Fairytale Prisoner by Choice: The Photographic Eye of Melania Trump

[womanofthehills]

"Why won’t the first lady show up for her job? Why? I became obsessed with this question and eventually looked to Melania’s Twitter history for answers. I noticed that in the three-year period between June 3, 2012 and June 11, 2015 she tweeted 470 photos which she appeared to have taken herself. I examined these photographs as though they were a body of work.

Everyone has an eye, whether or not we see ourselves as photographers. What we choose to photograph and how we frame subjects always reveals a little about how we perceive the world. For someone like Melania, media-trained, controlled and cloistered, her collection of Twitter photography provides an otherwise unavailable view into the reality of her existence. Nowhere else — certainly not in interviews or public appearances — is her guard so far down.

What is that reality? She is Rapunzel with no prince and no hair, locked in a tower of her own volition, and delighted with the predictability and repetition of her own captivity.

Why not move to the White House? Let’s see."

https://medium.com//fairytale-prisoner-by-choice-the-photographic-eye-of-melania-trump-f1f7b97fff29

changed link - thanks

[Zoonart]

1. Is there a link to the photos?

Only part of this link is live.

[Bettie]

3. I copied and pasted the whole link and it took me

directly to the article.

[k8conant]

4. It's the @kate8 that interferes:

select the whole line and paste into your browser address line.

[Zoonart]

7. Thanks...

this is fascinating stuff.

[womanofthehills]

9. Thanks - Here's the link without the @kate8

https://medium.com//fairytale-prisoner-by-choice-the-photographic-eye-of-melania-trump-f1f7b97fff29

[Bettie]

2. That was really interesting

My guess is that every day she regrets the choices she's made.

However, she had to have known what he was and she still went for the money, so I have little sympathy for her.

[NurseJackie]

8. You're correct. She's NOT a dumb woman. She knew what she was doing and what she was getting into...

... I have no sympathy for her at all. She'll be fine. Her big BINGO payday is coming.

[Shell_Seas]

6. Fascinating article.

[crazycatlady]

10. great article

It seems like they're not in a happy marriage and it was before his entry into politics.

[SonofDonald]

11. Could it be that.....

She has stayed away from him because he got worse when his ego went through the roof when he was "Elected"?.

That she got so tired of the unending self importance, the preening and strutting around?.

That she wouldn't move into 1600 because she new about everything due to his constant need to brag and just flat out knew they would have to move back out pretty quickly?.

Seems plausible.

[Hortensis]

17. Yes. But until recently he was probably only somewhat

worse than what he always was. Above all it'll be her life with him that's changed. The theme of this essay aside, my best guess is that she was very satisfied with it when he spent a great deal of his time away from their apartment and her. Then came the campaign, and all of a sudden the life she signed on for was turned upside down. It's seems clear she is a private person, and probably she got all the stimulation she needed when he took her out to flash her around like the Kohinoor diamond.

That she predicted a disastrous presidency does seem awfully likely. Who knows his faults better? And she must be worrying about the effect of giant scandals on her son. In any case, I find it completely plausible that spending a lot more time with a frequently upset and extremely unkind husband, and that pack of jackals surrounding him, became intolerable a long while ago, and that's why she's been trying to stay in NY with their son. That and, as you say, separating from inevitable disaster.

[lillypaddle]

12. Interesting read nt

[mnhtnbb]

13. What an interesting essay.

The eye of the photographer really provides an insight into the person behind the camera.

Will you x post to the Photography group? I think some of them will also find this fascinating.

[Orsino]

14. Her "job" is an unpaid holdover from another era...

...when a wife was the property of her husband. Melania owes us nothing, unless it is an apology for campaigning for her husband.

One fewer corrupt Republican operative in Washington would be a good thing, except that it opened the door for Ivanka.

[lunasun]

15. Designer purses and furs . Hot photos of herself in her golden tower . No tears

[nolabear]

16. I don't pity her but those are some sad, distant, isolated photos.

I know there's every chance she is not interested in having any kind of casual shot of her taken and may lead a whole off-camera life that is very different but the fact that this is what she chose to post to the public does say something. "Here are some things." And she's either far away from them or separated from them or obscuring them. I get a profoundly lonely feeling from them. I couldn't live that life if you paid me what he's paying her.

[smirkymonkey]

18. Fascinating read.

I couldn't really tell if she was intentionally trying to portray what the writer said (isolation, protectiveness, loneliness) or if she is just an empty shell of a person and really just defines herself by the objects and people/objects around her. Is there anything there at all? Does this woman actually DO ANYTHING?

I can't imagine having that much access to anything and everything and just keeping myself locked up in an apartment/car/plane all day, every day. The woman has no life - no personality. Nothing.