Goggles In The Media Summary

Film, television, and the media are a huge part of our culture. Especially in the modern age of technology, it is impossible for us to avoid being exposed it. It is on our phones, computers, and TV. It is our entertainment, a part of our education, and it serves as a reflection of our society. The problem with media, however, is that has the power in manipulating us to feel certain ways. The most problem of which is the way we perceive our own bodies. Leading media industries such as Hollywood sets. An example of the ideal body that we are expected to have in order to look good and be perceived as handsome or beautiful by society, but, behind the scenes, actors and actresses of Hollywood go to extreme lengths in order to attain that ideal look.

The media has become a powerful source for changes in our society. There are so many factors and reasons for our society changing. Today I find most people obsessively worried about their body image. We all have a body and at one time or another, we worry about it. Women and men are both being affected by media sources such as television, advertising, magazines, music, and video games; not to mention the photo manipulation that goes along with it all. Questions can be asked; such as, “Is this the way our society should be leaning [obsessing over our bodies]? What could happen from here? Are there any solutions?”

Throughout their lives, women of all ages are constantly being bombarded with advertisements convincing them they must meet an ideal of the perfect body image. This is all thanks to companies that share a common goal to influence the mainstream population into believing they need to purchase certain products in order to compare to the impossible standards set by the beauty industry. In Dave Barry’s “Beauty and the Beast” he displays that it is planted in young girls minds that they need to look, dress, feel, and even act a certain way. However, men aren’t as affected by these capitalistic marketing schemes. In short, the media has affected the way women think of themselves.

Although Graydon tires to use extreme evidences to prove her argument, the second part of her weakness is that she is focusing only on women that lead to being bias against men. Aside from mentioning solutions for children later on in the article, Graydon completely left out the part of men being affected by media. Although Graydon explains how media is harmful and shows that women are the victims of exposure to media by showing data from research, she is focusing too much on women. In the article, Graydon tells the readers about media targeting women by making fashion shows and Television shows such as Extreme Makeover and The Swan which are related with Beauty and body transformation (18). These materials that Graydon provides are all related mainly to women and girls. This shows and proves that Graydon is ignoring the men being increasingly targeted and affected by media since she is only stating about how women are being affected by the media. Derenne and Beresin said in their journal that “Men too are bombarded by media pressure. Pictures of thin, muscular, and perfectly coiffed “metrosexual” models appear in men’s magazines” (259). Authors are trying to assert that men are targeted by the media. This clearly indicates that not only women but also men are victims of media exposure. This also supports the argument of Graydon’s biasness towards women. Robera Honigman and David

Over time, the perfect body image has changed in many ways. This is very evident in the female sex, especially through media. “Americans spend about 68 hours per week exposed to various forms of media” (US Census Bureau 2009). This media exposure through outlets such as t.v., radio, music videos, movies, and the internet, all influence the way people think about gender. The media influence is very evident in the way people view women and think about women in different cultures. Media influence on women creates negative viewpoints with how women view themselves and even how men view themselves, in turn making it hard to break certain beliefs and stereotypes instilled on society.

There are no questions to whether the media has influenced the self-consciousness people have on their body or not. Whether it is the front of a magazine cover or in a film or television show, the selection of models or actors are primarily thin or fit leading readers and viewers to worry or want to change the way their body looks. Body image is the way one sees oneself and imagine how one looks. Having a positive body image means that most of the time someone sees themselves accurately, and feels comfortable in their body; negative body image, what the media exemplifies for the majority of the time, is just the opposite. The media uses unrealistic standards of beauty and bodily perfection to drive ordinary people to be dissatisfied with their body image which can result in the search to obtain these unreachable goals.

Television, movies, songs, and social media are the cultured lenses in which we view the world. What we perceive through a screen can change where we stand on certain topics; for example, gender messages and body images.

Miss Representation is a documentary that examines the impact that media have on society as a whole. Many people believe that as adults we have the most impact in the consistent pressure to be perfect, but actually children are expose it to at an early age. It difficult for mostly girls, since “girls get the message early in age that the most important thing is their looks and their values and worth depend on their looks”. For young boys that notice that media portrays women to be “perfect”, then they want their significant other to be perfect as well. Our society is an appearance driven society where it does not matter if a person is an intellectual.

