Analysis Of Diane Arbus 'The Brain That Wouldn T Die'

In 1970 Diane Arbus used her twin lens Rollieflex camera to capture a photo of Eddie Camel and his parents; strategically using this camera as mentioned before in the photos she took at this time for its square format, distortion of image edges, and its superiority in intense details. Carmel commonly referred to as the “Jewish giant” or “gentle Giant” was 34 years old, 8 feet tall, and a walloping 300 pounds; born with Acromegaly, a tumor on the pituitary gland that produces an excess of growth hormones.(Millett) Already knowing that his inhuman size would set him apart from everyone else, he used it as an asset; already pursuing a career in show business, circus shows , standup comedy , song recording “The good monster” , and even played a part in the film “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die”
The photo is a black and white image featuring Carmel in the center of what seems to be a working class family’s living room. He is leaning on his cane, gazing down from his extreme height above on his parents who seem like dwarfs in comparison to him .The parents facial expressions of which portray a sense of awe, wonderment, but also a bit of fear and horror. The photo gives a type of feeling that the parents are staring upon their son with a thought of “look at the monster we have created” they cannot believe that they were able to make someone so inhuman. They are confused and scared of how this could have possibly happened and see him as totally alien to what they had initially expected. This is definitely not your usual family portrait emphasized by the grainy quality and the detail Arbus was able to