No I’m serious.
You see theres this girl I like. But no, I can’t just like her unconditionally. That would be far to damn easy. No, I have to compare her to every fucking celebrity I see on tv. Instead of seeing whats good about her I have to see what could be better about her. I’ll probably never see someone and say, My god, your beautiful. Oh no, I have to look at them and say well, your hair would be better longer and your breasts could just be a smidge bigger. Why? Because there are beautiful near perfect people everywhere. And if their not perfect then hell, they can just get surgery to make them more perfect. I’d like to see some normal looking actors, singers and celebrities. That way if you are lucky enough too see someone breathtaking you can appreciate it. Beauty is being taked for granted. It’s being shoved in my face in every commercial and magazine. Not only does this cheapen beauty it makes those who are say, less than perfection feel like shit. I’m not saying I’m one of those people. I think I look pretty good. And I’m sure with enough make up I could become part of this saturated market of beautiful people.
I’m really sick of all this embedded crap about having to be attractive to be accepted. There more too life and relationships than looks.
So, have I made my point or had this become yet another confusing pit thread?
Wearia, the flaw in your thought process is thinking those people are perfectly beautiful also. They’re not. They just have airbrushing and hair and makeup people and expensive clothes to make them look as perfect as they do.
The fact that you’ve never seen a perfectly beautiful person in real life should clue you in to the possibility that the people you see on tv/movies/magazines may not be as perfect as they seem.
Take a magazine such as Cosmo or Maxim and take a real close look at one of the women modeling in there (color picture, not b&w). I mean, really analyze her. Notice how her skin is one perfect color from head to toe? Notice how she has absolutely no blemishes? Not even a childhood scar. It’s called body makeup and airbrushing the photo. Those women are beautiful, no doubt about that, but they aren’t that beautiful.
If you go through life constantly comparing women to an effect that is impossible for a single person to achieve without magic, you’re going to be solely disappointed.
When I finally become fabulously, insanely, inexplicably rich, I am going to have a crew of people whos job it will be to make me appear magnificent. All photos of me will be airbrushed, all images of me will be god-like. In fact, I am going to have a guy whos job it will be to smear Vaseline on the glasses of anyone who comes near me so as to create that gorgeous soft focus look, or squirt vinegar in the eyes of those without glasses for the same effect. The women will all swoon at my mere shadow, and the men will all hate, and yet admire me.
Turn off the TV. Seriously. And ultress I think you are writing off the OP a bit harshly. Look at the impact media has had on self-image of both women and men. I think it’d be fair to say that most people are heavily influenced by what they see on TV. I think the answer is not to criticise people for not being “strong enough” to resist what to you is obvious garbage, but to suggest ways of avoiding exposure to the sort of message to which we all have proven to be pawns.
Seriously, you need to turn off the TV, put down the magazines, and see the beauty in the people all around you. The fact that life exists at all is a wondrous thing, and every living creature is a rare and precious jewel to be cherished for itself, the opinions of the lonely, peurile Maxim crowd notwithstanding.
I don’t mind the fairy-land that media presents in which everyone is beautiful… Except…
I can’t stand it when the script calls for someone who is homely, and they stick a knockout in there.
I’m sorry, but I really don’t think a film that shows Renée frickin’ Zellweger trying to overcome appearance-related self-esteem issues is doing anyone any good. (Although I admit I enjoyed it.)
Throw a pair of glasses on a hunky guy and direct him to “hunch a bit”, and voila! He’s a socially-outcast geek. (I’m thinking Tobey McGuire here.)
I guess the casting directors feel that if people wanted to look at average-looking people they’d save their $10.[sup]oo[/sup] and go for a walk.
I remember reading a story about a guy who thought his friend had too high standards. One day, at a New York City restaurant, he asked his friend what he thought about one particular women eating there, and the friend dismissed her as “just another bottle-blonde”. The women turned out to be Kim Bassinger. At that point the friend was willing to admit he might have a problem.
I’ve seen my share of the celebs, and they nothing except slightly better then average looking. I’ve seen Jennifer Aniston, and while attractive, I’ve seen far hotter women in say Washington Square Park. Airbrushing really does work wonders.
I saw Angelina Jolie last year at a social studies convention–she was there doing something for the UNHCR–and the woman looks nothing like she does in movies. IRL, she’s short, stick-thin, and no better than OK in the looks department. It’s amazing what make-up, costuming, and retouching photos can do. Don’t try to imitate something that doesn’t really exist.
And as far as the inner qualities vs. looks debate, let me offer you my Blanche Dubois impression:
“Physical beauty is passing, a transitory possession, but beauty of the mind, richness of the spirit, and tenderness of the heart–and I have all these things–do not fade, but grow, increase with the years. How strange it is that I should be called a destitute woman when I have all these treasures locked in my heart.”
