The "winners" of this competition are usually young, wealthy (or so they seem) women with nice hair, good skin, impeccable makeup and the most stylish clothes. Because of this the media becomes obsessed with starlets caught in sweatpants without makeup. It seems as if they are off their game. With these pictures some stars fall off their pedestal, if they turn out not to be attractive without the glamour. Others will skyrocket even higher because it is obvious they are beautiful even without a makeup artist and stylish behind them. One such example is of Jennifer Lawrence, a rising star from her lead role as Katniss Everdeen in the international sensation The Hunger Games. In these pictures she is caught on a grocery run without makeup. Because she is so beautiful without makeup, she has been talked about in the media even more. This has won her, and her movie, even more attention.
The competition of beauty has turned into a game for some. Mark Zuckerberg's initial website Facemash, a preemptor to Facebook, was designed to have Harvard students vote on which students where the hottest by comparing their student ID pictures. Today, Facebook profile pictures are usually a person's most attractive picture they can find. This is because we know we are being compared against our friends, and our friends' friends everyday online.
There are many jokes about the game of looking good. For example the Jenna Marbles video with over 38 millions views "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" is a hilarious example of people who try a little too hard with their hair and makeup, and instead go from looking attractive, to just plain ridiculous.
If you Google search "how to look pretty" you will get 2.4 billion hits. This is an incredible obsession with beauty, and the game of pursuing it. TV shows, magazines, websites, movies, and entire books focus on how to make yourself the best version of you, to put you into competition with the rest. I am not saying this is good, or bad, but a fact of life that dominants many of our daily decisions. The competition of beauty should not be taken lightly, but as a serious game we all play every single day.
It is so true that looking your absolute best is like a game. In a way, you want to look better than all other girls and you also try and compete against yourself. Each day, you want to pick out an outfit that makes you look better than the previous day. I think it is a shame at what a competition it is to look your absolute best. With celebrities, they can't go anywhere without looking better than the next or they get ridiculed for it. Ridicule is every where whether it be in the magazines for who wore it better or best/worst dressed or on TV on Fashion Police. The fact that so many people cannot step out of the house in comfy sweats and glasses as opposed to contacts is unfortunate and our society that we live in and feed into is responsible.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that the competition of beauty is like a game. First, I find it so sad that the media pinpoints stars when their faces aren't caked with makeup. It sends a horrible message to the public, especially to young children. It's absurd that they are being harassed for not looking spot on when they should just be focusing on something more substantial and something that a person can actually control. Or, at the very least it should focus on something that is not horrifically superficial.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I received a chain email comparing Michelle Obama to other global leaders. They basically found any and every picture where she was wearing a casual outfit and labeled her as a mess. As the First Lady, her appearance undoubtedly does matter. For better or for worse, appearances are important. However, in this chain letter, they really did take it too far. I agree that looking your best and the overall competition of beauty is a game - I just think people need to stop playing it so much!