A Retro Gallery

by blogSpotter
Welcome to my pop culture photo gallery. These are four favorite, iconic images from the 1960’s (Although the Hey Jude album cover might technically qualify as 1970). I’m in my mid-50’s and probably trapped in a time warp of decades past. But as I look with weary boredom at our boxy, blandified, silver-gray Twitter/Tweet world I long for a past where we were heroically bold and beautiful. Let me share my 4 objets d'art and say why I like each. There may be some critical remarks that contrast these images to the world of 2012...

Marilyn, the Last Sitting
This picture was taken by Bert Stern in June 1962. It captures "latter day" Marilyn who was probably more grounded by life events at this point. She was trying to project sexuality for the photographer but sadness and an inner light came through instead. To people who think that Marilyn consisted mostly of blonde hair and red lips, you've missed the essentials completely. Nobody has captured her essence since her passing... a beautiful soul is difficult to mimic cosmetically.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Movie
This movie about the 1880 outlaws was primarily a work of fiction, featuring two of the most fabulous actors in their prime -- created by an "outlaw" pop culture which was also arguably in its late-60's prime. The ultimate cool of this pairing is hard to describe -- it's the intersection of machismo, humor and bromance. If I had to think of a modern comparison I might summon Robert Downey and Jude Law in the Sherlock Holmes series. But it's not the same -- the moment has lost some of its historically-based magic.

The Beatles, Hey Jude album cover
I absolutely love this picture, taken shortly before the Beatles disbanded. In their early 30's, they weren't trying to fit a marketing image or be cute in any way. They were counterculture heroes making a quiet transition from the day-glo uniforms of Sergeant Pepper or the hippie nehru jackets worn for an Indian guru. Their new look in this picture is one that is timelessly awesome, unselfconscious and a little bit Ralph Waldo Emerson. I challenge any one of us and three friends to look this iconoclastically good.

Pontiac GTO, 1969
Who said I can't mix in some apples with my oranges? I think that 1968-1969 was the pinnacle of American car style. As I look at the current econo-boxes that we drive in silver and black, I long for the days when cars had style and energy. Cars of today have the excitement of a kitchen appliance or a toaster oven. Yes -- they are safe, ecological and have On-Star. They also will bore the socks of someone like me who remembers the bad old days.

There is my gallery, very briefly. It could really have a thousand more pictures -- I left out the Rolling Stones and Olds Cutlass. If you're under 30, you'd probably beg to differ, you might even suggest that I didn't finish my prune danish this morning. What about Justin Beiber, One Direction, Ford Focus and Gwen Stefani? Well, they all seem kind of derivative next to the awesome originals from that awesome decade that inspired all of it. But it is probably a matter of age and vantage point. I will finish the prune danish, and continue to revere the images above.
© 2012 blogSpotter