Media's Dictation in Beauty

Media's Dictation in Beauty

Your sitting in the front row of the most prestigious fashion show, The lights dim, and the music starts. A glowing woman enters from stage left, wearing a beautiful gown. Her long legs alternately take a step down the catwalk, showing off the desirable gown. Her thin waste and long torso shape the dress, and she gets closer the goddess transforms into an unhealthy, unfed, and unattractive nobody. The most famous names in Hollywood: Lindsey Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Blair Waldorf, all possess one physical attribute that makes them desirable. They all share one common denominator that makes them beautiful, the media says so, We see them as figures to desire to be like, to look like. Media has a very large impact on how we see people as beautiful. Television, celebrities, designers, and ultimately, a lack of faith dictates what we see as beautiful.

In Television, many shows give their characters attributes that make them look cool, and have depth, but ultimately give the wrong message to the viewer. In the hit T.V. program: gossip girl, the main character, Blair Waldorf, is seen gagging herself in order to throw up. The show goes on and Blair is not confronted with her problem, and she gets more attention because of it. Bulimia is nothing to be proud of. Yet the writers of gossip girl, showed thousands of their viewers a main character that was beautiful, poised, and popular because she was bulimic. Is this alright to do, in anyone's worldview? This should not be condoned to the youth of America. Although, not all TV shows' main character is represented like this, other represent their characters as the other extreme. ABC's Ugly Betty, the main character is depicted as such, ugly. Not only do the writers label their main character as this, in the show Betty is mocked, made fun of, and harassed because of the way she looks. Ultimately, although depicting a main character as beautiful by her actions and stereotypical insecure teen is harmful to the way young adults see beauty is wrong but it is not the source of where a lack of confidence is rooted in young girls' minds.

If you go onto youtube's website and search "fashion show," the first video that comes up is Victoria Secret's 2009 fashion show. This is the most viewed youtube video on fashion shows. All of the models, are over 5'10 and less the 115pounds. These women that are "idols" in fashion lead everyday women to want to alter themselves, in order to measure of to the standards they have set. In 2006, there were 11.5 million cosmetic surgeries, just in America (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/69394.php).Women are pressured to look like the models in fashion shows and the celebrities in order to be recognized as beautiful. They spend thousands of dollars to make themselves resemble these models. This is iniquitous, but not the derivation of a