Inappropriate Screenshots

Inappropriate Screenshots isolates single moments from the first two seasons of the animated children's show Justice League, removing the context of the scene and focusing solely on a single image. Without context, the viewer is forced to apply a narrative to the scene, and these narratives are often sexual, sometimes funny, and sometimes violent. Images in film, television and other forms of media have provided a visual language of rape culture, the male gaze, homo- and hetero-eroticism and “normal” and “abnormal” social practices, and viewers force these pre-defined narratives onto the images. A man holding another man—even if it’s Superman and Martian Manhunter—provides the context of romantic homoerotic intimacy where none exists, but previously-established visual language makes us apply this narrative, no matter who the participants are.