A forum for Blog Community #2 of CSCL 1001 (Introduction to Cultural Studies: Rhetoric, Power, Desire; University of Minnesota, Fall 2011) -- and interested guests.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Modern insecurities influenced by modern mass media
Plastic surgery. It seems to be a new fad in this modern era. If you don’t particularly like your face or some certain feature on your face or even anywhere else on your body you can just make an appointment and get it fixed. Our culture has developed a body practice that can define who we are and can strip you of your original identity and give you a completely new one. Let’s talk about Botox. It’s the new praxis of the 21st century, along with breast enhancements, but that’s another story. It seems, correct me if I’m wrong, that women turn to Botox more than men. Why is this? Women are more prone to insecurities of the body. They are placed in the spot light of society and examined under a microscope know as the media. Take the show The Real Housewives of Orange County for example. This show depicts women who always look the part: perfect faces, perfect clothing, and perfect social status. Average women she this show and feel insecure about themselves and thus may be more likely to turn to Botox and plastic surgery. We as a culture have become docile to the ways of the media: “if you don’t look perfect, you can be perfect just call this Doctor”. The rhetoric of this issue is that it builds us as a people into insecurities that were normally not there. These insecurities then shape us and we lose our original je ne sais quoi transforming into media controlled puppets.
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I totally agree with this! Its a vicious circle that keeps going around and around! People in the spotlight use plastic surgery to look more 'perfect', regular people see it, and decide they need to look like that too. Then the next big procedure comes out, and it happens again. Your post reminded me of a clip I saw on a tv show called Big Rich Texas. Its pretty similar to the Housewives shows, but it takes place mostly at a country club. Anyways, at this country club at a particular party, this woman starts telling this other woman, who she isnt even close friends with, all the different plastic surgery procedures that she thought the woman needed! It was obviously extremely rude, but it made me think about why people think its okay to say things like that, about personal things such as body image. I agree that the fact that it is now possible to make yourself nearly 'perfect' by getting surgery, it builds insecurities in people, where there used to be none.
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