Media (9)

http://agnijagrigule.tumblr.com/page/7

Find this picture shocking? Most people would. But what people in the fashion industry do not realize is the pressure they put on girls in the 21^st century. Whether it be conscious or not, the idea of being “perfect” has become THE thing for girls our age to stress about. Do you remember when you were 9 years old and you could care less if your clothes matched or if your hair was perfect? I do.

For the past two English classes we have been watching a film called Killing Us Softly starring Jean Kilbourne. This was a very hard film to watch because Kilbourne was so blunt, which was needed. Our minds are filled with ads telling us that we need to look a certain way, eat a certain food, use a certain product, in order for a male to find us attractive, or to be “happy,” and that is just not true.

But we don’t only get this from advertisement, but from TV shows too. In our most recent book The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, she says, “A girl learns that stories happen to “beautiful” women, whether they are interesting or not. And interesting or not, stories do not happen to women who are not “beautiful.”  She is right in saying this. Look at all of your most favorite TV shows. A few of mine are Gossip Girl, 90210, Glee and Grey’s Anatomy. How many times has what one would qualify as a “not beautiful” girl ended up with the dream guy in gossip girl? The same goes for 90210. All of the actresses are stunning and always get their dream guy. The one show that I have watched that does a very good job of portraying real life in a school is glee. Yes, sometimes all of the singing and dancing can seem a little cheesy, but it doesn’t make you wish that you were a size 0 with blonde hair and the perfect clothes every moment that you watch it.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2010111//425.glee.cast3.lc.120110.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b213939_grammy_noms_love_way_you_rap_eminem.html&us....

But things are looking up. In the movie, she said that different countries were beginning to make changes to their magazines that were positive. It’s only a matter of time before the trend starts catching on! Jean mentioned this video in the movie, but I really think that everyone should watch it. My mother emailed it to me whenever it first came out, and it is just refreshing to realize that the models you see in the magazines aren't always perfect. 

Dove Evolution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U