Large hands, laughing onlookers, a loving embrace locked with a kiss, all of which can be both seen and felt in Alfred Eisenstaedt's 'V-J Day in Times Square'. With Edith Shain, the alleged nurse scoring the lucky kiss in the photograph, having passed away in 2010, and Glenn McDuffie, the alleged young Navy veteran to ignite this raunchy kiss having passed away just three days ago, I wonder if the recreation of such spontaneous affection will ever again occur.
Nowadays, had someone grabbed a female the way McDuffie did Shain, it would be a large case of sexual assault, followed by court hearings, news articles, news reports and possible jail time and compensation. There is nothing as large as celebrating Victory over Japan in present times, though anything war-like should not be celebrated or initiated to begin with, thus there would be no reason for spontaneous kissing. Imagine, though, that most people had celebrated this way, that just like in some American movies, happiness was celebrated through grabbing the nearest seemingly attractive stranger and locking lips with them long enough for a passing photographer to stop in their path and quickly snap a good shot of it all, and send it in to Time magazine.
The entire thing just about frightens me. Had I been a nurse back in the war, the last thing that I would want would be a random man, jumping about in excitement to come up to me out of nowhere and suck out my oxygen supply. It would just terrify me. Look at the size of his hands, fourteen of his hands make up her entire height, let alone just one for her waistline. Her body is bent at an awkward position, and while Princess Diaries tries to imply romanticism with the nurse's leg kicking up in the air, I am implying that the poor nurse was fighting for air. Her hand on her dress shows that she was wildly unprepared, hence the blurriness, and the way his other arm is hooked around her neck and locks her face onto his like velcro surely indicates no mercy. This man wanted a kiss and this woman had to comply.
Imagine, then, had Shain been a hostile feminist, the great picture Eisenstaedt would have taken had she kicked McDuffie right in the groin. The way his face would have wrinkled, the way onlookers' faces would have just dropped, it would have been downright perfect. Shain's arms would then be formed in fists behind her, her face growling with anger and her foot lodged right between McDuffie's ability to be fertile. Would this picture, if this was the way I just depicted, be this famous? Perhaps it would be infamous, perhaps it would have been titled 'V-J Day Leaves Veteran Infertile after Nurse Shows Him Who is Boss.' Perhaps it would be the new symbol of feminism, rather than Geraldine Hoff Doyle posing in a 'We Can Do It!' poster.
Perspective, and point of view are two elements that can add another sphere to this photograph. Take for example the point of view of the giggling chap in the black outfit on the left, in the foreground, smirking away as he passes McDuffie and Sheen. "Oh, boy is she caught in his meat hooks! This is the best day of my life!" Or the point of view of the man behind him, in the white uniform, "Is he? Bushwa! No, oh he is! Boy the things I would do to that dame!" Or the point of view of the older woman behind the victim of amour, "Oh young man, you slay me with your display of affection! I wish old George would kiss me like that..."
It is all quite strange, how our world allows some things and denies others, and it is strange that this seemingly innocent photograph is so truly terrifying to someone with a large imagination. Perhaps this is an adorable display of affection, one I always tend to write about when all other thoughts tend to flail and come to a dead-end, and perhaps my imagination is too sinister and must stay out of lovely photographs as such. Perhaps I am a sociopath, used to isolation to the extent where spontaneous human affection as such frightens me. Either way, swoon at this display, marvel at it with delight, for it probably will not happen ever again.
References:
WW2 Civilian Slang:
http://www.oocities.org/faskew/WW2/Glossary/WW2-Civilian.htm
'Navy Vet in 'V-J Day in Times Square' Photo Dies' article:
http://time.com/25853/navy-vet-in-v-j-day-in-times-square-photo-dies/
'Sailor who kissed a nurse in famous WWII photograph dies aged 86' article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sailor-who-kissed-a-nurse-in-famous-wwii-photograph-dies-aged-86-9193528.html
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