Mr. Potato Head Analysis

Do you take a great deal of pride in your appearance? Do you work 24/7 for the perfect cheekbones, lips, eyes, and body? Would you do anything for that perfect appearance? Well, in Scott Westerfield’s dystopian story, “Uglies”, this world revolves around everything pretty. Tally, a teenage girl who is currently “ugly” gets caught up in a the dream of being all things pretty.

The pre-chorus has an underlying, powerful message. She sings, "I'm telling these tears to go and fall away; May the last one burn into flames." Her tears are a metaphor for continuous push and pull

In the book Uglies, Scott paints a picture of a society where once children reach the age of 16, they undergo plastic surgery to conform to their government’s standards of equality. When we try to become pretty, we make normal ugly. During a conversation, Tally berated over being ugly when “Shay’s face clouded”. She wiped off her eyebrows, then looked up sharply.

In modern times, more and more people think that they are not beautiful enough. They try to make some changes to their appearance. For some people, because they want to look like their favorite celebrity or idol, they change their appearance. Some girls might think their face shape, such as nose, eyes, and mouth, are not as perfect as they want. Moreover, owing to the development of technology, people can choose to do more activities to become beautiful; also, they may spend money to do so.

The beauty standard is a culturally constructed notion of physical attractiveness that has become increasingly imperative for women and men. However, this standard has become extremely perilous to men and women’s self-image. Camille Paglia, a highly educated individual who earned her PhD at Yale University and became a highly acclaimed author, explicates this conception in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery”. Paglia suggests that the beauty standard idealizes women to look like “sex symbols with an unattainable grandeur” (776). She continues to claim that it forces her audience of higher class women to pay large sums of money in order to alter their features ultimately conforming to a very “parochial” definition of beauty (776). Although Paglia is a highly credible source, she illogically appeals to the reader’s fears in order to persuade them. Paglia fails to give any credible outside sources which affirms her preposterous beliefs. Contrary to her inconsistencies, Daniel Akst, a social journalist and graduate from New York University provides his audience with reputable sources in order to persuade his audience. Daniel Akst believes that there needs to be a “democratization of physical beauty” in which instead of attempting to alter the beauty standard, we must first change how we view ourselves. Akst provides credible sources to establish his credibility where he observes cases studies and cultural experiments from scientists and organizations including:

“Mrs. Potato Head” is a song by the musical artist Melanie Martinez, from her Crybaby album, which I enjoy listening to for its dark themes mixed with innocent and childlike elements. This song is a part of the album’s collective story following a girl named Crybaby, and her experiences with many issues such as poor family structure, loneliness, heartbreak, and societal pressures. This song specifically follows Crybaby taking in the societal pressures to be beautiful, and trying to understand the messages of it and if it is worth all the changes she would have to make to herself. “Mrs. Potato Head” is a look at how modern society’s beauty standards for women are observed and questioned through the eyes of a young girl; it shows us how far people

Many consumers felt they looked very ugly, awful, unaesthetic or even dirty about particular body defects. In this case, it is not about changing a body part for the sake of looking more beautiful, it is an attempt to lessen a problem which has become an unbearable suffering for several people. The feeling of having small breasts or many wrinkles is no less devastating to a person’s sense of self than the feeling of being born with a deformity or coming to terms with a disturbing accident. Cosmetic surgery was a remedy to this suffering and patients felt this was an empowered act that presented themselves as courageous protagonists.

In “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery,” by Camille Paglia, she argues that American surgeons are being too narrow minded with their work because they use the same models as a representation of what their clients can look like. She suggests that getting plastic surgery has become such a normal thing in America and that society pushes women to get work done in order to get that “perfect” look. Paglia also points out that plastic surgery has “leveled the playing field” with wives and their husbands mistresses (694). Also, she believes that plastic surgery is not only critical in keeping a job, but also in keeping a relationship. Although I agree with some of Paglia’s arguments, I view some of the issues differently such as, needing plastic surgery to keep a marriage, that plastic surgery is for non intellectuals, that Hollywood’s environment encourages women to change their looks, and that nothing good can come out of plastic surgery.

The songs, “Mother Mother”, “Modern Girl”, “Rill Rill”, and “Popular”, convey the message that trying to fit other people’s expectations of perfection leads to an unhappy, empty life.

Thesis: The cosmetic, issues, and beauty. We need to understand every possible outcome while considering plastic surgery

107) Second, magazines geared toward women often run stories focusing on the ordinary woman’s experiences with surgery of the benefits of surgically improving one’s appearance. Also, advertisements typically promote the benefits of cosmetic surgery using gendered stereotypes, with men represented as concerned with virility and professional competitiveness whereas women are investing in aesthetic improvements. Therefore, the idea of personal transformations and self-improvement is not particularly novel but standard approach that has become entrenched in mass media representations of cosmetic surgery (Adams, 2009, p. 108). However, the potential health risks are downplayed and negative outcomes are attributed to the unpredictability of the aesthetic results or poor surgeon selection. More importantly, these frames tend to diverge from the actual surgical experience, which rather being neat and instantaneous, is often complex and painful. Nevertheless, it is the media-mediated frame that dominates the broader social discussion of cosmetic surgery and often reduces it to a consumable lifestyle option as opposed to a complicated medical procedure fraught with potential risks and uncertainties.

Famous actress and model Patricia Heaton once said “Plastic surgery is like the big elephant in the Hollywood living room,” (Brainy Quotes). For celebrities, a plastic surgery operation is just another trip to the doctor’s office. After all, in this day and age, image is everything. We see this in high profile professions, and in large cities across the country. However, recently in Beverly Hills, California, girls as young as 16 are getting nose-jobs as a “Right of Passage” to fit in. This is a trend that has moved beyond the big city, and with 250,000 teens getting cosmetic surgery a year, it’s becoming all too normal. Bullying, media, and just plain vanity are causing children and teens everywhere to go under

Plastic Surgery has become a worldwide epidemic in today’s world. The number of plastic surgeries continues to increase since 2010. In today’s day and age, plastic surgery is one of the most popular and requested procedures. Females are opting to have plastic surgery because they dislike their body image. Society has impacted many people by brain washing them to believe that a person’s body has to be perfect. In order for one to be considered beautiful, television and media influence people’s perceptions of beauty.

“Don’t like the way you look? Ready for a quick and easy change? We can help you with one simple cosmetic surgery.” We have all heard or seen advertisements like this on television or in magazines, but why is cosmetic surgery so appealing to people, especially women? Cosmetic surgery is used all over the world to enhance one’s features and make people “happy,” but is it worth it? Is it beauty or is it a beast having cosmetic surgery done? There are many options and things to consider when thinking about getting any kind of surgery. Body image is a huge aspect especially when there is a demand for beauty by society. The cost of cosmetic surgery and the dangers are also something to take into consideration, but there are many positives in getting this type of surgery.

At first, the song sounds silly, but when you sit down and really listen to the lyrics, you start to make sense of Melanie’s metaphors and symbolism. The title of the song, “Mrs. Potato Head,” refers to plastic surgery. The song was named after the popular toy invented in the 1950s, Mr. Potato Head. Potato Heads consisted of a plastic model of a potato which could