Saturday, November 22, 2008

Digital Retouching


This is another video done by Dove and its campaign on beauty awareness. The very short video conveys a big message. “Beauty has been greatly been distorted by the media”. The media has constructed their own definition of what a woman should be. Since the media is so powerful over many especially young women it creates a goal that is unattainable. Many young girls watch the media for advice. Advice on fashion, make up, boys, sex, and the list can go on. Instead of trusting their parents on these topics they rather take what they see as “reality”. Yet they are unaware that what they see is unreal which is what this Dove video is trying to say.

“I want to be Hannah Montana” is something that my seven year old sister repeatedly tells me. Even though I think Hannah Montana has no negative implications yet on my little sister’s body perception, she has been marketed to be seen as a real character that one day my sister can be like her. This is the way many images in the media are portrayed as. They attempt to make the images be attainable. Many magazines have on their cover “How to look like a celebrity”, “How to look as beautiful like them”, “Celebrities Beauty Secrets” and the list can go on. These are tips on how be or look like these celebrities. Clothing works in the same way just as much as other products. The media wants to close the gap between the images they advertise and the general population by advertising that one day they could be them. However as seen in this video that gap is never going to be closed because the images use digital retouching. The actual celebrity secret is not a product but technology that is making them look beautiful.

5 comments:

KSmith said...

It is sad, because the image that the media is portraying these celebrity women as is unattainable to "average women".
They provide tips and secrets of how to be more like them, creating in the minds of readers the idea that they are not good enough, that one can only be beautiful or powerful or sexy if they are more like their celebrity counterparts.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately we have this incredibly distorted image that the media has given us about what the ideal womens body image should be. The dove beauty campaign is the only of its kind that I know of has really been good about giving women and girls a positive outlook on what beauty is, and of course there is the old saying, beauty is on the inside. However the media does not give us that idea, nor does it actually support it.

Anonymous said...

I can always say I am proud of my body, but that would be a lie. Even when I was younger I had peer pressure to be a certain size and it has stuck with me no matter what people tell me. These videos show what reality is and let's face it, the average woman gets up, puts make-up on, and dresses in a certain style because that is what society expects of them. It is something terribly hard to break free of because images and media provoke us into following the norm and being accepted.

the.williams said...

That video was absolutley mindblowing! The fact that this ordinary everyday woman walks in, sits down and can be DIGITALLY transformed into a beauty icon. It was amazing to me how much her skin, hair, and eyes were reconstructed. Starting off with her skin. When she sat down, her skin was blotchy, red, and looked slightly irritated. Her hair was stringy, flat, and oily. Her eyes were hollow, tired, and she had black circles. By the end of the video, she had flawless skin, beautiful shiny hair, and huge captivating eyes. Perfect for a bilboard. This is what women and young girls see. Flawlessness. Perfection. And they strive for something that, without money and proper technology, can not be acieved.

ShellyR said...

I've seen this video before and it's so crazy! This post is so true, and with the media today it is putting ideas in young girl's heads that they have to look and act a certain way, which is awful!

I love your blog and everything that you stand for! I have actually started my own blog that's really similar to yours! Here's the link if you want to check it out!

https://portrayalofwomeninthemedia.wordpress.com