As presented in the movie Miss Representation, media and technology are important because they work as powerful messengers that build many people’s way of thinking. As we live in a technologically advanced generation, being exposed to media is so easy. Both media and technology works as delivering any ideas that shapes our society. They shape our minds about politics, our emotions, and our importance. Then, it means that media can also manipulate our perception of gender role. Among all the ideas that media tries to indoctrinate, it can also portrait the importance of a woman to being all about physical beauty. Media presents a perfect woman’s image focusing on their bodily figure making their value, worth, or mind would depend on their physical appearances. Thus, it influences the way men think what is important about women is their bodily attractiveness. In any kinds of media such as advertisement, films, or video games, women are generally appreciated by their looks, not by their intellectuals or achievements. As media depicts an unrealistic body image of women’s beauty, many young girls’ value is set as to become someone else with attractive appearance, nothing like smart, powerful, or leader-like.

Zoe Lawrie, Elizabeth Sullivan, Peter Davies & Rebecca Hill (2006) hold the view that many factors affect the body image that women create for themselves, however, they do emphasise in their work that the media is a significant contributor to the image of the percieved ideal female body in

Wykes, M., & Gunter, B. (2005). The media and body image: If looks could kill. London: SAGE.

Many aspects of a women's life have been controlled through the media as well. The media and advertisements of a women's portrayal is like a mirror that many women chose to compare themselves to. This mirror of comparison to the “perfect body” has not only effected many young girls and women but also young boys and men. The sexism controls the media in a way that men and women can’t see any other versions of themselves. The media have always influenced human beings in their lives, like the ratings of movies or songs lets people know what's worth watching or listening to. This control also goes along with body image. Those commercials with the perfect couple with amazing bodies and smiles on their faces do influence people to believe a perfect body won’t only get you a great looking spouse but also happiness. Another type of media that influences both men and women are ads that over sexualize human bodies because now there is a mirror of comparison to judge themselves with.

Although Sturken and Cartwright claim it is quite easy to fall for the misconception that photographs are “unmediated copies of the real world” (Sturken & Cartwright, 17), this is no longer true, if it ever was. While cumbersome, even before the advent of image editing software, it was possible to modify photographs. Furthermore, in contemporary society, we have completely lost faith in mass media representation; rarely do people expect images to be completely unmodified anymore. This is especially visible in western culture since people are pressured to conform into highly specific aesthetics where even a “natural” look is artificially crafted with makeup and digital filters. Even disregarding direct manipulation to a print through methods such as Photoshop, photographs are manipulated in such obvious ways, it almost seems absurd to point it out. The framing, lighting, and positioning are always adjusted by the photographer. Therefore, people themselves are a type of manipulation; a representative filter through which biases are imbued. In effect, Sturken and Cartwright’s conclusion that all camera-generated images bear an “aura of machine objectivity” (Sturken & Cartwright, 16) stemming from “the … legacy of still-photography” (Sturken & Cartwright, 17) is

The mass media has developed into a highly influential platform that relays information to audiences all around the world, but are the images seen in advertisements and television, devaluing individuals by labeling them under stereotypes? In order to truly understand the core of such a question, it is important to first define and solidify some key terms. To begin with, what mediums of mass media will be considered in the analysis of this issue? Specifically, I will attempt to highlight the use of gender stereotypes in the form of visual advertisements, such as magazines and television commercials. I will also be considering the use of gender stereotypes in the entertainment industry, particularly in the making of TV shows and movies.

Every single day when I wake up in the morning, one of the first things I do is look at myself in the mirror. Am I skinny enough? Is my skin clear enough? Do I look like the girl from the magazine I was reading yesterday? No. I don’t. But I’ll keep asking these questions each and everyday because that is what the media tells me I need to look like. Because if my waist isn’t small enough I’m not pretty. Because if I have cellulite on my legs there’s something wrong with me. Because if I don’t slot into this unattainable standard. I'm not beautiful. Airbrushing and photoshopping models in pictures to display through media is something that frankly speaking is appalling. We are alienating beautiful human beings because of the media’s dictations on what we should look like. I am sick of being brainwashed to the point where all I can ever seem to do is single out the ‘flaws’ in myself. If we display, real, beautiful, raw pictures of people in media then so many problems caused by this would no longer exist.