This
twenty-first century is a century of mass-media. The mass-media is everywhere,
we are exposed to it and we hardly can escape from it. The magazines,
newspapers, TV shows have their own definition of beauty, which is: skinny is
beautiful. They have been shaping human mind so much and have been so
successful to it that most people, especially teenagers, believe that no matter
how pretty your eyes, nose , lips,…, are if you are not skinny, you are not
beautiful. That phenomenon affects some people to an extent that those people
are in war with healthy eating habits. They let those media tells them what to
not eat in order to be “beautiful” and most of time by applying all those don’t
they end up eating only vegies. People should not change their eating habits
just to fulfill the criteria of beauty given by the mass-media.
Nearly
most of the pictures we have seen, such as magazine pictures, posters and
brochures, have either been edited or created thanks to Photoshop. Most of the
mass-media, especially the magazines, manipulate the photographs in their
magazines. That phenomenon is so popular that even seeing a model on billboard
vs. seeing that same model in real life might be disturbing because of the
difference between the model in real life and the “artificial” model on the
billboard. That couldn’t have been better demonstrated by the video from Dove
in its campaign for real beauty. This video named The Evolution of Beauty: Dove Campaign for Real Beauty shows the
make-up process that the model has to go through and it is followed by an
electronic aesthetical surgery made with Photoshop. Unfortunately, the young
lady who sees that billboard thinks that not only she should look like a “computerized
picture” but also that she must look likes that picture no matter what. While
that young lady is trying hard to achieve her goal of looking like a Photoshop
picture, photographers are learning new Photoshop special techniques to get the
most out of their images. That will, therefore make that young lady in a perpetual
competition against technology.
Some
mass-media plant the seeds of an extraordinary fear of weight gain in people’s
brain. They terrorize people, like terrorists do. Those mass-media are silent
terrorists, murderers in the shadow. They make some people think that if they
are not skinny, they are not beautiful. Therefore some people take unbelievable
resolutions towards their eating habits, out of fear. Some of those resolutions
put those people on the path of death. The first step being to fall in eating
disorders illnesses like anorexia nervosa or bulimia, the second step in some
cases is the Hereafter, death. Indeed, according to Reflections, an eating
disorders treatment center, the mortality rate among people with anorexia has
been estimated at 0.56 percent per year, or approximately 5.6 percent per
decade, which is about 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all
causes of death among females ages 15-24 in the general population. That “crave
for skinny” is making some family lose their beloved ones too soon and some
mass-media are responsible for those death.
Beauty
is beyond the physical appearance and a well-nourished stomach contributes to
beauty. Real beauty is not seen through our physical appearances, but real
beauty is seen through our actions. Being beautiful doesn’t necessarily mean
being on the cover of a magazine. Everybody in a way or another is beautiful.
We all have something to offer to the society, to make it better and that’s why
we all are beautiful. The only everlasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.
That beauty stand the test of time. Our physical beauty, as we get holder,
tends to fade away, whereas our inner beauty tends to be stronger as we get
holder. Being beautiful also means being happy. A happy stomach helps to be a
happy person. God gave us such a variety of good food, so one’s should let
his/her stomach enjoy the mercy of God. While in some parts of the World some
people are starving to death because of poverty, some mass-media promote
starvation for the sake of beauty. Why should one trust so much some mass-media
when it comes to beauty? After all it is known that “Beauty lies in the eye of
the beholder.” Isn’t it time for all of us to see beauty through our own eyes,
instead of “mass-media’s eye”?
Some
mass-media have a negative impact on eating habits of people. Those mass-media
publish brochures, pictures that have been manipulated, thanks to Photoshop.
They also place an unconditional fear of gaining weight in some people’s brain.
Furthermore, those mass-media give a distorted view of beauty to the public.
Life is too short for one’s to allow others to live one’s life. Everybody
should have his or her own vision of beauty and fulfill his or her criteria of
beauty without making drastic changes towards his or her eating habits. Be is
not about following blindly the bulk, but Be is about standing for what we
believe. The easiest way to “miss” one’s own life is to follow blindly.
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(2010): 20-21. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 July 2011.
Maynard, W. Barksdale.
"Thoreau's House at Walden." Art Bulletin 81.2 (1999): 303. Academic
Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Nov. 2002.
Roberto Tatarefli, et al.
"Suicide in anorexia nervosa: A meta-analysis." International
Journal of Eating Disorders 36.1 (2004): 99-103. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. Web. 12 July 2011.
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