Released in 2014, Meghan released the song “All about that bass” that was a number one success on the billboard charts and still one of the most watched videos on youtube. However, while this is all well and good for the pop singer, the song itself doesn’t come across as a positive message for body acceptance. Through lyrics that are one-hand uplifting, but then suddenly come across as entirely an attack on thinner women, and imagery like the “plastic dolls” and the role of the thinner women within the music video, this creates conflicting images and overall begs to question as to what the exact message of the video is. On one hand, Meghan is displaying body positivity for round women, but at the same time, projects the message that, perhaps, …show more content…
That photoshop creates preconceived notions that are destroying any other idea of what is beautiful in accordance with the human body. She continues this message as she speaks to never being like “silicone barbie dolls”. During these lines, the video displays Meghan and a male figure acting eerily as mannequin dress-up figures ala Barbie and Ken. These images are criticizing the portrayal of Barbie dolls that, like photoshop, that transpose the same corroded vision of beauty, but fit for a younger audience. It’s a sickening form of indoctrination that, while some may have a preference for curvier women (and some don’t), the universal message from dolls and magazines is something that really only a tiny portion of the global population even remotely resembles. However, despite how positive the video begins, as it continues, it begins to conflict with the message it's …show more content…
I know you think you’re fat.” With ease, she insults thinner women for not having what she has. On one hand, one could say it is warranted given the constant stigma of “fat shaming”, but instead it’s enabling more shaming. These lyrics interplay with the images of the video and confuse the messaging because throughout, there are multiple shots of round women and a black man dancing with joy, as Meghan sings. Meanwhile, at certain times, it cuts to a skinny woman (who embodies the silicone barbie doll motif) who comes across as moronic, stuck up, and not particularly liked by everyone
Like a blueprint or instruction manual, the objective of a rhetorical analysis is to dissect a written argument, identify its many parts, and explain how all of them come together to achieve a desired effect. Susan Bordo, a professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky, wrote “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, published in 2003 in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her essay examines how the media plays a pervasive role in how women view their bodies to the point where we live in an empire of images and there are no protective borders. In “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, Bordo not only effectively incorporates numerous facts and statistics from her own research and the research of others; she also appeals to emotional realities of anxiety and inadequacy felt by women all over the world in regards to their body image. Ultimately, her intent is to critique the influence of the media on self-confidence and body image, and to remind her audience of the overt as well as subconscious messages they are receiving on a daily basis.
She uses third person diction to construct an image of what the male and female consider regarding a situation that is not declared. Just like every other girl, it is implied that the daughter in the situation wishes to conform to society by having a Barbie Doll. An ironic situation arises as a result because the father doesn’t want his daughter to be influenced by the doll. He is concerned with how she may perceive beauty as a consequence of it. He states, “It's not just the pointy plastic tits, it's the wardrobes. The wardrobes and that stupid male doll, what's his name, the one with the underwear glued on?” (Atwood 491). The situation is ironic because throughout this vignette, women are characterized as being “fake” or “plastic”. Although the father’s concerns are valid, he doesn’t realize that his daughter would otherwise spend the rest of her time wishing to have the doll. Eventually, she would become just like that doll. Atwood summarizes this by saying “repression breeds sublimation.” (Atwood 491)
The girls feel that people need to mask their imperfections and true selves to uphold the image of how they are supposed to be. These dolls were found in a less than desirable place, such as “Lying on the street next to some tool bits ,and platform shoes with the heels all squashed, and a florescent green wicker wastebasket, and aluminum foil, and hubcaps, and a pink shag rug, and windshield wiper blades, and dusty mason jars, and a coffee can full of rusty nails”. They find another Barbie with heals in the depths of junk. They cover up the physical flaws of the burnt barbies with pretty outfits such as the “Prom Pinks” dress. One of the girls state “as long as you don't lift her dress, right? - who’s to know.” This attempt to cover up where the dolls came from and their imperfections seem to parallel their feelings about themselves and where they come from. The girls have an image of how their dolls would be if they were new. This could be the role society plays on the image of how women are supposed to be and look
Every woman grows up knowing that they one day want to be beautiful. In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” she gives an in depth look at what negative effects the concept of beauty can have on an individual. From infancy to a full grown adult woman, beauty has been a way of thinking and lifestyle. As a little girl you are given petite shaped, blonde, blue eyed dolls. While boys are given brawny soldiers and mechanical toys.
In the current patriarchal society, modern media – including television shows, television commercials, movies, popular magazines, and even hit songs – often portrays women as tall, thin, and beautiful with perfect skin. If not, women are being told how they can become that ideally beautiful person. From a feminist critic’s perspective, both Colbie Caillat’s song “Try” and the music video that goes along with it offer a distinctly opposite than the societal norm, but still important, message often missing in today’s media.
