By Alexa Marquis, Staff Writer, and Carol Bello, Features Editor
The revival of the Polaroid photograph was one of the most iconic elements of pop culture in 2014. They are mostly found on social media accounts of the “hipster demographic.” So what is about Polaroids that made them so revolutionary in the past year?
Polaroids don’t instantly judge the subject. Digital cameras offer no secrets and no surprises, immediately displaying their outcome, begging for instant evaluation. Polaroids make you wait. The picture is hidden and only the camera knows what it saw. Digital cameras create fabrications of reality and memory. By allowing us to get the picture we want, they allow us to create the memory we want. Polaroid cameras offer no such luxury.
Polaroid cameras get used and abused by everyone at a party. The point of the Polaroid camera isn’t to take the photos – it’s to get them developed. The experience has nothing to do with being behind the lens or in front of it – the experience lies in flipping through fresh prints, unraveling its secret adventure.
Taylor Swift, one of the most influential celebrities of 2014, increased the marketing magic of Polaroids when she released her new album in October of 2014. With every one of the 3.66 million copies of her album, 1989, purchased in the first 9 weeks of its release, were 65 different Polaroids of herself in a range of 13-print combos.
Polaroid has also won praise for its Cube HD Action Camera, a tiny cube-shaped video recorder that was made to popularize the sort of action video shooting that is now the dominion of GoPro-wearing thrill junkies. It will also successfully expand the demographic of Polaroid users.