Depoliticizing Spiritual Photography

            Here is a chicken nugget that looks like Abraham Lincoln.  Although it was not quite as successful as the Virgin Mary grilled cheese in terms of selling price, it is also a spin off of spirit photography - now manipulated for national pride and political purposes.  Mythologies by Roland Barthes is a collection of essays that examines the importance of culture in the creation of modern myths.  Photography, he explains, achieves mythical status only once “it has removed from things their human meaning” and “purifies them, […] [giving] them a natural and eternal justification” (Barthes Mythologies 112-113).  Spirit photography is a great example of mythical photography as it desperately seeks to make something so unnatural as spiritual entities appear natural.  This photograph of Abraham Lincoln as a chicken nugget seems natural and playful – completely done out of chance.  However, Barthes explains that one of the most important things in analyzing an image is the ability to make the distinction between what appears so natural and its deeper political meaning.  As Barthes explains, the more powerful a myth, the more natural it appears and – at the same time - the more “brutally” political it appears when addressed in a specific context (Ibid 144).  In this case, the context that makes the political undertones so obvious is the fact that this photo was published online for everyone to see. Previously, only great historical icons such as the Virgin Mary and Jesus had made “returns” on pieces of food.  By placing Abraham Lincoln in the same category, the photograph is trying to make a statement that our president is on the same level as such iconized historic figures.  This nation, therefore, is led by some of the most powerful people to ever grace this planet. This photograph makes something appear so natural – a simple chicken nugget – as an attempt to make such a powerful political message (basically that America is the greatest country on Earth).

            A further analysis of this photograph reveals one last idea: people see what they want to see. Part of the way that things appear so natural is due to the fact that the spectators already have in their mind an idea, and use these images as backing for that idea.  For example, what would the reaction be if I told everyone that a potato chip looked like my dead grandfather? Would everyone still assume that he was trying to communicate his existence to me? I seriously doubt it. Because my grandfather serves no purpose in executing a broader goal or helping to create a group mentality – in the case of religion or national pride – they will not believe I can see my grandfather.  In fact, their reaction would most likely be to tell me I’m crazy, eat the chip, and then never think about it or my grandfather again. Call me crazy, but it never would have crossed my mind that the Virgin Mary or Abraham Lincoln were trying to communicate with me and I would have just eaten the grilled cheese and chicken nugget. I guess I am the weird one.

Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1980. Print.

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Trans. Annette Lavers. New York: The Noonday Press, 1957. Print.

Gunning, Tom. "Phantom Images and Modern Manifestations." N.p., n.d. Web.