tjvagabond004 (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tjvagabond004) wrote,@ 2009-02-12 20:44:00 |
|
"Beauty"
I think it’s amazing how frequently conceptions of ‘beauty’ or ‘normalcy’ are based on fabrications and fictions (yes I like alliteration). Not just in the world of fashion and ascetics but also in our general world view about how society and people operate. How often does it happen where some impressionable youth mistake something satirical for reality and try to impersonate it? Or even worst, internalize it and curse themselves for not being able to embody something that isn’t real.
It’s worth mentioning that the part I found most striking was the part where they used Photoshop on the image and changed the physical construct of her body. To me that clearly drove home the point that there are some things that no matter how hard you strive to embody, you can’t because it isn’t based on reality. It goes beyond the way that people look and also into the way that people act.
I’ve seen it a few times where the kids I work with see a character (comic, cartoon etc) that isn’t real and for whatever reasons begin to impersonate idiosyncrasies that aren’t their own. To an extent I don’t’ think it’s necessarily a bad thing, partly it’s just connected to growing up and tying out different personas and seeing what fits you as a person. The tragedy comes in once a person starts to loose the distinction between what’s uniquely their own and what’s adopted.
Two examples:
1) When I was little I used to read Calvin and Hobbes a lot (a great comic which actually helped me learn how to read when I was growing up). I always knew it was funny (although I didn’t always understand why) and so I began to parrot comments they would make in the strip to see if I could invoke the same kind of response (I never really did and thankfully I grew out of that).
2) I was hanging out with a few people once and for some reason one of them casually made a really weird comment in a strange growl-ly voice (sadly I don’t remember the comment, only the voice), and none of us really understood why. It turned out they were quoting a movie and had done it so often with their friends that it just kinda became a normal thing (I catch myself doing that all the time with Napoleon Dynamite and Anchorman).
I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing for companies to be showing their products in a ascetically pleasing light (it’s to be expected), but there’s something sad and tragic happening when people’s expectations are manipulated as collateral damage.
I think it’s amazing how frequently conceptions of ‘beauty’ or ‘normalcy’ are based on fabrications and fictions (yes I like alliteration). Not just in the world of fashion and ascetics but also in our general world view about how society and people operate. How often does it happen where some impressionable youth mistake something satirical for reality and try to impersonate it? Or even worst, internalize it and curse themselves for not being able to embody something that isn’t real.
It’s worth mentioning that the part I found most striking was the part where they used Photoshop on the image and changed the physical construct of her body. To me that clearly drove home the point that there are some things that no matter how hard you strive to embody, you can’t because it isn’t based on reality. It goes beyond the way that people look and also into the way that people act.
I’ve seen it a few times where the kids I work with see a character (comic, cartoon etc) that isn’t real and for whatever reasons begin to impersonate idiosyncrasies that aren’t their own. To an extent I don’t’ think it’s necessarily a bad thing, partly it’s just connected to growing up and tying out different personas and seeing what fits you as a person. The tragedy comes in once a person starts to loose the distinction between what’s uniquely their own and what’s adopted.
Two examples:
1) When I was little I used to read Calvin and Hobbes a lot (a great comic which actually helped me learn how to read when I was growing up). I always knew it was funny (although I didn’t always understand why) and so I began to parrot comments they would make in the strip to see if I could invoke the same kind of response (I never really did and thankfully I grew out of that).
2) I was hanging out with a few people once and for some reason one of them casually made a really weird comment in a strange growl-ly voice (sadly I don’t remember the comment, only the voice), and none of us really understood why. It turned out they were quoting a movie and had done it so often with their friends that it just kinda became a normal thing (I catch myself doing that all the time with Napoleon Dynamite and Anchorman).
I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing for companies to be showing their products in a ascetically pleasing light (it’s to be expected), but there’s something sad and tragic happening when people’s expectations are manipulated as collateral damage.