At times I was dangerously thin, and my arms have always been longer than they should be for someone of my height. Nonetheless, my body has never gone under scrutiny and in fact, was common and celebrated among male basketball players. This is one of the many benefits of my male privilege. Female athletes, on the other hand, are subjected to a contradictory ideal that they should maintain a strong athletic body for the sport they play, yet also remain thin and appeal to the sexual ideal men hold them to. Nita Mary McKinley states in, Weighty Issues: Constructing Fatness and Thinness as Social Problems, “The construction of ideal weight parallels the construction of the traditional ideal woman and ideal weight becomes gendered” (99). This is unfair to the female athlete as it creates a conflict between physically exceling in their sport and being sexually discriminated against by men. As a male, there is practically no sexual consequences I suffer from that pertain to the body type I maintain. One of the most publicly scrutinized athletes for her body shape is tennis legend Serena Williams. Male sports writers in their attempts to objectify Williams, have shared their thoughts on how she is too strong and too muscular to sexually appeal to men. Serena has since reclaimed her sexuality by posing in ESPN Magazine’s body issue, along with appearing in Beyonce’s “Formation” music video. American celebrity culture, European fashion culture, and international advertising are all responsible for the development of thin female body types being the most sexually desired among males in America. It is important to apply locational context and recognize that other female body types are celebrated throughout other cultures. For instance Fatema Mernissi confesses, in Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem, “In the Moroccan streets, Men’s flattering comments regarding my particularly generous hips have for decades led me to
... taking a stand against Photoshop for fear of ruining the careers of actors, actresses, and models. That statement alone proves that society values physical perfection than the health and emotional well-being of people, specifically impressionable teenagers. There are girls everyday who are impacted by the media in one form or another.
These pressures from the media ads can lead to eating disorders. For many women and girls the “ideal image portrayed becomes an obsession and results in an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia” (Karyn p.1). With the constant nagging to be thin, the dancers feel that if they are to be in music videos on television, they have to measure up to this false image of a woman.
Beauty is a cruel mistress. Every day, Americans are bombarded by images of flawless women with perfect hair and smooth skin, tiny waists and generous busts. They are presented to us draped in designer clothing, looking sultry or perky or anywhere in between. And although the picture itself is alluring, the reality behind the visage is much more sinister. They are representations of beauty ideals, sirens that silently screech “this is what a woman is supposed to look like!” Through means of media distribution and physical alteration, technology has created unrealistic beauty ideals, resulting in distorted female body images.
I decided to expand on my Week 5 Post All About That Bass. Our assignment for that week was to analyze Meghan Trainor’s song All About That Bass and to give our opinion on what message we believe the song lyrics and video provided the public with. The second part of our assignment also involved watching “It’s Not About the Nail” and the Dave Barry article that addressed stereotypes about gender and what affect they might have on individuals.
Demi Lovato, one of today's most influential and inspiring women that is seen in the media spot light opened up about having an eating disorder. This Disney star told Robin Roberts, and ABC News reporter, that she had been bulimic and ultimately had to check into Timberline Knolls, a rehab center that focuses on eating disorders and addictions. At a young age she had been bullied because she was told she was too fat. For Demi, this caused her to begin overeating extremely and limiting her eating to a few times a day. While on a concert tour for “Camp Rock 2” she would perform without having anything to eat and would lose her voice by making herself vomit. After her treatment she said she wanted to get her story out so other young girls know they don’t need to suffer through what she did. Demi’s younger sister Madison, is one of those girls who look up to her and she knew that she had to stay strong and overcome her problems for her sister and set a good example for her ("Demi Lovato Interview: Teen," n.d.). In today’s society, more than ever, the way people view themselves and others has become a focus. Modern society now has preconceived concepts of what people should look like in order to be beautiful, like what size they are, the color of their hair, the color of their skin, and even their race are factors that are considered. Most problems with body image issues come from what is put in the media. What once was considered beautiful in magazines years ago, such as curves in women, have now changed to rail thin bodies, like those of runway models which are constantly seen on television. Because the ideal of human beauty changes throughout time, trends in body type, fashion, and race negatively impact society.
In her novel “Beauty Myth”, Naomi Wolf argues that the beauty and fashion industry are to blame for using false images to portray what beautiful woman is. She believes the magazines are to blame for women hating their bodies. Wolf states, “When they discuss [their bodies], women lean forward, their voices lower. They tell their terrible secret. It’s my breast, they say. My hips. It’s my thighs. I hate my stomach.” (Wolf, 451) She is focusing on how w...
Barbie, a doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc., encourages an unrealistic body image, racial insensitivity, and contradictive goals, and it is having a negative influence on young girls everywhere. Launched in March 1959 by Ruth Handler, an American business woman and president of Mattel, Inc., Barbie quickly became popular and has gone on to sell three dolls every second, in over one hundred and fifty countries. However, Barbie’s rise to success has not been wholly positive – there have been numerous controversies, parodies, and lawsuits, all addressing a number of issues. One such issue is how Barbie promotes an unrealistic and unobtainable body image. For example, to scale, Barbie is five feet, nine inches tall, has a thirty six inch chest, eighteen inch waist, and thirty three inch hips. Had Barbie been a real person, she would not be able to walk, much less hold her head up. Secondly, Barbie is racially insensitive and perpetuates stereotypes. “Mexico Barbie,” from Barbie’s “ethnic” line, comes with a passport and a Chihuahua, as well as stereotypical red lace ribbons in her hair. Lastly, Barbie portrays goals that are both unobtainable and contradictive. Barbie has had a variety of careers, such as being a doctor, astronaut, and President of the United States, but also engages in stereotypical domestic activities, such as cleaning and baking. These characteristics are affecting young girls in a time when they are most developmentally susceptible, and teaching them a number of negative lessons.
I’m pretty sure many of you have heard Meghan Trainor’s single All about that Bass at least once in the radio, store, Pandora, Spotify, etc. In 2014, this song received a Grammy award nomination Record of the Year and Song of the Year and spent eight consecutive weeks at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. This twenty-two-year-old singer, songwriter and record producer co-wrote this catchy hit song with producer, Kevin Kadish empowering plus size women to be comfortable with their body but body shaming slim women on their petite shape. There are many women with low self-esteem who hates their bodies for various reasons, not only for being overweight.
Graydon, Shari. “How the Media Keeps us Hung Up on Body Image.” Herizons Summer. 2008: