Young girls often become victims of absurd beauty standards set by society, more specifically set by men. We hear the phrase “pretty hurts” and automatically associate “true beauty” with physical and mental pain. In this image I aim to portray both sides of female culture in todays society. On the left you see a young woman smiling, showing her straight white teeth, wearing flawlessly lined red lipstick, hair up and done, and wearing a crown, sash and gown. This is meant to represent the exterior “perfection” that society expects to see from women. Smiling big until your cheeks hurt, straight posture, and not a hair out of place. I decided a white background would be fitting to use due to the fact that colors are often associated with emotions, in this case white represents purity and wholesomeness, which is what women should always aim to achieve. On the right I wanted to show the inner emotions and pain that is often ignored because it can be unsettling and is not beautiful enough to talk about and bring to light. In this image, the same young girl smiling on the left, is now crying with mascara streaming down her face, that same flawless lipstick is now smudged, and her hair is anything but perfect. There is a shadow behind her which is meant to symbolize the darkness that can follow you around once you become overly obsessed with outside validation. The toxic mental state that one begins to endure, becomes a burden that must be carried around. The girl is in the center of the image, and is looking directly into the camera, which makes the image feel personal and almost like a cry for help. I decided to use a border for this image and I chose yellow as its color because yellow portrays happiness, and as a women you are constantly expected to look and act happy, which can begin to feel like you are trapped in a box, and are restricted to only feeling one emotion. In Laura Greenfields Girl Culture Essay, she demonstrates how girls try to fit into a mold created by society and how beauty norms can damage anyone’s self-esteem. She spoke about young girls trying to fit in with their peers, trying to fit into clothes that the outside world considers beautiful and sexy, and just how far girls will go to seek validation, despite the damage it may do to their conscience. Personally I feel that Lauren Greenfields photo essay, as well as my photo, demonstrates the scrutiny that women face living in a mans world and have to look a certain way to be deemed as “good enough”, “worth it”, and/ or “beautiful”.
5 comments:
From: Brianna
The picture that you created was very well thought out and is very creative. Splitting the photo in half with one side colorful and the other black and white was very important to the picture because it is showing the hidden emotions and feelings that women experience every single day. Beauty norms are forced onto so many women and if they do not stay within those norms they are seen as simply not pretty enough. Society is based around the thoughts and beliefs of men and what they think of women. The one side of the picture having the girl crying is representing that beauty really is pain because women feel the need to obtain these beauty norms and it only upsets them and hurt them physically and mentally. The other side showing a girl all happy and perfect is almost never the case and it is representing the norms that are set on women and is expected of them, but it only leads them to be more like the other side because it is hard to have these expectations and it only leads to women having insecurities and hating themselves. Women and all beings need to be loved for who they are and stop having beauty norms and expectations put on them and they simply just need to be accepted in society. The picture was put together very well and having the focus on the girl rather than the background gets your point across about the beauty norms that are set on women.
From Alex:
You photo really caught my attention! The two creative techniques that really stood out to me similarity/ difference and symbolism. The picture is of one girl in the same dress but she is split in half to emphasize the difference between her emotions. Our society's beauty norms focus on how you look physically and not the mental and emotional toll it has on women. You can have one but not the other or even both. This picture symbolizes "pretty hurts" very well. In the colored side of the photo she is smiling, most likely happy, and has her tiara on. In the dark side of the photo, she is sad, frowning, and her make-up is smudged. The darkness symbolizes the emphasis on how girls emotions are kept in "the dark" in order to stay within the beauty norms and to not be rejected. This picture really ties in with the emphasis on if you are pretty that equals happiness but at the end of the day it leaves a lot of women feeling empty and self-conscious.
From Susana:
Your photo really caught my eye. The creative techniques you used were very representative of all women, what caught my attention the most was the background, a woman has it blank that can represent many things, which for me represents the purity and innocence of a woman, instead the other represents darkness that can be pain or sadness. There are also the clothes, the look and the makeup, the look represents a lot, one is happy and smiling, while the other is sad and tearful. Clothes in one should be arranged like a princess and elegant makeup, while the other is stirred with smeared makeup. The camera angle is front, many times it can represent confidence or the opposite. But what I liked most about the photo is the symbolism of the photo on the right side that has a shadow that represents something very hidden within what others cannot see but can feel or intuit in the photograph. I think the color of the frame also has a lot to do with the color chosen by Madison, the yellow color represents joy, of which the photo on the left shows it a lot, but in the one on the right, the joy is not perceived. but on the contrary. In my opinion your photo is very good and interesting, I liked the angles and the colors were very significant, but they are things that sometimes represent or truly symbolize a woman, sometimes we put masks when it is reality, we feel the opposite, so for me it was very symbolize your photo.
Your photo has so many different techniques that it really caught my eye. One of the first things that I noticed was how one is more bright and seemed more cheery, while the other side had a big shadow in the background and was just darker. The techniques that you used can be used for all women such as the gaze for both sides. One side has this almost vibrant and happy gaze that seems like they are happy and the other side she looks as if she is zoned out and looks so upset. Another technique that I noticed was the symbolism in the colors that you used. I thought it was interesting how you used the yellow in the border and had it down the center as well. I like how everything in you photo has a meaning and a purpose such as the yellow representing happiness, the white on the side where she is happy so show innocence and the shadow/grey to show sadness. I think your photo is really well put together and is full of creative techniques such as the camera angles, her gaze on both sides and the colors you chose to have in your photo.
^From Sarah:
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