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Alexander Canales

Professor Foster

English 102

3/11/14
Visual Analysis

Blessed Art Thou by Kate Kretz is an artwork that criticizes American
culture, more specifically the part of American culture about celebrity worshipping
and consumerism. Kates goal is to bring attention to a certain topic and get the
audience to ponder certain aspects of our society. In her artwork she targets people
who worship celebrities as if they were above all other humans and she targets
American consumers. The goal Kate is trying to achieve is to reveal the ridiculous
habit of people placing celebrities above them as upper beings and to criticize
consumers who purchase products in hopes to become upper beings like celebrities.
In the painting there are many areas of interest to support the thesis that this
painting is about celebrity worship, American culture and consumerism. The first
thing the audience probably notices about the artwork is that actress Angelina Jolie
is the main focus. Angelina Jolie is seen wearing a majestic blue dress, standing upon
golden clouds in a blue sky with rays of light beaming down from the to her. She
holds an infant in her left arm and another in her right. The children around her
appear to be from different ethnic groups and different genders. The older two
children have wings on their back similar to the white wings of an angel. Angelinas
posture looks confident and triumphant as shes about to give a speech or simply
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posing to show dominance. The children are latched to her as if she were there
Mother or guardian. Beneath the clouds are a group of elderly Caucasian women
shopping at Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart places an emphasis on the American aspect by
including the U.S. flag in the artwork. Kate chose a specific area of Wal-Mart to
include in her painting, the checkout stand, the area where all transactions take
place. Kates target audience is towards people who feel they must purchase
products to become closer to the celebrities they worship.
The artwork is about materialism and celebrity worship. Kate pulls this
message off by the careful choices she makes in her art. For example Kate chose to
place Angelina Jolie above the consumers. She is trying to say that people place
celebrities above themselves as if they were not human but a type of superior being.
The purpose of adding the different types of children around her is to show that she
is a motherly figure, full compassion, love and protection. Someone can also say that
Angelina Jolie has replaced Mary, the mother of Jesus. In statement by Van Biema
about the Mary he says that she is the woman chosen and graced by God to be the
mother of Jesus Christ (2). This statement supports the theory that Kate has
replaced Mary with Angelina Jolie to make a celebrity the ideal vision of a mother.
More details to further support that she is Marys replacement is that she is standing
on golden clouds in the sky implying shes an angel the watches and protects from
above. Also rays of light can be seen at the top casting down on Angelina, adding an
emphasis on her and trying to imply she is holy. Kate does all of this to get a
message across to the audience about celebrity worshippers. Worshippers are
different from fans of the celebrity. As Steve quotes a man that explains what the
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difference between a celebrity worshipper and a fan, Rojek (2001) observed that
celebrity worship implies triviality and superciality. He pointed out that fan
celebrity relationships involve high levels of nonreciprocal emotional dependence
wherein fans project positive feelings onto the celebrity. Giles (2003) also wrote
about fans who have a worshipful or religious quality in their admiration for
celebrities. This includes the communal nature of devotion, the reverence toward
relics, and the sense of intimacy (1358). Cleary, Kates image of Angelina Jolie as
Mary is an accurate depiction of how celebrity worshippers see their idols.
The other message in this painting is materialism which is shown by the
bottom portion of the artwork. Celebrity worshippers have a habit of being
materialistic. One might ask, What evidence links the celebrity worshiper with
those who place a high value on materialism? Pick up a popular magazine or turn
on the television and you will find a never-ending parade of famous, beautiful
people trying to sell somethingRather, envy for what celebrities have is
accompanied by admiration or worship ( Green,34-35). This relates to the bottom
portion of the artwork because celebrity worshippers will purchase items to either
feel more like the celebrity or feel closer to them. Notice how the bottom area is the
checkout stand, a popular item near the checkout stand are magazines about
celebrities.
Kates artwork Blessed Art Thou is a message about celebrity worshippers
and their materialistic needs. I agree with Kates message because I have personally
met people who worship celebrities and are more in depth with their lives then
their own.
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Works Cited
Green, Thomas, et al. "Materialism And The Tendency To Worship Celebrities."
North American Journal Of Psychology 16.1 (2014): 33-42. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

STEVER, GAYLE S. "Celebrity Worship: Critiquing A Construct." Journal Of Applied
Social Psychology 41.6 (2011): 1356-1370. Academic Search Complete. Web.
11 Mar. 2014.

Van Biema, David, et al. "Hail, Mary" Time 165.12 (2005): 60-69. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.