Bestride the World Like a Colossus

Inspiration:‘‘Bestride the World Like a Colossus’ riffs on American iconography, but by layering these clichés and stylizing them, creates a parody of nostalgia-showing how these images are performative, not authentic memories. The women all wear the same outfits and are shown performing tasks around the car. The men, in contrast, are exuberant and self-focused, dancing and posing freely. This contrast illuminates historical gender scripts- women as workers or accessories, men as stars or performers. The painted figures appear stiff and deliberate, almost like paper cutouts or actors on a stage. This artificiality, combined with the surreal composition, suggests a critique of how culture choreographs identity and desire-especially through media, film, and advertising. The floating figures and dreamlike palette remove the scene from physical reality. It becomes a kind of cultural hallucination-where masculinity is celebrated in exaggerated dance, and femininity is choreographed into com