Painting vs. Photography Theme Analysis

Early in the novel, Miranda, an art student, makes an important distinction between painting and photography. For her, painting and drawing are living artforms that create something new rather than replicate that which already exists. She vastly prefers these artforms to photography, which she claims has a deadening effect on its subject. Notably, the novel associates Miranda primarily with drawing and Frederick Clegg, her captor, with photography. Miranda regularly attempts to draw Clegg but finds herself having a hard time. Her inability to do so suggests that there is something dead about Clegg himself which is keeping her from capturing his living essence. Meanwhile, Clegg regularly photographs Miranda, though Miranda insists that there is no artistry present in his photos. At first, Clegg’s photographs of Miranda are innocent and would only be considered suspect due to the broader circumstances. However, eventually they become more invasive, as Clegg takes nude pictures of Miranda after drugging her with chloroform. This portrayal of photography aligns with Miranda’s view that photography can have a deadening effect, as it reduces its subjects to static images, stripped of their dynamism and spirit. Indeed, by the end of the novel, Miranda is dead and all that remains of her in Clegg’s home are the pictures he keeps. The animosity the novel displays toward photography is in line with the thinking of European philosophers of the mid-20th century such as Roland Barthes, who were concerned about the role emerging technologies would play in the realms of life and art. In its association of photography with Clegg, the novel questions the long-term effects different modes of artistic representation can have on their subjects.