...The Eye of the Beholder “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but what if the beholder’s vision is blurred? The media today dictates what is beautiful, and these standards are so high that they are impossible to reach. Both Camille Paglia and Daniel Akst point this out in their essays about the effects these standards have on the general population. Paglia uses an appeal to the emotion of her upper-class middle-aged women audience who may choose plastic surgery as a method to stay beautiful whereas Akst uses all forms of rhetorical devices to appeal to everyone in defining what beauty truly is. Camille Paglia, Yale graduate and professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, says in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery” depicts the belief in the beauty of uniformity. Women have a belief that if they don’t look a certain way, then they are not beautiful, so they turn to plastic surgery. In an excerpt from her essay, Paglia shows us this example of a media sex icon “...Amazonian superheroines like Lara Croft: large breasts with a flat midriff and lean hips, a hormonally anomalous profile that few women can attain without surgical intervention or liposuction” (793). What Paglia attempts to accomplish with this essay is to appeal to the emotions of these women, so that they will not lose identity in this sea of uniformity. But woman are constantly having to compete with the young and sexy media icons and turn to things like...
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...opinion, the most important thing in writing is thinking. I am sure that a good idea is more important than good writing skills. Now, when I write essay, I would not write immediately. But I will research the background and collect many information about the essay. Then, I will think and reclaim all information so that I can have my own ideas. For this three essays, was my favourite,because I spend a lot's of time on it. This was my first time to read such long article in my life. I need to pay attention to understand the writer's idea and try my best to find the main idea, main sentence and supporting sentence. Obviously, there are many misunderstand words, but I learned to catch the information what I understand and guess the main idea. So that this essay influence me to learn new writing skills. For my prompt, I was happy to my instructor to give us a chance to visit historical place. I went to Massachusetts State House in weekend, I learn that if you want to write a good essay, you should open your eyes. That's can help you to accept new ideas and easy to absorb different opinions. At last, the Beauty essay make me learn that everything has different side based on different angles and values. In this essay, I tried to describe my opinion which is the beauty is not mean beautiful. The beauty is produced by cultures, value standards and customs. I am happy to take this course in my second semester, I believed I have new ideas about college writing. I will keep writing,...
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...which lead individuals to a pessimistic mood. From the mentioned points above, I believe that western culture leads women’s eating disorders through media and personal relationships with westerners. I found specific researchers and their studies to support and explain my possition: a essay, entitled “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” written by Susan Bordo from Gilbert H. Muller’s book The New Worlds Reader, an research article published in the magazine International Journal Of Eating Disorders entitled “Boday Image and Eating Disturbance Among South Asian-American Women: The Role of Racial Teasing”, by Dana Sahi Iyer and Nick Haslam, and the seventh chapter, entitled “Sociocultural Influences: The Impact of Western Culture on Eating and Body Image Disturbances”, of the book Too Fat or Too Thin: A Reference Guide to Eating Diorders by Cynthia R Kalodner. During reading three resources, I come up with question how western culture impacts eating disorders due to the standards of beauty among women through media and personal connections. Susan Bordo argues that the globalization of eating disorders crosses the economic levels of countries, races, genders, classes, and ages in her essay. She believes that eating disturbances become universal events in both developed and developing nations. The foundation causes of global phenomena rely on western media that...
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...Alicia A. Smith October 29, 2014 Eng.4705/Essay #2 Beauty Complex The word beauty has many negative connotations for African American women. Over the years African American women have been subjected, misrepresented and also dehumanized by the exemplification of beauty and identity. This pattern of internalizing the perception of beauty to coincide with European standards have caused many African American women in the process to alter their physical appearances and personify a culture that has disregarded the uniqueness of being “ black and beautiful”. The cultural aesthetics of being “black and beautiful” has been distorted in literature, movies and television shows to appease an acceptable standard of beauty that in reality is unrealistic....
