The Ramsey Family Photo
Christmas Card Family Portrait — search web for image
With JonBenet Ramsey being a little “beauty queen” competing in pageants and center of her mother’s eye, you can’t help but wonder if Burke felt left out of the family. We can only turn to photos to see if there is any evidence of this.
When you look at this family photo of the Ramseys, it’s startling to me.
It says so much.
Who is the center of this photo? It’s Patsy. Not JonBenet or Burke–no, its her!
Worse, look at little Burke. He is literally put in the back–out of the way! It’s heart-breaking that his mom and dad could do this. Usually children are the star of family photos–the prize of the family, their pride and joy. But that’s missing here, sadly.
When I look at Patsy Ramsey, I see a woman who lived in fantasy. She created images in her head that she wanted to be reality and she tried to create reality around these visions. What reality was, however, was very different. I suspect she pushed reality away for her fantasies.
John Ramsey is pulling JonBenet close. Why didn’t he put his arm around Burke then, too?
Do you notice how JonBenet’s foot is turned awkwardly away? That’s a sign of discomfort–a pulling away. You can even see her dress is crinkled because of her pulling-away motion! And her hand is curled slightly, not relaxed. There is tension there.
When I look at JonBenet in the videos of her, I do not see a child who loves the beauty queen life. I see a girl doing what she’s told–smiling, not because its genuinely felt, but because she was told to.
Of course, it is possible the photographer of this photo made a horrible suggestion to put Burke in the back. But with all we know, Burke was sidelined when JonBenet became her mother’s “doll”.
Such a sad, sad story.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e3b9d06c75741c807e168d19065a07831e18052b4505ba27b82c082163e877b9.jpg
I like the short skirt, featuring “the legs,” which aren’t to be out-done by the huge honking cross. Man, that’s a HONKER. That’s a Pope sized cross! See? I also could not help to notice that not only does her father have his arm around her waist, but you can see that HIS left hand is clasped around her left thigh. …and what’s up with mommy’s hairdo? Isn’t she too old to be shooting for the Polly Pockets look?
And poor Burke is making an attention-starved “look at me” face while wearing ill-fitting clothes (shirt and sweater too big). He is definitely not an important family member.
What I see in Burke’s position is he is leaning in, trying to be included.
Also the expression on Burke’s face. It says a lot.
The choice of the cross on Patsy is interesting to me. She wants everyone to know she has a spiritual connection. Burke is on his toes.. wants to be included or noticed.
This piqued my curiosity so much, I went to look at other family pics. Look at this one from a year after Jon Benet died. Don’t the parents seem to be shielding and protecting Burke? http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2012/08/12/44/2c/slideshow_627894_cddm7p3d.jpg
When I see this picture I can’t help but think things turned out exactly how Burke wanted them.
The strained smile on John’s face is indicative of the force he’s using to restrain a squirming or unhappy child; but children JonBenet’s age don’t want to pose in photos when there are more interesting things to do; perhaps this is not the first attempt. Burke appears to convey his willingness to let this be the last attempt, also. Only Patsy truly enjoys the “perfection” of the setting.
Oh for God’s sake. Any narrative can be slapped on any photo if a person looks hard enough to see what they want to. This is ridiculous.
Renee can you look at Nick Hillary? – latest dateline.
I bet this picture was taken by Patsy using the camera’s timer on a tri-pod. This was not the only take. There were probably many. John was holding onto a squirming JonBenet and Burke was put out of the way so perfect seeking mom could pose after setting the camera. Patsy was a control freak so she was the one who was in charge of this photo session.