Dream Girls

In dream girls a movie about three amateur singers in a group who make it big a realistic example of issues with body image and society is strongly addressed.  In the movie the main singer is Jennifer Hudson’s character a thick and curvy young woman with two slender backup singers played by Beyoncé Knowles and Anika Rose. The group gets a chance to make it big but first they had to perfect their image for the media. Their producer right off the bat suggest that Beyoncé become the lead singer instead of Jennifer who had the better voice which was obviously due to the fact that Beyoncé had a more athletic body with curves that were very subtle. Beyoncé becomes the lead and “It” girl of the group while Jennifer is left in her shadow being constantly criticized about her weight. This movie touches the topic of body image and Society’s stance on the topic. People only want to see a certain look slender women with flowing hair and a specific size waist when in reality that’s not how all women look. The movie shows how the average women or women that don’t have the “It” image can be put on the sidelines.

~Alexis

King Magazine

King magazine is an urban men’s magazine that covers topics like sports, hip hop, celebrities, politics, and reality TV.  From the cover of the magazine one might assume that it is a magazine much like playboy, with spreads portraying beautiful colored women barely dressed if dressed at all. Some claim the magazine is a way to celebrate curvy, thick, colored women, while promoting a fuller body type. On the other hand the majority of women featured on the cover tend to be replicas of the same shapes we see in Victoria Secret commercials with the only difference being a larger bust and bottom. King’s magazine and magazines like it do nothing positive for women besides portray unrealistic body measurements for real women to compare themselves to. Although the magazine is geared toward men it proposes an issue for the average women in society who doesn’t hold this idealistic body image. If the only body image being promoted and celebrated is unrealistic for the majority of the population that means the average real women is left behind. Media such as this just adds to the fact that the everyday women you see on the street is not seen as beautiful to society instead an airbrushed one in a million 34-28-44 measurement sized video vixen or reality star is what everyone is looking at.

                                                           

~Alexis





Phat Girls

In 2006, The movie Phat Girls, starring comedian Mo'Nique as the protagonist hit the theaters. In the movie, two plus size woman who struggle to find love go on vacation and meet the men of their dreams. 

The men are from Nigeria, a country in Africa. In Africa, it is culturally acceptable to have a thicker body. In Africa, as said in the movie, "A woman's body size is a reflection of her social status." The bigger the woman, the more respected she is. In America, it is the opposite. Around the world, there are different images of beauty. However, the consequences of defining what beauty are always leave a major group of people out, whether it be skinny or "phat."

~Auttume

Dove Commercial

Dove promotes natural beauty rather than photo shopped commercials and pictures. This commercial is a clear example of what many company's do to their models before a commercial. This clip just shows the face being edited and altered, but the body is also changed to make it look perfect. The word perfect is something almost unattainable, and videos like these promote unrealistic looks. Even if you were to attain perfection...its boring! Dove actually runs a campaign called The Dove Campaign for Real beauty, which is awesome because it embraces natural everyday beautiful women. The purpose of the campaign is to celebrate and rejoice for natural physical variation and love your own bodies and rock them!


Paige Harrington

Barbie 2.0: Revitalized

 Barbie is a doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in 1960. Barbie is still manufactured today and still has a strong hold on the toy company. However, young girls have been given a new Barbie doll to look up too. Rapper Nicki Minaj has revitalized the vision of Barbie.

                      

Nicki Minaj's body could be described as the perfect "Coke Bottle." She is unrealistically curvy with a small waist, large breast, and an even larger backside, none of which are natural. Nicki Minaj has had plastic surgery numerous times on her body and also her face. She refers to herself as Barbie, a figure that young girls have looked up to for years. Young girls are looking at Nicki Minaj and seeing something that is almost impossible to achieve. She is showing an image that is impracticable. The toy-company Mattel Inc. is encouraging Nicki Minaj's message and in 2011, a Barbie doll resembling the rap star was manufactured. 

The Barbie doll will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to charity. The estimated value of the doll is about $15,000.

~Auttume

 

Lane Bryant Vs. Victoria's Secret

Lane Bryant is a retail store that caters to plus size woman (sizes 14-28). In 2010, Lane Bryant aired a commercial on Fox Network and CBS Network. Both networks censored the ad and refused to show it because it was too revealing.

The commercial features plus size model Ashley Graham. Lane Bryant accused the networks of bias and discrimination toward plus size woman. This was mainly because of the networks history of airing Victoria's Secret commercials continuously without complaint. Victoria's Secret commercials are just as revealing and risque as Lane Bryant commercials. The networks only had an issue with sexy when a plus size woman was featured. 

~Auttume

Shallow Hal

Shallow Hal was a movie made in 2001 that touches on the topic of female beauty. Hal is a shallow guy who undergoes a hypnosis that makes him only see the beauty within women. This is a one of a kind movie that really shows how narrow minded society can become if beauty keeps being defined as a certain size, shape, or body type. There is this image that society paints of the ideal women, but in reality that look does not hold true for the average everyday women. Hal has this skewed view of what makes a women beautiful, but in the end through getting to know the real inner beauty of Gweneth Paltrows character. He was able to realize that appearances are only the tip of the iceberg and whats on the inside is more important. He finds out that the women he fell in love with is actually obese and not as perfect has he imagined. Through the hypnosis he was able to look past the outside appearance and really get to know the genuine person that was within.

Paige Harrington