The Center Cannot Hold

CenterCannotHold

At some point in the mid-1960s, we start to see non-centeredness.  This ad for Chevrolet “OK” Used Cars from 1968 is a prime example.  The green box has been added by me.

What’s at the center?  Usually, the most important information is at the center of the image.  But here we’ve got a bored kid who is leaning against one of the products that are being advertised.  The Mom is half-heartedly peeking into the window of the red car (which is halfway cut out of the picture).  Dad is fuzzified in the background doing…something.  It’s meant to be very “human,” a slice-of-life image.

It’s that fake humility again cropping up that we’ll start to see so much of.  It’s that anti-hero posturing that permeates all areas of 1960s culture.

More than anything, it’s saying:  Yes, there is a center, but the center is empty and rotten.

By Lee Wallender

Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.

Leave a comment

Exit mobile version