Candy Cigarette By Sally Mann Analysis

The photograph, Candy Cigarette, by Sally Mann is a portrayal of children in today’s society who are all caught in different stages of life. Mann utilizes several key elements such as atmosphere, landscape, body language, and focus to emphasize the overall theme. Losing childhood innocence too soon as the developing stages of maturity are onset by the fear of the future is an idea that Mann so simply portrayed in Candy Cigarette. The young girl, who catches the viewer’s eye at first glance, is caught in between taking a step towards maturity and youthfulness while the other two children are focused on their futures. The young girl has a choice to make, and Mann leaves it up to the viewer to choose what that may be. The way she has positioned …show more content…
The young girl is wearing a white dress. The white dress, accompanied by the halo created by the lighting, is a metaphor for the child’s innocence and purity. Children at the age of the young girl are supposed to be youthful and pure, but the presence of cigarette in the young girl’s hand contradicts this metaphor. The cigarette suggests that the juvenile has turned away from the ordinary way of life for children her age, and she has turned to things much older than herself. This accompanied by the girl’s since of apathy convey to the audience that she has the feeling that she is much more mature than her physical age. This is completely different than the lives of the remaining two children. The young boy is also wearing white. The white of the young boy is pure as well, but he is further along in life so the purity and innocence he has left shows that he did not have a rebellious stage when he was younger. This cannot be said for the young girl in white. Her white is a symbol of purity, but due to her rebellious phase in life while she is maturing, the people around her could influence the purity she has left. The other young girl is wearing a dark colored dress. This, along with her physical body position, demonstrates that she is mature enough to handle the trials of life that the other two children may not be able to handle. Even though she is not as far along in life as the boy, she is obviously more set in her