Modeled Behavior‏

From: Tenequa

This photo symbolizes an eleven year old girl’s view of how she is supposed to look once she “grows up”.  Little girls are exposed to an array of images throughout their childhood that show them exactly what it means to be beautiful. This photo is taken from an angle off to the side in order to make the main focal point be the reflection of the little girl in the mirror. Not only is there a mirrored reflection of the little girl doing her makeup. But there is also the reflection of a photo with pop-culture icon Lady Gaga placed next to a Lady Gaga impersonator doing her makeup. With the headlines stating “I’ve spent $100K to Look Like Lady Gaga!” Numerous girls see images like this and think “I want to look just like that girl one day.” Or, “I wish I was a beautiful as that girl.” The magazine on the far right side shows Dancing with the Stars celebrity guest Julianne Hough surrounded by pink girly beauty products with headlines stating “Look Great, Do Good!”.  These images unintentionally deteriorate little girl’s self-esteem. Magazines show young girls such as this little girl exactly how they can achieve that model image all while full filling the definition of being considered beautiful.

The focus is not just on the girl’s reflection and magazines but also on all of the beauty products on the counter top. For a professional makeup artist all of these various products represent a chance of individual creativity compacted into different sized bottles and tubes. But, for a little girl these bottles and tubes represent only one thing. Beauty. In order for this photo to hit its true symbolic representation it needed to stay in its natural color without any filters or obnoxious lighting enhancements. There is just enough light around the image as a whole to make all of the items visible to the naked eye (girl’s reflection in the mirror, magazine, and makeup). But yet the light bulb itself is not captured in the image. For most women having light while doing makeup is essential. Light allows one the ability to see all things placed in front of them. An image containing light would distract one from seeing all things placed in front of them. Clearly this little girl would not want to be distracted by the light while doing her makeup.

Who says that the definition of beauty is layers of makeup caked onto your face? Little girls will continue to look up to these images that society deems as beautiful women.  Why can’t a woman still be considered beautiful in her natural beauty? If society showed images of women in their natural beauty young girls would have a better real life definition of what real beauty is. After all there is a saying that the true beauty comes from within.