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| In August 1945, Japan surrendered to the United States, ending World War II. Americans flooded New York City’s Times Square in celebration. Among those present was Life magazine photographer, Alfred Eisenstadt, who snapped the now famous WWII photo of a sailor unreservedly kissing a nurse. Unfortunately, Eisenstadt was never able to record their names and the true identities of the sailor and nurse will remain unknown. Still, the couple in Eisenstadt's "World War II Kiss" are widely recognized as the epitome of heterosexual romance and passion. | In striking similarity to the WWII Kiss photo, the Navy
Gay
Kiss is also one of the first and most famous gay ads. In addition to
being published in Interview magazine, the Diesel ad also ran in
multiple high fashion magazines and became widely reconized in the gay
press. Photographed by David Lachapelle for Diesel Jeans in 1994, this
photograph evoked the same patriotism, excitement, and passion as
Eisenstadt’s photo fifty years earlier. The scene, much like the original WWII photo, is filled with celebrating spectators, soldiers, and nurses. Also like Eidenstadt’s original, the mood is meant to be wholesomely ecstatic, with the photograph acting as a candid snippet of a jubilant moment in time, rather than a staged and posed photograph of knowing subjects. The two male models in the Lachapelle photo are real-life former couple Bob and Rod Jackson-Paris. Although both men are dressed as sailors, there is a clear indication that the man on the left is the more “feminine” one in the relationship. Holding a large bouquet of flowers in his right hand, he allows himself to be swung downward in a passionate kiss, just as the nurse in Eisenstadt’s WWII photo did. His “manly” partner, on the other hand, stands with a broad back and bulging triceps, clearly bending his more submissive partner into the kiss. Like Zavella writes, the man on the right is seen as the more authoritative figure. |
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Image Credit:
Brand: Diesel Jeans Subjects: Rod Jackson-Paris and Bob Jackson-Paris San Francisco, 1994 © David Lachapelle |