from: Lauren
Let's face it; the media might as well control our lives. In today's society the media reaches out to everyone no matter his or her age, race or gender. Young teens especially seem to let the media mold them into what is ideal. The young girl in the photos sits on the floor in front of a "trendy" magazine. The magazine represents the media and how teens try to mimic what is "in" in order to fit in. Although technically I photographed a teenager, the girl doesn't look old enough to be one, this was done purposely. I specially used a young girl to show that, even girls who aren't teens yet try to portray themselves as being older and more mature. Her hair, make-up and excess make-up accessories surrounding her in the photograph represents how much the young girl must go through to meet society's idea of beauty. There is a small mirror in the corner of the picture but the young girl seems to ignore it and focus more on the magazine in hopes of achieving the looks of the two models shown. The high heels in the picture are there to give to young girl a boost, a boost in height physically and in her appearance to make her seem as though she is older than she really is. The media, especially these trendy magazines, make it seem as though in order to be beautiful all of us have to be a flawless Cosmo Girl.
9 comments:
I think this photo demonstrates what young girls really do. They see a beautiful older teenager or young adult posing in a magazine or TV and the want to be just like them. Young girls thing that they have to ware and excess amount of make up, have their hair a certain way, and dress a certain way or they are not beautiful. What these girls should be taught through the media is that beauty is who you are not what you look like. This picture perfectly shows how much effect media has on our children.
I think that this photo truly demonstrates how girls are perceived within our society. It shows us what girls go through on a daily basis so that they can be seen as beautiful. Images of stick thin models and celebrities are plastered everywhere we turn our heads; yet we wonder why little girls get these ideas in their heads that beauty is solely based on looks. Little girls think that to be beautiful and successful in our society they need to look like, and in some cases act like, these women. What we should be teaching our little girls is that true beauty is on the inside, and that women should not have a set beauty standard.
This picture definitely conveys the message that children now a days have been persuaded to move towards so called perfection since their child hood. Media has been successfully able to print such a mimicking image of beautiful women in the fragile mind of children, which they later think those women to be an ideal and successful people, and tries to imitate those characters like in this picture. Here this young girl has no clue about being an ideal and successful woman. She has no idea how a beautiful woman should look like, or how should they be a successful and ideal. She is just imitating what she saw in the media, and how the media had reflected the image of a beautiful and ideal woman in that girl’s mind. The media constantly focuses on the physical appearance rather than towards the intellectual side; and when the messages are conveyed, most of it has to do with the body image and sexuality rather than having a moral thought. Emphasis on physical appearance and body type are prevalent even in children's television commercials, and popular teen magazines heavily emphasize fashion, beauty, and stereotypical female roles. Females are bombarded with media images throughout childhood and adolescence which they carry with themselves through out their life bringing certain changes in the path, but the media should not tell the children of such a young age to follow fake attributes in the name of fashion, rather they should be told that beauty is about who you are and does not have to be necessarily how you look, because beauty is in the eye of beholder.
In this picture, it is apallingly aparent how little childhood is valued. In this day in age, there are no young girls to look up to who act like young girls. There is a gap in the media; there is nothing for these girls who are in between stages of life. (Not children and not teenagers/women.) While there are plenty of the "wild child" types to be seen and heard in the daily pages of gossip columns, internet news sites, and even on television, there is nothing real, nothing tangibly steadfast. To find a girl this age who is focused on the "real," rather than what she thinks she needs to become, would be a rarity indeed.
I'd have to agree with you what you said about Media controlling everyone's lives, as well as everyday activities. The photo you took is a perfect example of that. Young girls shouldn't be worrying about make-up and how they look, as much as they do. Media puts so much stress on todays youth, this picture captures that. Great job.
I think that the little girl trying to be grown up in this picture demonstrates how society today puts immense pressure on girls to grow up faster and look older then they are suppose to. Also now days you see more and more pre-teen girls dressing and looking older then they really are. I think that this is a very sad reality of our society.
This picture takes me back to when I was young, getting into my older cousins make up bag when she was not around. It's terrible that young girls feel the need to cover up their innocently flawless faces. I nanny 11 and 13 year old girls and they are so mad that their mom won't let them wear make up. When I try to add "YOU DON'T NEED IT!" I just remember back to when I was young and so badly wanted mascara and blush. Girls can only learn from what they see.
As the article states, a Cosmo girl really is what girls of today try to be. Instead of focusing on their futures or their families, young girls suddenly get caught up in what they are going to wear tomorrow. The media has influenced us in such a way that we almost don't realize we are being influenced. When we go into the mall we tend to walk into the most popular stores and we tend to wear what we see everyone else wearing. It's not uncommon for people to dress the way their friends do. Yet the world becomes a more boring place day after day because we lose more and more of our individuality the more we conform.
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