From: Alyssa
Media has a significant impact on the way children view things and how they should be when it is not always achievable or needed. Media has affected me and my personal image, and I can only imagine the damage it is going to do on young children these days since the internet and media is a huge factor in socialization and children's play. In “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood” toys are heavily talked about as the main point of the reading. I am mentioning this because I do not see toys heavily used nowadays. Children often have a tablet or some electronic of some sort.
In my photograph, I show my younger sister who is 9 years old using her tablet to watch TikTok. The title I have decided to use is “Pretty to Prettier” because on her tablet, she is watching a TikTok where a plastic surgeon shows the before and after of a woman’s nose job. The plastic surgeon that posted the TikTok put “Pretty => Prettier” over the photo he took of the woman. Things like these are making young girls feel like their features can become “prettier” and you can change how you look easily. This is making young girls feel like they need to look a certain way to fit a beauty standard that is constantly changing. I do not think this is healthy whatsoever. Social media can heavily affect girls’ mental health, and this makes me worried for the future because media is heavily influencing young minds. Another point being made in my photograph is that the toys in the background are stacked up highly, not being used. The point being made is that no matter how many toys my sister has, she will still resort to her tablet being her favorite form of entertainment, although it is blindly damaging.
The creative techniques I used in my photograph involve closed space, taking up space, foreground/background, and symbolism. The photograph being up close shows it is personal. The foreground is what you see first which my sister is looking at her tablet, and in the background, there are multiple toys and stuffed animals. This also shows symbolism because my sister sees her tablet first and then her toys are left in the background.
2 comments:
From: Sydney
Hi Alyssa, I think your photo is really great. I love the way the toys are bursting out of the closet in the background. I feel like the background conveys a lot here, which is impressive because in my opinion, using background to make a point about your photo is harder than using foreground to do so. I noticed that the height of all the toys dwarfs the size of your sister. I’m not sure if that was intentional on your part, but it’s definitely a creative element that adds to the photo’s impact. Even with this massive pile of toys towering over her (stacked so high it seems like they might fall on her), your sister is still opting to play with the small tablet. She isn’t bothering to look at the toys at all. I also think it was smart to have her not looking at the camera. I think it’s fair to say you are using “gaze” here because her gaze is transfixed on the tablet. I am shocked that plastic surgery content is being promoted to her on Tiktok because she is so young. Reviving Ophelia and Miss Representation speak extensively about the negative influence of media on young girls and I think your photo connects with that idea. It doesn’t matter how many toys she has at her fingertips – they won’t be able to captivate her attention like Tiktok can. You’re right that she probably doesn’t notice the influence of the tablet, either. We are also looking at her looking at the tablet, so the gaze of the photo manipulates the viewer into paying attention to the tablet as well. It isn’t until we have stared at the tablet for a while that we notice the other interesting elements of the photo (ex. the closet teeming with toys). I think this helps the viewer understand that it doesn’t matter how old we are – it is easy for anyone to get sucked in by the allure of technology.
From: Lucy
Hello Alyssa,
Your article definitely caught my attention! I like the fact that you used a younger target audience to demonstrate how older people think, I agree that it all does start from a young age. Social media today has changed the way one thinks of themselves without even putting a second thought into it. For a young girl to see that her appearance can get “prettier’ than how she already is can cause a big attraction for her, because who doesn’t want to look better? But also in a more safer and natural way of expressing natural beauty which social media does not express.
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