutting edge hip-hop fashion originated by the inner city and perfected by haute couture designers. Fourteen-year old Italian girls wear thongs deliberately hiked up over their low-riding pants and rip revealing holes in their jeans. They go out to discos on school nights and dance to American hip-hop and electronica until dawn." This was one of the parts of Lauren Greenfield's statement that really stood out to me. I didn't realize how much other countries youth's are obsessed with the same things that teens in the U.S. are. My favorite photo is of the little girl phoebe lying on the couch in her tutu at the opening of Barneys in front of all the shoes. It's just a very ironic photo.

The photos that most disturb me are of ashleigh (13) weighting herself on a scale in her bathroom with her family watching her. She's thirteen she first of all doesn't need to weighing herself at that age and what really annoys me is that her family is in the backround; which leads me to believe that they are curious of her weight and are encouraging her to worry about what she weighs, it's ridiculous. The other photo that really disturbed me was of adam (also 13) at a bar mitzvah at a whisky Go Go Bar with one of the dancers all up in his face. I'm just wondering Why a bar mitzvah is being held at a whisky? really?

All the teens in these photos are very dominant and seem as if they are the ones in control and ruling the world in a way. I think Thomas Hine might have a hard time with some of these photos because in his book teens are lost and trying to fit in. To me all the teens in these photos are giving off a very authoritative vibe and seem like they know who they are. I think Tricia Rose may have more to say about how hip hop and the images and stereotypes it creates are seen in some of these photos and how much socitey and the teens in it have changed over time.