Rhetorical Analysis -- Visual Art: The Kodak Fiend

"The Kodak Fiend", by John Septimus Sears, on display in the BYU Museum of Art's "American Dreams" exhibit

This piece of art is from near the turn of the 20th Century, spawning probably from scandals involving George Eastman's Kodak Brownie, a very compact (for its time) camera that resulted in a string of voyeuristic photo shooting, especially at beaches. The phenomenon affected even such well-known figures as the newly elected Theodore Roosevelt, and became so troubling that Kodaks were generally banned from beach resorts, and even the Washington Monument. This event resulted eventually in a comic photo sequence published by Underwood and Underwood, "Kodak fiend", a 1900 film What the Bathing Girls Did to the Kodak Fiend, an entry in Irwin L. Gordon's 1914 biographical dictionary "Who Was Who 5000 B.C. to Date" on George Eastman, and (among many other things) a poem in the Century Magazine in 1894, also entitled "The Kodak Fiend":

Oh, doan' go out, 'Lias, doan' go out,
For de kodak fiend he 's all about;

You know yo' features mighty plain,
An' he haunt de street an' de meader-lane;

He sets in de kyar w'en de kyar goes by,
An' de railroad one, he 's mighty sly;

He doan' care w'eder you clean or not,
An' he 'll take yo' rags right on de spot.

Ef he do it now wid yo' 'lasses face,
I tell you, 'Lias, you 'll be 'n disgrace.

No, doan' go out, 'Lias, doan' go out,
For de kodak fiend he 's all about;

He come down hyar de oder day,
An' he tuk dis shanty w'en I 's away;

An' he drove in front de goats an' geese,
An' de ole lame sheep, wid his thick black fleece;

De hats in de window an' rags he got,
Wid his hoodoo gun, f'om de meader-lot.

Oh, de kodak fiend, he 's sly an' mean,
An' you can't go out near his machine,

Or he 'll take you down wid yo' kinked-up hair,
An' yo' dirty clothes, and yo' feet all bare.

He 's got de meader, de bridge an' stream,
An' de boss's mule an' d' ole ox-team;

An' I doan' now reckon a single spot
Dat he has n't look' for, an' has n't got.

W'en yo' Uncle Mose' rode on de mule,
An' brought de chil'en home f'om school, —

Wid six 'pon de small mule's holler back, —
De kodak fiend went 'long his track,

An' just 's dey reached de ole stone wall,
He sot 'is gun, an' he tuk dem all;

An' I hear he call his hoodooed thing
"De School-Out, Mule-Back Blackberry String."

So I tell you, 'Lias, 't ain't safe any more
For 'spect'ble folks to go out-door;

'Nless dey go in de edge of night,
W'en de sun an' de gun is out o' sight.

The Kodak Brownie was extremely successful, and by the year 1898, Kodak had sold about 1.5 million cameras (Answers.com).

This particular sculpture, cast by John Septimus Sears, captured the popular image of a particular photographer who became internationally known for his streak of contemporary crime. Sears was a comic strip writer, and so this may be looked at as something of a political cartoon.

This statue presents a quick, almost leprechaunish figure, highlighting the speed and convenience of the camera. Most of the draw of the art is obviously along the lines of pathos, although the title "Kodak Fiend" called upon the ethos of the recent scandal and phenomenon. The statue is plenty sufficient, as the simplicity of the statement is the statement itself. Its miniature size reminds the audience of the size of the camera, and the character's elvish proportions give a feeling of "magic" and ease to the camera, which is also a pathological appeal.

Author's word count: 290