‘Reality is based on the people and experiences we encounter.’
I see the shadows of this We base our reality on the experiences we have which is a direct effect of what the media does in portraying what individuals my age are supposed to look like and behave. After reading Michael Leunig’s article ‘Thou Shalt be attractive’, I have come to realise what the media does to my reality and how it makes me alter my identity. The important questions raised in the article shows exactly how reality is based on the experience we have with the media.

As a teenager trying to go through high school I am surrounded by the media altering my reality. The media acts as ‘dictator’; someone who has complete control over me and an overwhelming pressure to be something that it wants me to be. In the magazines I read and the shows I watch on TV, an image is portrayed to me of what beauty is. In the words of Leunig “the limbs are longs, the smile loaded and the eyes with promise, the bottom tightly bound”. However, after reading Leunig’s article I have come to realise that this image the media portrays is nearly impossible. I now see that the media affects the way I view my reality. How am I supposed to look like that? I often question looking at these beautiful women and handsome men. The media have an overwhelming command that ‘thou shall be attractive’, but Leunig’s article teaches me that beauty is subjective and the task of trying to be like the people in the magazine is a huge weight that cannot be achieved. Through the article I now know that reality is based on the media that we encounter.

The world is a harsh and judging reality and because of this many people choose to leave it. The way in which the media show beauty, means that anyone who is remotely different or unique is harshly judged by their peers. We all have that need to be somewhat attractive and like me, teenagers feel like being unique or different is wrong, so we just “smile while deeply hurt, and breathe whilst exhaling conflict, compose while decomposing.” But this is not the way it should be; teenagers are under so much pressure to essentially be ‘perfect’ that sometimes it overcomes them. I don’t want to live in a world where people I know are so fed up with the daily struggle to be viewed under society’s eyes as ‘perfect’ that they hurt themselves. I don’t want to wake up in the morning and wonder if friends of mine killed themselves because of the judgements they receive for being themselves. Truthfully I don’t want to live in a world where I question whether I should kill myself to escape the pressure I feel. Because of the media I don’t believe I am attractive. When Leunig says “see the girl, she is looking at a mirror and is alarmed because she thinks her bottom is too big, she will have to go without food and fret and make it smaller”, it captures what I believe a lot of teenagers feel, that they will never quite line up to the standards of being raised by the media. After reading Leunig’s article I now understand how the media affects reality and ultimately makes people want to escape it.

Due to the media’s pressure, I am surrounded by fake people. The media tells us that being different is wrong. It is because of this a lot of people hide who they truly are. In this world, being different and not following the crowd is wrong and anyone who does try to be different is ultimately punished for it. So instead we hide behind our makeup and pretend to be something we are not, in order to fit what the media want us to be. I too tend to hide who I truly am in fear. It is the overwhelming fear that ‘the more I am myself, the less you will love me’ that makes me and other people pretend to be something we are not, essentially a ‘phony’. Leunig writes about celebrating uniqueness, how it is okay to be different something I have never really been exposed to via the media. I am now able to understand that being unique isn’t wrong. It is those who conform to other members of society, and those who pretend to be someone they are not that are wrong. From this it becomes very clear how we experience the media and how it affects our own reality.

We should all be mindful that these experiences are ones that should be learnt by every male and female my age. We cannot possibly live up to the media’s standards and shows us that it is OK to be different “we are all electioneering politicians striving for little power”. We are all exposed to judgement and we all want to feel loved and belong somewhere as “we are all electioneering politicians striving for little power”. The impact the media has on forming our reality and exactly how we perceive ourselves is dangerous. Everyone of us is built on the fear targeted of not being attractive enough in the eyes of others. We are come to the end of the road thinking “the more I reveal myself, the less you will me”