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Thesis: Morrison argues that the western standard of beauty is based on whiteness and that blackness is viewed as ugly and inferior. Pecola Breedlove from The Bluest Eye is a walking embodiment of the issue Morrison is addressing. Although not to the extent in which Pecola is affected, this white standard of beauty affects people of all color and size; the media and fashion industry are the leading forces behind these struggles to conform to what society views as beautiful. These industries need to change and promote healthier and more realistic appearances because these unrealistic standards can be detrimental to a person’s physical and mental health. I. Morrison argues that blackness is viewed in a negative light, and, ultimately, will lead to corruption. A. The concept of whiteness being the ideal standard for physical appearances is ingrained into every girl’s brain through dolls given during early childhood due their parents’ preconceived notions that they desire the same things they did (Morrison 20). B. Prominent figures such as Shirley Temple and even the Mary Jane depicted o...
During the 1930’s, the Great Depression was in full swing. The Depression was a period in American History when the economy was horrible. Most people did not have jobs, and if they did their paycheck was barely enough to put food on the table. At that time, many people did not experience happiness very often because of their money situations. However, there was one person who could turn any frown upside down, Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple, the best known child star of her time, ascended to unparalled box-office heights during the worst of the Great Depression, and brought humor and happiness to people in a time of great need.
Toni Morrison’s use of her character Hagar emphasizes this point and furthermore exemplifies how this culture of identity can effect a romantic relationship. We observe this as Hagar becomes obsessed with the idea of meeting the standards of beauty in order to get milkman back because she has seen him with a woman who is of a lighter complexion who better fits the standard than Hagar herself does, “That had been shoulders of a girl whose silky copper-colored hair cascaded over the sleeve of his coat.” (Morrison 127).The lighter complexion of the woman fits better with the culturally accepted idea of beauty and feeds into the debate of light skin vs dark skin girls which ultimately ties back to the white-washed culture because lighter skin women are thought to be more attractive because their skin is closer to that of a white woman’s’ this can be seen in the diction that Morrison choices with the use of descriptive words such as silky and copper-haired, adjectives that normally describe the Caucasian woman. To coincide with idea of Caucasian attributes being beautiful Morrison also criticizes consumer beauty. We examine this As Hagar tries to achieve the physical beauty of the cultural standard it appears that the only products to available are those marketed for white women, "Morrison’s implied comparison between the attributes of popularized, white consumer beauty and the O.K
Shirley Temple. When the name is uttered an image of the dimpled faced, curly haired, tap dancing four year old from the 1930s automatically appears in everyone's mind. She was the child actress of the depression era, winning over the hearts and pocket books of many. Films, dolls and even a drink named after her, her face and name were ones that couldn't be missed. She was Fox's gem and saviour. She was an escape from the hard life. She was a star. The image that she gave off, of love for the needy and pure optimism, must have had an origin. Did it rise from the social needs of the public to escape the depression or was it purely constructed by Twentieth Century-Fox? Her image clearly correlates with the mentality of the public at the time, but Fox must have had a hand. Undoubtedly her image was created through a mixture of both elements.
This generation today is full of people who revolve around their phones and food. Hard work and true talent has not been seen in years. In the 1930’s, there were no phones, yet there were people changing the world. A young girl took place in this time period and set a perfect example as to someone who went out and did just this. She did not know what texting was, yet was perfectly happy and made millions of other people happy too. Her name was Shirley Temple. She won multiple awards and was very well rounded. However, not only was she famous for her movies and 56 ringlets; she was a woman that knew there was more to life than fame and fortune, and recognized that the world wasn’t all about her.
