“We live in an empire ruled not by kings or even presidents, but by images. The tight buns, the perfect skin, the firm breasts, the long, muscled legs, the bulgeless, sagless bodies are everywhere. Beautiful women, everywhere, telling the rest of us how to stand, how to swing our hair, how slim we must be. Actually, all of this flawless beauty is the product of illusion, generated with body doubles, computers, artful retouching.” (Bordo)
(Bordo, Susan. “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body.” Ways of Reading. Eds. David
Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. 151-68.)
Bordo hit the nail on the head with this quote. Society doesn’t care about what is going on in the world. It is too involved with images and fitting in with everyone else. Everyday we are consumed with advertising and subliminal messages in magazine ads, billboards, and TV shows on how we should look and act. Society displays a perfect image of a woman with the perfect body, skin, hair, clothes etc. Everyday we are faced with these images that subconsciously take a toll on us. We are brainwashed with these images that we eventually try to imitate them. Usually this just leads to women trying to copy a certain style or get the hottest haircut. Sometimes unfortunately it can lead to negative consequences. Some women take it to the extreme and can hurt themselves. Eating disorders develop in women who take the idea of being skinny and looking like models very seriously. What women do not understand is that even the models have some work done on their photographs. There is no such thing as a “perfect” model or body. Women are constantly striving toward this unattainable goal and can spend their entire lives trying to obtain it.
I completely agree with you. Society is way too obsessed with image. I especially like what you said about being "consumed with advertising." In today's image centered society, it has almost become impossible to live a life not centered around looks. Every television show and magazine that we view shows the beautiful people coming out on top. In reality though it is not looks at all that promotes success. In your response you talk mostly about how women take their physical image to the extreme and react with eating disorders. Why do you think that it is mostly women that are pressured so far as to starve themselves? Why do you think it is women that are more image conscious than men? How do you think this image centered drive affects males if it does at all? Why do you think it is women that are more image conscious than men?
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everything you've stated. Society has placed so much pressure on individuals to display the "perfect" image, that more important things, such as global issues, continue to go unnoticed. Everyone seems more concerned about having the best haircut, cutest shoes, coolest wardrobe, and most flashy house or car. Our society tends to judge individuals to severely and quickly based on appearance and this stereotypical outlook has its consequences. Now with the media continually spreading images of the "picture perfect" celebrities on magazines, billboards, and commercials, everyone feels the pressure to look just as outstanding. For instance as you mentioned, girls will strave themselves in order to look like their favorite celebrites and fit into the "coolest" clothing. Overall, our society is way to involved in image and should focus more on global or enviornmental issues.
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