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...Significance of the Study Beauty pageants take place everywhere around the world, and as the researcher observed, they never fail to draw various sectors of audiences. As Cohen (1996a) described it, beauty pageants, as diverse as they are in their cultural and historical contexts, they do something similar wherein they establish an ideal of beauty that best represents the locality. Indeed, Filipinos have been always fond of beauty pageants that it has become a significant part of their lives. No town fiesta or festival can be called as they are if there was no beauty pageant held. And beauty queens and even beauty contestants are always admired and considered as one of the beautiful icons in the country. But as the Philippine culture easily being influenced by the American society, this research hopes to emphasize the distinction of Philippine beauty pageants from American beauty pageants for it is in beauty pageants that the epitome of a Filipino is being showcased around the world. With that in the mind, this research also hopes to discover and unravel the purposes behind the staging of beauty pageants in both American and Philippine society. Background of the Study The researcher, who is not a stranger in the world of beauty contests in her school, has been asked by a judge on what she thinks is the purpose of beauty pageants in the society and whether its purpose is still prevalent. Intrigued, the researcher decided to do a research on beauty pageants. The TLC TV series...
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...American Popular Culture Cynthia Casillas SOC/105 Mrs. Angela Cranon American Popular Culture There is not a single definition that will describe culture since it evolves and goes for the same as beauty. Without a doubt, there is no answer to the definition of beauty, yet beauty is heavily involved and, associated in today’s media. Media is likely to have an enormous potent effect to the average man or woman about the criteria of beauty, forcing the definition of beauty to a new height because beauty never stops evolving and tends to play a very important role in the life of young teenagers and adults. Retailer catalogs such as Abercrombie and Fitch and Victoria’s Secret tend to feature airbrushed, scantily clad and altered photos of male and female models. Beauty pageants, fashion shows, the Internet, and movies have swamped the public with two-dimensional pictures of beautiful icons and celebrities. There are even television shows that have joined the delegation, playing a role in the image that it portrays such as Skin Deep, The Swan, and Extreme Makeover. America heavily relies on mass media to play a role in molding Americas view of the definition of beauty and reshaping culture at the same time. In present-day society, with the ever-changing idea that portrays images beauty, people rely on the media to help them find the latest trends on how to look and what to wear to stay “in fashion”. According with Hume (1742), “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Perhaps...
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...diction and figurative language in “The Unreal World”, Jennifer Pozner arouses fury from the audience that helps prove reality TV forces an idea of unattainable beauty on women and creates hurtful gender and racial stereotypes. To elicit anger from the audience, Pozner uses diction to demonstrate how Reality TV gives women unachievable standards for beauty. Pozner explains how Reality TV has this idea of a “perfect ten” (445). The use of a numbered scale implies that women are constantly being judged on their looks. It also insinuates that women can achieve a perfect score on this scale even though perfection is unattainable. A scale implies that everyone is judged the same way; however, beauty can come in many different forms. Both of these implications are incredibly hurtful to the young women watching these shows because it puts an onus on external aspects of the human body rather than the internal. Shows exist that are completely devoted to finding flaws in women such as “Are you Hot?: The Search for America’s Sexiest People.” This show uses a laser “flaw finder” (446) to rate women completely on their looks. The use of the term “flaw finder” gives the impression that all women must be flawless to be beautiful. Both examples of “perfect ten” and “flaw finder” show how reality TV forces a certain standard of beauty on the public and looks down upon people who do not meet the conventional requirements of attractiveness. Naturally, these implications cause anger from...
