For our first fieldwork, we watched a documentary called “Beauty Culture.” It is all about how women are portrayed in the media and what it is like to be a model or trying to be one. I thought it was very striking the levels people would go to to become someone who society wanted them to be. By getting a nose job or making some dramatic change to one’s self, just proves how the media has some control over women. All of the models who try to be thin enough or pretty enough, end up changing who they are. When women are not skinny enough to be a model, often they become anorexic or bulimic. Then they become unhealthily thin and very sick. I thought that the movie was very interesting because I learned more about why people would make these changes to their lives. The main reason was self esteem and how the media really puts pressure on women to be a certain way. I also think it is very interesting to see the things that they tell women who want to become models. They really do not have much of a choice if they are told they aren’t good enough. They either have to do what society wants and make a change that will impact their life, or, they can decide not to be a model. While I was watching the video, I saw how there were these young women, maybe around the age of 17 or 18. They had been told they weren’t skinny enough, so they began dieting and exercising everyday for long periods of time. Some became bulimic, some anorexic. It is sad for me to think of young people being affected by women’s portrayal in the media. These women feel the pressure that the society has on them and feel like they need to change. I think that one way that the media can change its’ portrayal of women is by starting campaigns such as the Arie Real campaign. For the campaign they take photos of the models exactly how they are and don’t add anything to them using photoshop. If more companies start to do things like this, it could potentially make a difference in women’s portrayal in the media.
