Photography is used too

This is my week 1: posted it in wrong place

I also found the reading on "The Myth of Photographic Truth" fascinating as well, and I also agree with Jenna in that I have a hard time believing that a photograph is more reliable than a painting or sketch, especially this day in age. I am familiar with photoshop and understand all the things that can be done to a photograph, and the youtube video that Jenna posted reminded me of just how drastic you can change a single photo. I started looking at other videos on youtube about photoshop and realized that photoshop is not the only place a person can add his personal touch. A photographer can add his personal touch and make a photograph look the way he wants with the way he takes the photo. I came across the youtube video that explains some of the ways to take a photograph at high noon in order to get a certain look. The book explains that "the creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization." I believe that photographs are not completely objective. Two photographers can take a photograph of the same image or event and get two different stories out of it by the way they take it. So taking a photograph itself creates a "myth" because the photographer creates an image the way that he wants and makes it universally true to society. So advertising agencies have always used photography to influence society, but it is just made even easier with the new computer technology.

price of "perfection"

I completely agree with the technology of this day and age changing our ideas on what beauty actually is. It's ridiculous how many celebrities in the previous video have had plastic surgery and, also, how before any picture is released of a celebrity or model it is practically always retouched (99.9% of the time). People look to Hollywood and its stars to know what's in style. For this generation, a big trend seems to be surgery. In an article that I found, there was a woman who has undergone 8 surgeries in order to have a bust size of FFF. An average breast augmentation is about 300-400 CCs of silicone. But this woman's implants contain 1000CCs or 2 quarts of silicone. Putting this much silicone into your body is hazardous to your back & shoulders as well as to the rest of your body (because it develops scar tissue against the silicone). Also, it doesn't say in the article, but on the original news broadcast, the reporter said that when the woman lays on her back she can hardly breathe. I find it extremely saddening that some take surgeries to such lengths to boost their self esteem and be more like the stars and models in Hollywood. The article also mentioned how breast augmentations have risen 900% in the last 15 years. So, even though not all go through such extreme surgeries as the woman in this article, women and men are doing more and more to reach their goal of perfection. The only trouble is, when will they ever be at that level? And, health-wise, is it really worth it?

January 21, 2009 7:33 PM

This was my post from week 1, but I had it in the wrong spot

the "Wow" Fasination

I completely agree with Caitlin, I am ashamed to say it, but if I see someone like Penelope Cruz using some type of beauty product I want to have it with some outlandish fascination that I will put it on and look like her. I have to wonder though that if advertisers used real people (not people like Dove is trying to use) but real people that you would interact with in their ads if people would feel this unnecessary burden to look/act/be a certain way. I also wonder if that would affect sales, but what would happen if advertisements did use this method? Do you think there would be a difference in self-esteem, especially in teenagers? Or do you think the economy would be better because there wouldn’t be that “wow” factor in the models and that desire and belief of I must have it! may not be there.

beauty & youth

The desire to be older but remain looking younger has become a huge moneymaking market. Yesterday, at a dermatologist appointment and while I was waiting for the doctor, I began to read the magazines they provided. But the only parts of the magazines that were in the office were the articles about cosmetic surgery. There was botox, of course, lip plumping, some treatment to make your eyelash’s growth increase and grow longer and darker, and there was even an article about taking fat from one area of your body, via liposuction, processing it, and then putting it back into your face to fill in wrinkles. To my knowledge, no other culture places as much emphasis on youth and beauty as the United States. In the US, beauty is achieved through looking young and youthful. But if aging is the natural course of life, why do we try so hard to fight it?

Beauty this day and age is all about youth.  Older women are constantly trying to get rid of wrinkles, age spots and dark circles in order to achieve the flawless skin of the youthful models portrayed in media.  But like the dove commercial, it is hard to see who the average woman is.  That is why it has become more common to use an average woman in promoting a product.  I found the article http://beckysperfectskin.com/?t202id=42609&t202kw=
that talks about a 45 year-old woman with two children getting rid of her wrinkles.  This woman uses RezV anti aging and Dermapril as instructed by Dr. Oz.  This woman is made to seem like the average woman, as she has two children and from an everyday neighborhood in Saint Charles, Missouri.  People feel more comfortable about a product when an “average” woman uses a product and claims that it works.  It seems achievable to get that flawless skin.