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...Rhetorical Analysis Vintage Ad Essay Crystal Cash DeVry University Rhetorical Analysis Vintage Ad Essay This Palmolive soap advertisement’s headline reads: "Let your beauty be seen.” While looking at this headline from a modern prospective, one might find such claims absurd. When one considers the context of the ad, and that this advertisement targeted the female demographic in America during the 1950’s it kind of makes sense that the ad may have been persuasive. The 50’s can be regarded as one of the happiest decades in American history, it was the end of World War two and the economy was expanding to a global standard. There were two forms of advertising in the 50’s era, pathos and logos. Looking at it from the 50’s perspective, the housewife wants to use this product to look appealing to her husband because in that time the women stayed at home and looked after the home while the men worked. In this ad, Palmolive targets the growing population of suburban women and uses rhetorical strategies that will appeal to emotion and logic. The primary focus of the ad is Palmolive’s appeal to emotion. The depiction of the housewife looking very beautiful with a flawless complexion and the doting husband apparently hanging on her shoulder admiring her beautiful complexion suggests that with this product you “too” can have an adoring husband admiring your new flawless complexion when you use Palmolive soap. In the text of the ad, it states how Palmolive’s beauty plan brings exciting complexion...
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...“Killing Us Softly” Personal Response Essay “Killing us Softly” is a documentary by Jean Kilbourne on the message that the advertisement industry sends out to women and the near impossible standards of feminine beauty it upholds. Cindy Crawford once said “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford”. Now this might sound bizarre to many, but the truth is, in today’s world of Botox and Photoshop, cosmetic surgery and strict diets it is impossible to be that ‘perfect body’ that ads portray. According to a photographer for a leading fashion magazine, a particular shot goes through at least 20-30 rounds of airbrushing. Tag lines such as “beauty knows no pain” and “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” develop and encourage such unhealthy attitudes. According to a study, an average American views 3000 ads per day. Ads have a quick, cumulative and subconscious effect. They create a toxic cultural environment where the well being and health of an individual are threatened. They show these models who have so-called perfect bodies, no blemishes, no marks, no wrinkles, and no nothing. But the problem is that beauty starts being equated with a painfully thin marks-free fair body. This affects the self- esteem of women and they become ashamed of their physical attributes and try harder to achieve those exacting and impractical standards. A popular weight loss tag line says “the more you subtract the more you add”. So women start going for sizes 0 and 00. These not only affect health...
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...English Language and Composition Mr. Lane 5.8.11 Independent Reading Essay – First Draft The Beautiful People Section I: What is more cliché than the statement, “[i]t hurts to be beautiful” (Rhode, The Beauty Bias)? However, I find it more truthful to say, “[i]t hurts not to be beautiful” (Rhode, The Beauty Bias). Our society places a high level of importance on appearance and if you are unfortunate enough to not fit the mold then that becomes a problem. Men and women are forced to meet a set of standards that society will view as acceptable. However, women are more often discriminated against for their looks and are held to higher standards than men. It is as if the media industry and our culture “will never be satisfied and will always expect more” (Smithy). Our country, with the exception of “only one state and six cities or counties,” has no laws or policies forbidding discrimination based on appearance (Rhode, The Beauty Bias). This is ridiculous seeing as how I believe that the beauty bias is becoming one of the most common forms of discrimination today. Our society has become that of a clown. Our painted faces, hiding our true selves, are turning our world into a show. Who can put on the best performance and allow others to laugh at those who have been sprayed in the face with the unkind prejudices from the flower called society? Deborah L. Rhode clearly depicts the issue of the beauty bias in our society through many examples and reinforces the idea that...
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...It is evident today that the black man and woman alike have achieved what seemed an impossible feat; a pipe dream just about one hundred and fifty years ago during the Reconstruction Period. Today for example, the black man can speak on the national television, own his own business, attend a predominantly white school and even publicly voice his displeasure without getting persecuted. To sum it up, the kind of beastly racism that involved lynching, public vitriol, and aggression against blacks has drastically changed into a more covert one. The opening remarks in Brent Campney’s article in the magazine, Western Historical Quarterly, hint at the task that the black community still had in their quest for dignity even after the civil war. In the introductory remarks of the article, the author laments, “In the aftermath of the war, however, white Kansas made a mockery of the Union’s optimism. Unleashing a campaign of violence aimed at enforcing their supremacy over blacks in the young state’’ (Campney 172). We find that the black community was faced with an uphill task in their quest for equality to their white counterparts even after the civil war. Kansas making a mockery of thee Union means that as per the wish of the Union that blacks would be free and appreciated after they helped the Union crush the Confederacy, the white community in Kansas turned against them with racially instigated violence aimed at them. The Union had thus made an assumption when they...
