reflection

     I think that in this day and age, it is difficult to truly gage the amount of media that we consume on a regular basis. One of the reasons behind this is that we've built up so much immunity to the amount of media that our society bombards us with, because we have been exposed to it our whole lives. After taking this quarter on media literacy, I know that I've questioned my own personality and life and how much of it is genuine and how much of it is has been defined by the influence of the media. It's almost to the point where I wouldn't know who I was had I been born in a different time period, without today's modern technology and mass media-consuming society.
     On this note, I feel as if the ever progressing media of our society will begin to define us, with its advertising, one-sided messages, and unrealistic imitations of reality. If we have already been defined by our consumerism ways and our gross intake of media, how much worse can it get? Sooner or later, companies are going to start renting people for ad space, or creating an entirely new identity for a person in order to represent their company, like the T.V. show Community exemplifies with the character, "Subway" (guess what his motto is. "Eat Fresh." You guessed right).
     I think that from this class, analyzing the media has helped me realize how defined our society has become by the media. It has also helped me to become more aware of the advertising around me and the messages that are portrayed through them. I think this is an essential part to have, of having awareness, as a member of a consumerism culture. Without being aware, we become vulnerable to accepting the messages that the media gives to us as the truth, when in reality, these messages are either fabrications of reality or stereotypes.

Saving Face

     This advertisement popped up on my dashboard while I was ogling over beautiful pictures of Kevin Ray from the best band ever, Walk the Moon. Talk about a distraction. It is an ad for a professional photoshopping company, that is trying to cover up the "blemishes" on the girl's face. The company is probably trying to portray the explicit message that small facial imperfections are not attractive or are socially acceptable. The funny thing is, that's what makes us humans, right? What would we be without imperfections? A society of robot-esque people from Brave New World?
     I think the implicit message that is being portrayed in advertisements such as these is that you are not socially acceptable, meaning your face is ugly, and that you will be lonely because you will have no friends unless you buy this cosmetic product or photoshopping software.
   I know that before I began looking at the media critically, ads like these wouldn't even faze me. It was like looking at the sky and seeing that it was blue. Looking at a billboard on the freeway or the dashboard on your computer and seeing something like this didn't really affect me, which is scary. Have we become so immune to the media's portrayal of normalcy that we not only have accepted it, but it has become our own standard?

Let's not forget about the men now, either. 

George Clooney is like, what, 53 years old now? Dear photoshop industries, stop trying to erase the lines on George's face. They're pretty and I like them, ask any other woman on the street. He probably likes them, too. What if each one has a story? That's like erasing parts of his life. That is morbid and inhumane, you're making him into a robot. JUST SAY NO to dehumanizing George Clooney and his face!

The "Fighting Fucktoy": MissRepresentation

     My guy friends ask me, "Charlotte, why don't you like action movies? Do you only watch old movies and rom-coms?" No, fo yo information I only watch old movies and QUALITY rom-coms, thank very mucho. But for more reason behind this, it's because I cannot sit through an entire movie where the only female actress is wearing a cleavage-showing, tight, black catsuit, and the only time words come out of her mouth are when she is trying to seduce a man. Because, duh, obviously that's all women are good for.
   This model that is used in action movies, an obscene but accurate term that is used in MissRepresentation which was called the "Fighting Fucktoy," is a perfect example of the stereotype that women must use their sexuality to gain empowerment. When was the last time you saw an action movie where all of the male characters are scantily clad and have to use their sexualization as an illusion  that they are empowered? Yeah, didn't think so. 
     It usually doesn't happen the other way around, because action films are geared towards adolescent boys. This young and highly impressionable audience of males then take the message that girls and women are only meant for a limited number of things: for their sexual appearance and their physical bodies. Consequently, this makes young teenage boys take this model of women that they see in the action movies and portray it onto the girls and females in their lives. This is totttttaaaallly warped, because Hollywood is not a reflection of reality. Lets repeat that. HOLLYWOOD IS NOT A REFLECTION OF REALITY.
     Despite this fact, a woman from MissRepresentation stated that we are still "a nation of teenage boys." She was saying that even though times have changed and women have made huge milestones in the past x number of years, blah blah blah, women are still viewed and portrayed as inferior to men, open to scrutinization and objectification from the public and society.