analyzing norman fucking rockwell!'s cover

a thread

Norman Rockwell was an american painter who painted the "perfect america" but as he aged he discovered the place america really was behind the mask of "perfect america". here are two of his paintings before and after his epiphany.

the first is titled "freedom from want" and the second "the problem we all live with" the first painting depicts a "perfect" white family celebrating thanksgiving, while in the second photo, ruby bridges (a 6-year-old black girl) is being escorted to an all-white school (1/2)

with disgusting racial slurs written (they may be hard to see), the n-word and other hateful messages are written on the wall. this was norman rockwell's transition into his observation of true America. (2/2)

so what does this have to lana del rey? well, in the beginning her career, she expressed a "perfect america", with American-flag imagery in many of her works. but as she grew, she realized that america has a strong mask that hides worse things. hence the flag in the background.

most of the cover relates to the 2nd track, "Mariners apartment complex" the chorus perfectly illustrates the cover. you can see lana's hand reaching out to the boat that you're in.

you can also see Los Angeles on flames in the distance. in "mariners apartment complex" and "the greatest," lana references the fire. take a look at these lyrics.

so... why is the sky painted? again, she relates the cover back to norman rockwell, the famous painter she was referencing before.

also, the man on the cover that lana is posing with is duke nicholson.

end of thread! since i love nfr's cover so much, here are some fan made edits :)