I like the contrast between the three characters at the back and the movie poster. The reality is that they are "people watching". In the end they become observers of life's movie, a link I see with the movie poster. The movie star looks out of the picture in to another world we are not party to,and it is a longing look...where maybe he is not so public. Phil sees consumerism, but I see "celebrity" vs the normal in life, and man's desperate need to watch others....I'm off to watch a movie ;-) K
****This is a remarkable image, Jen, because it challenges the viewer's perception to determine what is real and what is not and it prods us into even deeper thoughts about the nature of this holiday. I was certain that the man at right was "real" until I studied the image for a moment and suddenly realized that you have made a photo of another photograph here. The mall behind him adds another layer of incongruity -- this time via scale. The people in the background are small and real. The subject of the picture is large and not real. In terms of social commentary, you question the commercialism that pervades the holiday season itself. It makes us think about how businesses have moved past the religious basis of this holiday and built a new holiday upon the old, one based on economics, instead of faith. The glittering mall that dwarfs these people is as deceptive in its way, as the illusion of the man is at right. Those tiny people represent all of us, Jen -- observing a religious holiday in that great temple of consumerism, the Mall.