Monday, March 31, 2008

The revolution of beauty

Watch the top clip first then the bottom



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U&feature=related

vs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD5Hadlhr1M&feature=related

I've only seen the real Dove advertisement before and after researching it a little I came across what I believe to be a phenomenal form of culture jamming. Personally, I think they are both amazing. I believe I am a very open minded person, and in saying that I think to help other people do the same both advertisements should be played together.Our perception of beauty IS flawed. To many people, the image of this man dressed as a woman is beautiful. I think this would be such a controversial ad and the reactions would be very interesting,different and I think ranging from inspired to insulted. If you compare the two ads, they are exactly the same. Besides the fact that one is of a woman and one is of a man becoming a woman. Why is it that when we see the ad of the woman being transformed into this picture perfect model we say "oh man, that's messed up" and just go back to watching TV. But if the other ad came on television I bet you would be getting a few phone calls to the network that was airing it. I would love for Dove to put their name on that billboard as part of their "campaign for beauty". "Drag Queens can be pretty too" -Dove
Its messed up. If these ads show anything its that we live in a totally edited world. We know about airbrushing and that we can eliminate red eye! It makes me pretty nauseous to think about how often we forget that people aren't perfect. Now, kudos to Dove because they must have gotten more than a few fans after the campaign for beauty ads. No offence to dove, I think it's probably bullshit. They know how to market a product, it's what advertising is all about. When Dove gets the guts to air this other version of a similar ad (although they didn't create it) I will re-post with praise.

Do I control my media...or does my media control me?

I have to say that I think it's a constant battle between the two. I personally know I try to keep myself separate from whats considered "cool". I didn't buy into ugg boots, I don't own an ipod, I don't read US weekly/perez hilton.com and I can go a whole day without using my cell phone. Which is more than I can say for most of my friends. I do feel however that just because I'm not involved in the popular forms of media It still manipulates me in many ways. What I find with this media course is anything that's thrown at me I tend to believe...which is very gullible of me but I don't know any better. I just assume people aren't lying and I'm just being given all this information I never knew before. Then I'm told the actual truth and I feel like an idiot for trusting all this false information.
I control the amount of media within my own house or car by picking up the remote or turning on my radio but one thing that seems kinda weird is I've been able to manage this entire semester without my own computer. I use to spend hours on my computer every day, for no reason at all just browsing. I found that because of this I've been going back to old methods of sending letters home, which makes me feel pretty good. But since not having 24/hr access to a computer in my place I have been able to step away from things like facebook for long periods of time which gives me a sense of realism again...because lets face it facebook is NOT real life. Real life is conversing face to face. You know people are going to read/stalk your wall so how can anyone be real, you adjust your posts so other view you in the way you want.
Then I think about how often I see ads and billboards that I glance at and automatically think mmm, I kinda want that, so I just contradict my beliefs of not conforming to pop culture. What do you do though when something you truly like is considered "following the trends"? I don't know whether to give in and be seen as a sheep...or give up what I want to try and be different.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

A race to the bottom

I was thinking about what was said in class on Monday about how we desire to look/be different than others in attempt to out do one another. Then when Ian said he went to french all boys catholic school...I think that was it, I got thinking about my own school experience previous to University.

I went to an all girls Anglican school. I spent kindergarden to graduation there and up till about a year ago I thought it had given and taught me all I needed to know to succeed in the outside world.
"Promises the future by invoking the past in the present." My school did just that. They pride themselves on single sex education being the best possible way for women to learn and go far in life. They would reference back to how hard it was for women to succeed in a "mans world" and made sure we knew we could do anything and everything we wanted. ---we weren't even allowed to wear pants! apparently it took away from our feminism.

Now coming to university I was confronted by a huge social change...I realized I had been living in a bubble. It's Ironic that I felt like I could totally be myself all through my school career when actually it was the complete opposite. I looked like everyone else!
the "Rules, Regulations and Respect" of my school:
-no pants, shirts tucked in, kilt length was highly enforced, no piercings, cant chew gum or smoke in uniform even if off campus, no nail polish and on and on...
I was conforming to the ideal student and never knew any different.

My favourite high school story is about my friend, she got her nose pierced graduating year because she felt as though it wasn't a huge deal...it was a tiny stud. First day she had it she was called to the vice principals office, needless to say she was told to take it out. Her response was that she was Hindu (which she very obviously wasn't) and it was part of her religion. She questioned why all the other girls who were Hindu didn't have to remove their nose rings. After about 3 weeks of threats and fights they gave up because you cant prove what someones religion is at all. (slightly off topic but it reminded me of our talk about rejecting one culture and embracing another)

I basically just wanted to do a reflective response on competitive consumption, because I went to a school were everything was the same. I never really felt that pressure to conform to be better then anyone else, and coming to university all I can say isI kinda want my uniform back.