Exploring Media Project: Social Representation

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"Beauty" images
In today's society, true beauty has lost all its meaning and has been replaced by a fake ideal promoted by media. To be socially accepted and considered beautiful in our society, women have physically mutilated themselves through anorexia, bulimia, and many other health related problems. This unhealthy portrayal of "beauty" imposed new standards that women believe that they have to follow in order to be considered beautiful. The media promotes these views of beauty through ads, news and TV shows to name a few.
For example, if you look at various shows such as Grey's Anatomy, House MD or Bones, which are popular American TV shows, most actresses are tall, slim and viewed by others as beautiful. Our society is imposing new beauty standards through media which has a direct impact on our everyday life. Whenever we use a form of media, we are constantly reminded of these fake standards and what we should do to follow them. Internet promotes this fake beauty through the many pop ups that pollute our screen while we browse internet sites. Television is not better than internet, as it promotes it through TV shows, ads, etc.
One TV show that struck me more than any other show was “America’s Next Top Model” where young women basically compete against each other to win the ultimate top model prize. All of these women are thin and preoccupied about their image and about their weight because, ultimately, the prettiest, thinnest and most top model-like will get the prize. They are taught how to conceal their “fat” and imperfections in order to have the “best” picture. Here is an example of this show and what it promotes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLK2Z2hUJzs

2 moments that stroked me most are:
- 1min. 04sec until 1min. 10sec.
- 2min. 11sec. until 2min. 29sec.

There are many more examples in this TV show. Unfortunately, many models suffer from anorexia or bulimia. As a result, they are extremely thin and suffer from health problems. As you can see in the pictures that I have posted, many models and celebrities are so thin that we can see their bones. In my opinion, skinny is not beautiful.
Moreover, beauty standards and expectations have even reached the image of children. In the last Olympics, in Beijing, a cute little girl sang the Chinese national song. The only drawback is that that cute little girl was lip singing. The real little girl that sang was not pretty enough to represent china so they decided to take a cuter one. Our fake beauty standards pushed some people to conceal the true identity of the singer because she did not fit them. In my opinion, this is inconceivable.
Fortunately, many women are proud of their body, no matter the social representations and standards that are imposed on them. The Dove picture represents women who are happy with the way that they look; this picture is free of photoshop and any other social expectations.
They are beautiful.