Cindy Sherman's Unfinished Stories
The TikTok Girlie before TikTok Girlies
“I suppose unconsciously, or semiconsciously at bet, I was wrestling with some sort of turmoil of my own about understanding women. The characters weren’t dummies; they weren’t just airhead actresses. They were women struggling with something, but I didn’t know what. The clothes make them seem a certain way, but then, you look at their expression, however slight it may be, and wonder if maybe ‘they’ are not what the clothes are communicating. I wasn’t working with a raised ‘awareness’, but I definitely felt that the characters are questioning something – perhaps being forced into a certain role. At the same time, those roles are in film: the women aren’t being lifelike; they are acting. There are so many levels of artifice. I like that whole jumble of ambiguity.”- Cindy Sherman
When I used to go on social media, my favorite accounts were character accounts. I don’t necessarily mean cosplay, though I liked those, I mean the ones where people would create original characters and content. Among my favorites was Maris Jones. Maris recreates vintage worlds with, bafflingly, paper. There is something so fascinating and unique about the videos and photo ops she’s able to create.
While I cannot honestly say anyone touches Maris in originality and style, there are other social media stars who create narratives. Yet, this ability to tell stories isn’t unique to our social media age. In fact, nearly all of these creators are the the essential progeny of Cindy Sherman. She even has an Instagram. Hell, she even worked with Marc Jacobs recently.
For over four decades now, Cindy Sherman has been placing herself as characters in front of the camera, telling stories while simultaneously leaving many stories untold. I once watch a YouTuber who described their approach to dressing as ‘seeking a character.’ It’s as if Cindy Sherman has been echoing into our social media world since the 70s.
“I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character.” - Cindy Sherman [source]
The fact that Cindy is still creating today, and still as relevant as ever, speaks to her ingenuity. Born on January 19th 1954 (one day after my birthday!) in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, though she grew up in Long Island. She originally majored in painting before switching to photography, and used thrift store finds to create characters. Her first works include the controversial Bus Riders, often criticized for her use of black face. I’m not here to defend her, I find the black face uncomfortable even if it was done in 1976.
But it is her Untitle Film Stills that catapulted her to fame and still largely define her work to this day. Started in 1977, Cindy Sherman’s photos feel like snapshots of films both familiar and new, leaving us with the task of filling in the story. I find often when I look at them, a story forms in my head.
In looking over them for this post, I was reminded of the film Wanda. Filmed in 1970, the film was written, directed, and starred Barbara Loden. I learned of it from the book Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Lester. I would reference it more and study out the connection I made in my head, but I lent the book out and still haven’t gotten it.
Wanda was inspired by a newspaper article Barbara Loden saw. It was also inspired by the French New Wave film Breathless, which I watched right before watching Wanda. The article featured a woman who was sent to prison for twenty years for robbing a bank with her husband, a sentencing that led her to thank the judge and jury. This struck Barbara Loden as it does me. I’m equally fascinated by this woman, and how she would come to be personified in Wanda.
It was filmed outside of Philadelphia. I know the area it was filmed in, so as I gasped while watching, I realized I was rooting myself in this story. Wanda and her husband divorce in the beginning of the film, and soon we find her wrapped up with a dangerous and abusive man. He tares her down, treats her terribly, and coaxes her into a life of crime with him, but she stays with him.
The ending of Wanda was what stuck out to me the most. It’s a quiet but alarming movie. She’s broken, torn, having run off from nearly being raped, and then suddenly thrown into the cycle again. We see in the end that there is no happy ending for Wanda, because she will not seek it out. She will slide into the life of someone else, clinging to them. She lacks agency, she’s passive, the perfect victim.
I get the spirit of Wanda in every one of these photos, a sense that the women Cindy is acting out are no different, that something is happening to them and they cannot stop it. Everything is foreboding.
There’s something so delicious about sad girl stories, isn’t there? The 2020 book world was rocked by the Hot Sad Girl Book phenomenon brought on in part by the hit adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People (which, oddly, I still haven’t seen). I have my fair share of literary Sad Girl Books, and my mixed opinions on them. Yet, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that the Sad Girl Book isn’t going away anytime soon. I don’t think it’ll ever go away. We may change the name (unhinged, hot girl, thought daughter… you get it), but we’ll always want to see stories of women that are struggling. We’ll always want to see some of our own suffering in the form of a pretty woman on the screen or in ink.
I’ve been listening to Lana Del Rey on repeat, arguably the queen of Sad Girls in the music business. I’m late to the Lana game because when Born to Die came out I discovered Electra Heart by Marina and the Diamonds and was consumed by it. It remains, to this day, one of my all time favorite albums if not my all time favorite album. Electra Heart, like Lana much of Lana’s work, is a concept album following a sad 1960s Valley of the Dolls inspired woman who is a heartbreaker but also deeply heartbroken. She sings in Marina’s operatic voice of how she doesn’t ‘want to know’ about how the man she loves has never love her back, as she ‘can’t let [him] go.’ She just wants to be perfect, and her failure is too difficult for her to face.
I find myself singing Electra Heart as I look at Sherman’s photography. What does it say of Cindy Sherman’s work that I can see so many things all at once? Lana Del Rey, Marina and the Diamonds, Wanda, Sally Rooney… It’s all here.
Cindy Sherman’s work is nestled deep in this never-ending narrative. It’s sometimes comedic, sometimes tragic, often alarming. While never directly confronting misogyny, we get the sense that she’s ever aware of the world she lives in and the suffering of her fellow women. She is the voyeur, stepping into the role much like Barbara Loden did in Wanda.
Today I want to do something different. I want to focus on the art and let it speak for itself.
Part of this is because I’m a storyteller, and I write short stories frequently. Art has always been a huge source of inspiration for me when it comes to short stories, but this is especially so with Cindy Sherman. Storytelling is one of the greatest acts of humanity, so tell yourself a story. You can share it here, or keep it to yourself. You can view this as writing prompts and even make a new substack post for all I care (but I do care and please share if you do). Or you can share your opinions on the works of Cindy Sherman, but I want us to focus on the work here.
Finish her unfinished stories.
Tell me a story.
Totally dug this...turned me on to Maris...thanks!
i absolutely loved this! marina & the diamonds and lana del rey are two of my favorite artists! the electra heart persona will always be iconic ♡ and definitely gonna check out cindy sherman’s work!