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...particularly women, but it seems to expand across time. In this present day in age, society has evolved across time, and media has made some differences in advertisements, TV shows and films. On the contrary, there are events that still appear on the web, social media and within music, specifically. For example, I was surfing the web, and ran across different artist. Some statements made were about women empowerment, body image/politics and sexual objectification, specifically the artist Beyoncé. The purpose of this essay is to discuss how Beyoncé’s song Flawless depicts feminism as well as redefining beauty. To accomplish this purpose, first I will discuss Beyoncé’s song flawless. Second, I will compare feminism to Beyoncé’s lyrics of the song flawless. Finally, I will summarize and give scholarly insight and implications on future pop culture. Beyoncé is a multi-talented performer and a superstar to millions of fans across the world. She is an African American, female and feminist. Across time, Beyoncé has been on a movement to find a neutral base, through her song, for genders to see each other...
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...The Puritans wanted to build a society fixed on community and family, one that mirrored their ecclesiastical identity. One major difference in the Pilgrims and Puritans was that the Pilgrims were Puritans who had abandoned local parishes and formed small congregations of their own because the Church of England was not holy enough to meet their standards. They were labeled “Separatists.” Winthrop, author of “Model of Christian Charity” was governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was a colony of people who left England in search of trade opportunities in the New World. He was a Puritan, like many of the people among this colony. This group claimed that the Church of England was corrupted by selfish leaders and petty squabbles. In contrast, Puritans envisioned an idealized community in which all citizens would focus their lives on the word of God. The pilgrims on the other hand, they demanded the formation of new, separate church...
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...Nila Tavangarian Women Studies 30 January 30th, 2017 WS Midterm Exam Winter 2017 Part 1: Brief Essays – the Beauty Myth 1) In Wolf’s “Chapter 6: Hunger” in the Beauty Myth she argues that anorexia and bulimia is taking over women in the West. She claims that, “Women must claim anorexia as political damage done to us by a social order that considers our destruction insignificant because of what we are-less,” (Wolf, 208). I agree with the feminist perspective in “Hunger” that women are affected by pop culture and media to starve themselves until the point where they are unstable. Unfortunately, many women in the US are influenced to look like women in pop culture, however this has caused millions of suicides and health issues that...
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...Image: Cultures Idolizing the Female Form A Comparison and Contrast of the Barbie Doll and Venus de Willendorf Image: Cultures Idolizing the Female Form A Comparison and Contrast of the Barbie Doll and Venus de Willendorf The fact that cultures have idolized the female form in our modern era is not a new concept. Beauty in modern times has been held to the highest standard, but where and why did we get our ideal of beauty? Culture plays a large in role in how beauty is defined, and this is very clear when it pertains to the culture behind both the Venus de Willendorf and the more modern Barbie doll. Clearly, idolizing the female form is an ideal that has existed since the very first centuries that humans walked the earth. Taking a look at the two different cultures that idolize the female form may give us a little bit of insight into the similarities and differences there were between two different society’s composed of very similar beings. The statuette Venus de Willendorf was first discovered in Austria in 1908 by the archaeologist Josef Szombathy. This is the earliest image of a human being known to exist, thought to have been created during the Paleolithic era some 25,000 years ago (Witcombe)! The climate in the region that the statuette was discovered was probably an ice covered land, and therefore, her voluptuous image probably portrays a desire for food and to survive. Humans will always have one thing in common: survival. Whether it is a work of art portraying...
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