
Weddings and marriages are huge celebrations around the world, and the bride’s happiness and glow are crucial to most Western weddings. In other countries, marriage has reasons other than love and “happily ever after.” In impoverished nations, some cultures marry for money because they find daughters an economic burden, like in Bangladesh (Sim 1). People in Bangladesh believe men are more valuable because they bring home money, where women do not work or get educated (Sim 1). In order to rid themselves of the burden, families in Bangladesh marry their daughters young, which can start as early as age thirteen. In Western culture, it would be considered taboo to have a young girl marry so young, but some cultures find it to be a necessity. Allison Joyce, a photojournalist, pictures the victims of child marriage through their weddings and their marriages. David Sim explains Joyce’s photo essay in an article that Nasoin Akhter, a fifteen year old girl in Bangladesh, is photographed throughout her wedding to a thirty-two year old man (1). Throughout the most eye-catching details to Joyce’s photos are the colors and emotions of the bride. To the Western eye, Joyce’s photo essay shows the bride’s uncertainty and worry about losing her individuality and freedom through colors that cover the bride.

Although color may have a cultural significance in the culture of Bangladesh, Westerners may view those colors in a different light. This essay focuses on the culture of Bangladesh through the Western lens.,InInthe establishing shot of the photo essay, the main focus is on the young girl in the center of the photo. Her bright orange sari grabs the viewers focus, much like a caution sign for a construction zone (Joyce 1).  Orange is between yellow, which usually means yield, and red, which typically means stop or danger. Therefore orange is associated with danger or worry ahead, and the wait being behind oneself. The bride’s waiting is over because she will soon become a wife, but her individuality and youth will be lost soon when her life will be focused around her husband and future children. This unhopeful tone is emphasized by the bride’s extradiegetic- gaze, and facial expression (Joyce 1). Her long gaze suggests she’s looking into the future, but her pursed lips suggests uncertainty and worry. For this to be the morning of the brides wedding, she does not look like someone who is happy to get married. In addition, the two older ladies in the shot are wearing red or have some red in their saris, this could suggest that these women had already reached their end or stopping point, meaning they are married. The bride’s orange sari would then suggest her end is coming because the next color according to the color wheel is red. 

Joyce captures a nontraditional “getting ready for the wedding” photo of the child bride. In the third image of the essay, there is a close up of the bride getting her make up applied (Joyce). At first the attention is focused on her eyes, where thick layers of red and green glitter are applied. The red is a continued symbol for the end of freedom, and green, which usually means go, symbolizes freedom. The glitter starts from red at the inner corner of her eyes and moves out taking over most of her eyelid, and making it appear as if the red would continue to take over the green. This fading of color represents the transition the bride will undergo on her wedding day, where her responsibilities and duties as a wife will grow and her freedom of being a child is ending. In addition, the red is throughout her makeup, on her lips and face jewelry.  Each place the red makeup appears is a symbol of another freedom of the bride being taken away. For example, her red lipstick represents her ability to voice her opinions coming to an end. Also, her face jewelry on her forehead represents the ending of selfish thoughts, after marriage all her thoughts will be about her and her husband or her and her family. The reoccurrence of the color red is not a coincidence. The repetition points to the symbolic meaning of her losing her freedom. . In addition, Nasoin is pictured getting her makeup applied by another person. This shows that it is not the bride trying to end her childhood and mask herself, but her family and society around her, who are forcing her to grow up too fast by marrying her off young. Also, the dramatic makeup gives the illusion of her looking more mature, when in reality she is a child.   Where most Westerners would opt for natural makeup to emphasize her youth and the beauty she has as a person, the Westerners may think that this bride is having her beauty hidden by the makeup. Westerners may also think that her family is trying to hide her youth because child marriage is not accepted globally. Not only is the bride’s individuality and youth fading, but the extreme makeup hides the rest of who she is. 

The intense amount of makeup the bride wears masks her individuality.  In contrast to the bride’s bold red accents, her face appears very pale and ghost like (Joyce 17). This ghostly appearance symbolizes her individuality fading as she becomes a wife, as well as the continued worry and uncertainty she has for the future. Throughout the essay, Nasoin’s eyes have yet to be open or directed towards the viewer, and in her eyes’ debut, all the viewer can see are black holes. The viewer can feel just as lost as she is by looking into her eyes, which gives the image this uncertain and worrying tone. Her eyes become the focus of her wedding photo due to the amount of face makeup that blends her facial features together creating a white space. To Westerners, this is an extreme amount of makeup, which would make one think she is hiding something. On a bride’s day, the beginning of her happily ever after, her face would be already full of color, blushing at the thought of marrying the man she loves. The striking amount of blush on Nasoin’s cheeks tries to mimic the natural blush a bride would feel. The wedding day glow is lacking due to her feeling too young to be married. This ghostly appearance is even more prevalent in the seventeenth photo, the wedding picture. The bride is extremely pale from her makeup, and her eyes are masked by the dramatic glitter. The girl in the establishing shot and the bride look completely different, yet they are the same person. In addition, the bride and groom are covered in red and are finally pictured together. This symbolizes the end of their youth and the beginning of their marriage. She finally has her eyes open, yet the viewer feels her sadness and fear in her eyes, which causes the viewer to become lost in her gaze. 

When Westerners view Joyce’s photo essay, they see the bride’s uncertainty and worry about losing her individuality and freedom, which is enhanced through colors that cover the bride on her throughout her wedding day. The color red is a reoccurring symbol that becomes more prevalent as the photo series progresses. When the bride is first pictured, she’s wearing orange symbolizing the danger ahead, and the analogous color to orange is red which symbolizes stopping. In addition, red is prevalent throughout the bride’s wedding sari and makeup, which symbolizes the ending of her freedoms is soon to be a reality. Furthermore, the bride appears to have faded away in her background photo due to the large amount of makeup that was applied to her. Although the person applying the bride’s makeup attempted to make the bride glow, no amount of cheek stain or glitter can hide the uncertainty and worry in the bride’s eyes. Nasoin’s wedding day was quite short of a fairy tale “happily ever after,” but her story has the potential to raise awareness of the negativity behind child marriage.
