This photo represents the increasing and excessive standards that men and the media set for women to look like. The media teaches us to put on so much makeup so that we hide every flaw on our face that the media tells us that we, as women, should be ashamed of. The media tells us that we should always be presented in a certain way: always have your hair looking nice, legs shaved, eye brows waxed and filled in, etc. I wanted to portray that in this photo by putting on an excessive amount on makeup on my face in order to show how powdered and clear the media wants your face to look all the time. You can see on my face that the amount of foundation on my skin covers any freckles or skin flaws, natural things that we are taught to be ashamed of. I made my makeup look as if I was crying in order to show how the media instilling these beliefs into girls growing up emotionally diminishes them. The tears represent the pain that women go through when they feel that they are not good enough or pretty enough because they cannot look like the ideal standard of a woman created by the media. We are taught at a young age to cover our flaws but when we cover them we only become more insecure of what is underneath and I wanted to portray that insecurity and vulnerability through the tears running down my face. Men have control over the majority of the media and of what sets the standards for how women should look and how they should act and I incorporated that into my photograph by the tape over my mouth that says: “it’s a man’s world, right?” Not only does the tape represent how bias and monopolized by men the media is but how it also represents how we as women are silently following these standards. Girls grow up looking at magazines and watching movies or television shows aspiring to look like these women who do not even naturally look like that. Young girls do not understand photoshop and how the media further manipulates a photo into this impossible standard for women and grow up with insecurities or, in extreme cases, even eating disorders in order to look like these false photos. The tape over my mouth simulates how women who spend hours putting on makeup everyday to hide their flaws are not speaking out to these issues. These women are allowing the media to control their mind and their view of themselves or their worthiness based on a standard that no woman will ever be able to live up to.
1 comment:
From: Hannah
This photo uses a few different techniques to get the photographers point across. The first thing I noticed was the use of color, the completely white background draws the viewer’s attention to the woman in the photo. The lack of any background objects, colors, or “noise” really provides a sense of importance to what is in the foreground. Next, the way the photographer used framing. The way that the woman’s face takes up most of the space also shows the importance of her topic, and we can see all the details of the face that are important to her point. For example, we can more closely see the amount of makeup she uses. The only real color other than white and black used in this photograph was on the duct tape covering the woman’s mouth. This was done to stand out and be the absolute center of the photographer’s main concept. The duct tape has words that say, “It’s a man’s world, right?’ This is what is most noticed and seen first by viewers and provides the context for the photo. The story that this picture is conveying is that the woman feels silenced and muted with the beauty industry that is predominately run by men. She cannot speak out and change things and is therefore stuck conforming to beauty norms set by large makeup companies. She uses a lot of makeup including powder and foundation to cover up natural parts of the face such as freckles. We can also see how distressed the viewer is, through the running makeup and the distant look in her eyes.
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