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Adriana Snchez
Prof. Jeff Bain-Conkin
October 9, 2014
Rhetorical Analysis
Candy Cigarette
Smooth, youthful faces smeared with lipstick; innocent girls that carry
around oversized heels on their petite feet while long strands of pearls hang from
their necks. Girls play house, baby strollers in hand, and wedding pictures in mind.
Just like mommy. These girls use imitation as a form of observing and learning while
exploring their surroundings, but there is a type of juxtaposition or uncomfortable
sensation when viewing a minor act out adult mannerisms. There is a dark and
unsettling truth behind the innocent act of little girls playing with adult items. Sally
Mann, a photographer from the 1980s-90s, captured a mirroring of adult actions
within the innocence and youth of children in Candy Cigarette through her use of
composition, subject matter, and technique.
Candy Cigarette is a gelatin silver print image, part of Manns series
Immediate Family, taken with an 8 x 10 view camera. The series Immediate Family
includes photographs taken of her children in blossoming moments in their
development and growth in Lexington, Virginia, and Candy Cigarette features one of
Manns daughters as the main figure or subject matter. Candy Cigarettes
composition consists of a singular figure, being the focal point of the photograph,
placed off-center and she is surrounded by another figure in the foreground as well
as the background. Manns photograph is in black and white as a way to display a
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realistic and almost documented characteristic of the scene. The black and white
enhances the crudeness, rawness, and reality of this girls moment. The photograph
seems to display how the photographer caught the girl in an instant or moment in
time; this is also shown by the way the girl is in a nonchalant, slouched pose with
her arms crossed and one of them has a candy cigarette rested upon her fingers. As
the main girl is in a three quarter lax pose, a singular and predominant light source
indulges her whole upper body in a white tone as a form of contrast and hierarchy.
The photographer kept her in white light to show that she is the main subject matter
of the composition and the most important depiction in the scene. This same
purpose is displayed in how the foreground remained in focus while the other
figures are out of focus and remained blurred into the background. The composition
is one of the reasons why the photograph is captivating and different from other
black and white documentary photography.
Even though the overall composition is extremely important, the main figure,
or subject matter, deals with the heavy and deep symbolism of the photograph. As
previously mentioned, the main focus is Manns daughter in a relaxed pose with an
aloof expression plastered across her face. She stares directly into the camera lens
with a blas and defiant air; she seems self-aware and mature as she portrays the
act of a young woman in her late twenties. The cigarette is actually a candy cigarette,
but at first glance it emulates the function, aesthetics, and connotation of a real
cigarette. The cigarette has always been known as a trend among the adult, work
world, and the icon of it presented in such youthful hands creates contradiction.
With the cigarette being candy, it becomes a play of what is socially acceptable and
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truly uncomfortable. Another factor of the subject matter is that the girl wore a
white dress to parallel purity and youth while it opposes her mannerism and stare.
White usually indicates purity, innocence, and a clean nature, which indeed clashes
with the connotation of a dirty cigarette. Her delicate frame and tousled hair add a
reference to her childlike being in contrast to the dissatisfaction shown. Her watch
and body placement shows the hardships and obstacles an adult goes through, even
though she has not passed by any of those situations. The photographer chose to
capture the subject matter in close proximity to show all of the aspects of her main
figure; if it were farther away, the details and figures would not be as effective.
In addition to the composition and subject matter, Candy Cigarettes medium
and setting make Manns photograph one of the most iconic pictures of the decade.
The picture was taken with a 8-by-10 film camera, and the photographer Alec Soth
stated, One of the qualities of this camera is that because you are under a dark
cloth, [the subjects] dont see you and they dont see you looking right into their
eyes. . . . They become less self-conscious, in a strange way, than if Im holding a
camera to my face. Many photographers use this camera to catch the image because
its use of light and ambience documents the subject in a dynamic and deeper
manner. Mann used this camera to capture her own daughter in her Virginia
hometown; this exhibited the close correlation between her own family and
upbringing to the upbringing portrayed in Candy Cigarette. Manns decision to use
her own daughter as the controversial and rebellious subject has been widely
criticized, but her decision to include her own family is ingenious to a degree where
she documented her childs development while retaining a clear message. After
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capturing the serendipitous moment, Mann printed the photograph as a gelatin
silver print, which enhanced the overall aesthetic and flow of the picture. This
method is known for its smooth surface, permanence, and variations in tone. The
print gave depth and profoundness to the renderings in black and white two-
dimensional print. Sally Mann completely captured the essence of defiance and
accelerated development into the real world.
There is a reason why Sally Mann is one of the most famous photographers f
the late 20
th
century. She captures moments in time through her compositions,
techniques, subject matter, and documentary genre. She is able to convey messages
through visual media without the use of direct words or symbols in an obvious
matter; her subject matter is full of contrasts, juxtaposition, and raw imagery that
aid her pictorial messages. Candy Cigarette specifically showed Manns dominion of
all of these aspects and her effectiveness in her own judgment. Every decision Mann
took to execute the still moment of her daughter, cigarette in hand, blurred
environment, and many others helped show the mirroring and reflection of adult
concerns and tribulations onto the youth and children. The whole series Immediate
Family shows Sally Manns incredible skill at capturing the essence of documentary
genre photography. I highly recommend all of her other work, which gave rise to the
reputation she has sustained throughout the ages.