So Mom, have you ever wondered why women buy makeup? You and I don’t wear that much, but when I was paging through my Teen Vogue, I wondered why some people spend so much money just to look a little bit younger or a bit less splotchy. As women have gained rights within society, we have also become more constrained by expectations of how we should look. Susan Bordo believes women’s bodies become ‘docile bodies’; we become numbed by regulations and concentrate purely on trying to perfect our bodies. Women lose social power when they become more self-oriented. Admittedly, even knowing this, I find myself wanting to try out the charcoal eye shadow in Harper’s Bazaar, shown above. It’s just so darn pretty! And that’s how they get us, I think. We as the subjects maintain the makeup industry because their ads work. I do want to look like a model with perfect makeup and hair, even if it isn’t a huge deal and totally is not worth the amount of time lost trying.
What position do you take on the feminism-feminine culture debate? Every makeup section of target and tv advertisement asks us to take a position: whether or not we will choose to believe our inferiority and buy the product, or whether we believe our bodies are just fine the way they are now. Self-consciousness sells extremely well in every culture to women of every age.
Makeup says a lot about what a culture considers important, actually. America sells a lot more bronzer than a country which values pale skin, such as China or Japan. Why do we always want to become what we can’t? Some of it can probably be blamed on the businesses selling women makeup products. Inter-textual themes in makeup advertising always, always include self-improvement. If your eyes are too small, you can make them look bigger! You can grow longer lashes, cover up an oily complexion, look ten years younger, and even whiten the color of your skin. Even ads which claim to embrace the natural female beauty have underlying themes which suggest women need their product specifically to feel naturally beautiful (ahem Dove).
My stance is for everything in moderation. I’m not particularly concerned with the way I look, but I do like to put on some eyeliner or lipstick for fun once in a while. Maybe once women can accept that we all look differently and celebrate that fact, advertisements may change their inter-textual themes to something a bit more positive.
I completely related to the part when you said you wanted to look like the model with perfect hair and makeup even it was a waste of time. I think we all buy into ads way too much and think that once we look that certain way we'll be happier. Not even close to being true..
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to get away from the power of advertising though! It's super effective without us even realizing it.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post! It is amazing how effective advertising can be. I also want to look like the models in the magazines and find myself wanting to buy the products they're promoting even though I know they have professionals to do their makeup and there is no way I would be able to replicate how they did it. I also really agree with your comment about self-consciousness sells really well. I know I'm always more drawn to the adds promoting products that claim to improve the areas I'm most self-conscious about. This was a really good idea to write about. I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteAhahaha. I completely agree. Everything in moderation. The way the female image is so strongly focused on in our society, you're pretty much bound to be thinking about how you look(even if some may say otherwise). It essentially comes down to you knowing when to wear what and how much to wear. I do have a friend who has a ridiculous amount of makeup, but never wears any of it. I can't help but wonder if it's because she's too easily influenced yet too lazy to use some of it or if it's because she's too easily influenced by the ads, but not by the idea of having to wear it herself? Does that even make any sense? Well, let's just say I can't help but think about it.
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