I love those Lana + Timothée AI-generated images
They have simply captivated my imagination...
Surely you’ve come across this TikTok of AI-generated images of Lana Del Rey and Timothée Chalamet enjoying an intimate evening together in someone’s kitchen, dressed in what seem to be the same pajamas worn by the kid in the 2012 meme Gay Little Monkey Boy at Apple Store. If not, feast your eyes:
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In the first slide, Lana and Timmy are in the kitchen of a cozy little cottage lit with string lights. Lana is trying to get his attention by poking her fat ass out slightly against his fat ass while Timmy, handsome profile aglow with blue light, is engrossed in something on his phone. His look is pensive and distracted and you wonder— will he look up and notice her? In the next tableau, Timothée is the one with his ass poking out. It’s unclear if the pajamas are providing the extra junk, or if the AI versions of these people are built this way. Anyway, he is still on his phone. Next to him, Lana seems to have given up on getting his attention and reads a book. In the third, something beautiful happens— they face one another, and are dancing! Still no eye contact, though. Their eyes are both downcast— are they lost in the emotion of the movement, or the music? Are they shy? Is something being left unsaid? The evening continues, Timothée struggles to get off his phone. Perhaps his manager won’t stop texting, or it’s Kylie. By the end, Lana laughs at the camera, aware, finally, that they’re being watched, as she grabs Timothée from his hair and holds him over the open oven door. Is this punishment for him not getting off his phone? So much left unsaid, and this is when you realize that there’s not a single plate of food in these images.
Still, the images manage to paint a cozy scene through which you can imagine that these two have been here for hours, drinking wine—AI Lana isn’t sober— playing holiday or jazz tunes, marinating a turkey, making mashed potatoes, latticing pies. The sun’s gone down early, it’s a merry time of year. None of these realities—wine, pies, jazz— exist in the images, but it feels as if they must be happening just off screen. I’m intrigued by the way these images invite you to imagine just what they’re laughing about, dancing to, enjoying. Or why Timothee can’t pull away from his phone, what their history is, how they’re really feeling. Do you get what I’m saying? It’s like staring at an Edward Hopper painting. I’m there, but I’m not.
On an internet INUNDATED by images of intent, posted to show or tell where we’re traveling, who we hang out with, how we dress, images used as proof of a fan theory, or of a war crime, or of existence, I am finding extreme pleasure in looking at something so without perspective or reason, just a slice of a fantasy world so unknown to us (yet still so… known??????) Something that rewards looking at it for longer than five seconds. An image that makes you FEEL something. Which is more than can be said for most things!
AI-generated images are strange because they’re just the output of a prompt, and you can usually guess the prompt, more or less. I don’t know if I should go as far as to call THE PROMPT a new exercise in creative writing, but it certainly feels like a continuation of meme writing. Perhaps I am giving AI too much credit but I just felt COMPELLED to come here and post about how much I love thinking about these Lana Timmy images as a new exciting form of fantasy fan-fiction. They have done nothing but make my weekend a bit more whimsical, have given it some mystery.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you all! I got laid off in my cushy design job’s latest RIF back in October and am planning to spend the next few months working on a longer project while I have the time. I’m planning to post more here too, maybe. So more later! XoXox