Today in class the subject came up that images do not have the power to negatively affect people. I just wanted to discuss the topic more because I feel that images really do have the power to affect people’s thoughts about themselves mentally and physically in a positive and negative manner. Eating disorders are usually caused because the person has a distorted image of their body in their mind. They feel that they are not as skinny or as beautiful as they should be. Where do people get this idea of how skinny they should be and what beauty is? Obviously they do not get this image form the just our culture because he average woman weighs 140 pounds and is 5’3. They get this image of beauty from WHAT our culture values and who is positively reward for their actions. You rarely see the girl who weighs 170 pounds and is 5’3 staring in a TV show or movie normally she is tall and extremely thin. Our society grows to expect this unrealistic view of what we should look like. Saying that images can only effective them if they let you is also unrealistic. If you are constantly falling short of the idea of what beauty is to your culture it is most definitely going to affect the thoughts you have about yourself. How images could negatively affect men is for example think about the axe commercials. In this commercial the average looking man has extremely attractive women all over him; this is not reality for the average looking man. Seeing yourself fall short of the message they portray in this image could possibly hurt your ego and make you start to question your “game” or even your own image. Images have a lot of power if they didn’t have power then things like the Cross, Star of David, and peace sign would have no meaning to and you would have no idea what I was talking about. But I guarantee you can picture the image of at least one of the above symbols named which proves images do affect you and you most definitely notice them and take to heart what they mean.
This was very interesting! Exploring this topic for your essay would certainly be an interesting read! Why do you think society values these things? Because the media values it or it is just natural?
ReplyDeleteJackson asks an interesting question--did everyone just agree one day to start putting skinny women and square chinned men in advertisements? How did this definition of beauty come about?
ReplyDeleteAlso, on topic with your observations, I was at my salon (an aside: 15 years ago, it would not have been typical for a male my age to say he went to a salon) and a girl in her early teens with thick, dark, curly hair was showing a stylist a photo of Taylor Swift from a magazine and asking for "that haircut." When the stylist told her she didn't have the right hair for it, the girl started crying. Quite a scene.
Preach it sister! I completely agree with you on how the media always uses skinny women in their advertising. It's dumb. Just like Mr. Brown said, Marilyn Monroe would have been a heffer being a size 12. But I think where this originated from was the media. A few sites have said that skinny models became about when Twiggy, the british model, came out. Everyone loved her and suddenly "thin" was the new "in" (Take into consideration that this was not extensive research)
ReplyDeleteIn response to Jackson Huff: I take a very psychological approach to this issue. Naturally if we see someone positively reinforced for something we are more likely to do it. I feel like everything shapes our values and our opinions about what we should ware and how we should act. I know the media has a big influence over it but have you ever stopped and thought if they really do?? Maybe the advertisers put their models in blue jeans and a button up shirt because that is what the average American wears. So what I am trying to say is maybe we influence the media by making them put "things" in their advertisements that are things we like and are realistic to us. Food for thought maybe the average person has the control because we are the people that buy the product.
ReplyDeleteIn response to WarrenEm: I agree Twiggy came into the industry and over night everyone was trying to be thin because she received such positive feedback for her appearance. But even though Marilyn Monroe would be considered a heffer by today's standards, people still copy her iconic image. It just goes to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people try to look like Twiggy and other people try to look like Marilyn Monroe its just which appearance appeals to them more.
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