Striving for the Impossible
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Striving For The Impossible
Society is influenced by many things, but media and advertising have to be two of the most lethal influences today. Going deeper into the structure of media and advertising, photoshopping is the leading cause for distorting many minds. Thanks to social constructivism, individuals have an ideal image of an impossible body because they are programmed to believe the standards society portrays to them. This is lucid in the many pictures that magazines publish, in videos, and especially in Barbies. This causes a problem among individuals because the perfection that photoshopping displays is fabricated yet controls the mindsets of many, leaving satisfaction unattainable.
Photoshopping was first invented in 1987, but technology is so advanced lately that computers can form images of faux people, made from distinct features from various others. Thomas Knoll, a doctoral candidate in computer vision, originally created Adobe Photoshop for means of displaying grayscale images on a black-white bitmap monitor. Who knew it would transform into something so perilous? Before its invention, women were still objects of beauty but media and advertising were not at as much fault, unlike today. Though profitable for companies, it is far more critical on a societal level because altering images cannot be beneficial to the people, due to false advertisement. The abuse of photoshop today is a shame, especially when commercialized products are proved to work wonders even though they create undesired results for many.
Among the infected in this photoshop phenomenon, women are victimized more than men are. Women are meant to be beautiful, and must achieve this beauty to receive recognition. However, a great majority of the pictures in magazines however, are photoshopped. These celebrities may be naturally pretty, but they most definitely have flaws, as everyone does. Advertising allows the use of photoshop to promote their products commercially, making women want to feel beautiful by purchasing the products.
Barbie evidently proves that the impossible exists, because her image cannot be achieved. Studies have shown that her body is so disproportional that, if she was living, she would be incapable to function normally. Her measurements would be beyond ridiculous, as she would realistically be around six feet tall, weigh about a hundred pounds, and wear a size four. Back problems would come as no surprise; she would not be able to menstruate, and would have to crawl on all fours due to such tiny feet. [Winterman] The even more upsetting concern is that this doll is made for little girls, who will be raised and be constructed into thinking that they need to look like the doll. This is where the vicious trap lures girls in. Not only is a womans self esteem tampered with, but her self image and satisfaction are also in dire trouble. Age also plays a significant role, as younger women seem to be more problematic in this area than older women are. Because they are more able-bodied, the will to sustain that beauty is more essential. Why do women strive for something so devotedly when it is clearly unattainable?
Though finding a solution to this issue is quite arduous, it begins with awareness. One must be able to address the issue and realize that it is a rising conflict. The definition of beauty has been completely distorted, and as a result, insecurity creeps over the vulnerable. Physical attractiveness is the only essential aspect considered in beauty, when personality in itself is a pure, natural beauty. Many immersed in grasping for this unrealistic ideal assume that appealing people will thrive much more in life due to receiving greater opportunities than those of less attractive people.
In Doll Face, produced by Andrew Thomas Huang, photoshop is expressed as a peril. The film starts out with a robot that has a face, and is staring at a television screen. As the television screen continues to display a certain look that the robot desires, the robot begins to mimic the screen by applying more make up and goes beyond to enhance her features like that of the woman on the screen. The television screen moves further and further away, becoming “prettier” as it travels away. As the robot tries to keep up with the woman in the television screen and tries to satisfy herself, she ultimately fails in the end, and is shattered into pieces. She leads herself to her own downfall, though she is fully aware that she is incapable of going past a certain extent of beauty. [Doll Face]
Just as the robot shattered, a real woman will wear herself away slowly, surely by reaching for that enviable image. Doll Face only supports the notion that disaster is inevitable when one tries to be what society considers “normal”. The normal is policed