Blog 4 - Body Image

Media, Advertising, Body Image, and Such

The media has created a society that expectations on who they are supposed to be. Women seem to get hit the hardest and have the most expectations. Advertisements were one major source of creating these “ideas” of who each of us is supposed to be. The people in power are a select few rich white men, who do not care about the people of this country. We are just a tool for them to us for money. These men own the few television channels that there are, thus controlling every detail shown on our television screens. They have the power to visually inform us on whatever they choose.

Forbes Magazine 2018

There are actually six people in charge of the six media corporations. Of course these people are all white and all males. The companies still in existence are as follows: National Amusements, Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast, News Corp, and Sony. Currently, Comcast has raked in the most money and is worth $148.2 billion. The owner is Brian Roberts, who brings in a whopping $40.8 million a year.

Brain Roberts 2018

Comcast has many assets including stations like Bravo, all NBC groups, E Network, Universal, Syfy, and Hulu. If Hulu is run by the person who runs NBC, then I would imagine that Hulu original series follow some of the same guidelines as the prime cable network. Currently, the NBC Fall line up is: Will & Grace, This is Us, Blindspot, The Good Place, some medical shows, and your Sunday football. Honestly, this is not a bad line up compared to other networks, like CBS who has The Big Bang Theory and would not pay the two supporting actresses very much money, even though they sort of quickly became primary cast members. The point is, that since these networks are all under the same control, they are all going to premiere media that has been censored by the same people. In this case, the portrayal of women is going to be the same across all these networks. Fortunately, these shows seem to show women in an equal light as the male stars. Will & Grace is a great example of this and the cast is all being paid the same. I’m sure that was not how it was when the show had its first run, but currently they are paid very well and equally. However, women are still shown as men obsessed. This is Us is all about relationships between men and women. Will & Grace shows the stereotypical struggle of a woman in Manhattan in her 40’s that is single and can’t find love, but all she wants is a man. It would be nice for media to allow women to worry about other things besides men. This goes back to previous readings in class, that expressed this same concern. Why aren’t their sources that show women struggling with anything besides men. Even in The Good Place, Kristen Bells’ character is struggling with feelings for another main co-star. It makes me wonder if a show would be interesting if it did not focus on the relationship goals of women.

The Good Place promotional photograph 2016

Advertising has a huge impact on the way women view themselves and who they should be. In the article The Media and Body Image by Wykes Gunthers, the author states, “The attractiveness of a slender female shape was established by research in the 1970’s and 1980’s with women consistently estimating that men preferred a thinner shape than they did. Ironically, as women have preferred more slender shapes ideally, so the actual size of women has increased, except of course in the mediated world of fashion….”(Gunthers, 216). Out of all of the readings this stuck out the most to me. It is interesting to learn the exact time in which advertisers were studying women to see how to attract them to buy products. In addition, as women desired a thin figure… they became bigger. I can only imagine that poor self-esteem led to weight gain. The big magazines around today are Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and People.

Vogue September 2018

                                                

                                                         Vogue July 2018

Vogue January 2011 

On the cover, you will consistently see the same formula because clearly it is making women feel so bad that they buy the magazine. When I was doing some research about Vogue magazines recently issues, I found out something not about women, but just as important. I found the September 2018, which had Beyoncé on the cover, was the first time in the 126-year history of Vogue that a black person has taken the cover photo for the magazine. For a magazine that portrays itself as being iconic and ahead of the pact, then how have they just decided to allow a black person to photograph the issue? Apparently, it wasn’t even the magazine’s decision. Beyoncé is the one that chose the photographer. I think it is outrageous. Anyways, the magazine has a tendency to show famous female celebrities that are attempting to look natural, thin, and effortlessly glamorous. These women aren’t natural. Most have had work done, diet, and work out religiously. It is not easy following unhealthy standards.

Vogue April 2014

Taking a look at Kim & Kanye on the Vogue magazine cover, we see exactly what we are learning from the readings and class when it comes to how we view women and people in general. Kim is arguably the most famous person on the planet. She is not the typical body shape that the media used to focus on, but she has altered her body to set a trend for what the perfect body is now. You can either be skinny or you can have big lips, big boobs, a big butt, and a little tiny tiny waist that looks as if you maybe have one rib left. Even though her beauty might be unconventional, she still follows the standard practice of having the perfectly symmetrical heavily “beat” face and a tiny waist. Thus, she is a product of what the media has made us feel we need to be. If she did not get plastic surgery she would not be the representation of perfection in our society. However, she most likely felt pressure to change her appearance. I think this makes sense, since her entire family have all gotten the exact same work done to all have this thin yet curvy body. Magazine’s also typically have text on the front talking about how you can detox or what new products are a must have. Vogue tends to be a bit better about what they put on the front. They say things like, “I will have what she is having—Beauty secrets of women you envy”. How degrading is that? First of all, everyone has a different body, metabolism, skin, etc.

In the end, it is not okay that there are only six people in charge of what we see on television and in movies. It is crazy at the small amount of people in powerful positions and the lack of diversity. These white men hold the power of the world in their hands. Advertising is another enormous way of reaching out to the masses. Magazine covers show the perfect woman and inside has advertisements that are meant to make women feel they need the product to look amazing.