"When you're modeling you're actually acting for the camera and the photographer. It's more fun, too because there are no lines to memorize"
About this Quote
Modeling gets framed as pure looks, but Margolis smuggles in a quieter truth: the job is performance, just stripped down to its most marketable parts. By calling it "actually acting", she’s pushing back against the idea that models are passive mannequins. The intent is defensive and elevating at once: don’t dismiss this as standing there; I’m making choices, selling a mood, collaborating with a lens.
The subtext is about power and constraint. Acting has dialogue, character backstory, and often a director who shepherds meaning. Modeling has the opposite problem: you’re asked to generate narrative from almost nothing, then surrender authorship to the photographer, editor, brand, and audience. Her phrasing, "for the camera and the photographer", is telling. The performance is not for a live crowd; it’s for a machine and the person operating it. That’s intimacy and surveillance rolled together, a reminder that the "viewer" is mediated and that approval is immediate, visual, and ruthless.
The line about "no lines to memorize" lands as breezy, but it’s also a cultural tell from an era when modeling was treated as glamorous work that didn’t deserve the word "work". She flips that stereotype with a wink: sure, no script, but you still have to hit marks, convey emotion on command, and communicate fluency in a brand’s fantasy. The fun she points to is real, yet it’s the fun of improvising inside a tight frame.
The subtext is about power and constraint. Acting has dialogue, character backstory, and often a director who shepherds meaning. Modeling has the opposite problem: you’re asked to generate narrative from almost nothing, then surrender authorship to the photographer, editor, brand, and audience. Her phrasing, "for the camera and the photographer", is telling. The performance is not for a live crowd; it’s for a machine and the person operating it. That’s intimacy and surveillance rolled together, a reminder that the "viewer" is mediated and that approval is immediate, visual, and ruthless.
The line about "no lines to memorize" lands as breezy, but it’s also a cultural tell from an era when modeling was treated as glamorous work that didn’t deserve the word "work". She flips that stereotype with a wink: sure, no script, but you still have to hit marks, convey emotion on command, and communicate fluency in a brand’s fantasy. The fun she points to is real, yet it’s the fun of improvising inside a tight frame.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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