Colorism in the United States is a result of the history of people being discriminated based upon one’s skin tone. For many years, the European standard of beauty has been set forth and pushed upon mainly young men and women of many backgrounds
In the 1930s, several economic, political, and environmental factors caused Americans to lose hope of a future beyond the extreme circumstances in which they had to survive. America prospered during the roaring ‘20s, but the stock market crash of October 1929 set off a devastating chain of events; banks and factories closed and one out of every four Americans found himself unemployed. The sudden economic collapse began the era of the Great Depression, in which millions were jobless by 1933 and countless others wandered the country in search of work, food and shelter. “The core of the problem was the immense disparity between the country’s productive capacity and the ability of the people to consume” (Nelson). The economic downturn coupled with the ecological disaster of the Dust Bowl in the Great Plains resulted in foreclosures on farms, inflated food prices for the consumer, and the ruination of the agricultural industry. Meanwhile, the film and entertainment industry provided an escape for many Americans from the long-term struggle of the Great Depression. Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star dubbed “America’s Sweetheart,” was one such film star who brought hope to those affected by the Great Depression and left an enduring impression on the United States of America.
The characters within The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, all attempt to conform to a standard of beauty in some way. This standard of beauty is established by the society in which they live, and then supported by members of the community. Beauty is also linked with respect and happiness. Both people who reach the standard of beauty, and those who try, are never really satisfied with who they are. This never-ending race to become beautiful has devastating effects on their relationships and their own self-esteem.
Whiteness is a term that has been discussed throughout history and by scholarly authors. Whiteness is defined in many ways, according to Kress “pervasive non- presence, its invisibility. Whiteness seems at times to be everywhere and nowhere, even present throughout U.S. history, and yet has no definable history of its own. Whiteness as a historically rooted cultural practice is then enacted on the unconscious level. Knowledge the is created from the vantage point of Whiteness thus transforms into “common sense,” while practices or behaviors that are enacted based on the unspoken norms of Whiteness become the only acceptable way of being” (Kress, 2008, pg 43).
The white race has higher chances to occupy prominent positions as well as be considered for different opportunities than people of color. For example, the author mentions that the women presented as “Men's women are portrayed as physically attractive, slim, and usually young and white, frequently blonde, and almost always dressed in revealing clothing” (Craig 195). This demonstrates that pop culture does not promote the values of equality. The promoters hold the estimations of beauty strictly by the color of the skin. They do not depict other nations can women as alluring as the white once. Women are usually attractive the most to white men. For example, the Acura Integra commercial they all are white men. Such evidence suggest that pop culture safeguards the traditional beliefs of other nations being generally inferior to white people. Pop culture, in this manner, oppresses the people of color instead of promoting their right to be treated equally, as seen by evidence provided by Craig’s analyses of
Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young girl living in Lorain, Ohio, who has to face harsh conditions from a young age. Pecola’s family has a reputation of “ugliness”, a reputation that their town despises them for. Pecola herself believes the allegations that she is ugly to be true, not only because of the constant abuse that she witnesses in her own family, but also because she has been told that she is ugly her entire life by everyone around her, including adults. The novel explores the standards that Pecola is held to, as well as her reactions to not meeting these standards. Some of the alleged qualities of her “ugliness” are her race, her family’s income, her father’s sleeping habits, and her eye color. With these criticisms as impetus, Pecola strives for beauty, and tries to fix the material problems in her life. Pecola, however, is not alone; other characters in the book are strongly affected by physical goods and propagandistic advertisement as well. In The Bluest Eyecultural standards are imposed upon the characters by their consumer goods.
However unfortunate, one of the most enduring consequences of human evolution is society’s inherently racist preoccupation with physiognomy. The detrimental generation of guilt that is continually thrust upon those of an undesired complexion or physical composition therefore encourages the internalization and longevity of such oppressive prejudice and ultimately allows racial culpability to reside as a cultural norm. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye illustrates the adverse effects of society’s innately chauvinist standards of beauty through the magnitude of character Pecola Breedlove’s subsequent identity crisis. Pecola’s insatiable desire to reflect the pale porcelain skin and sapphire blue eyes that delineate her mentally construed picture of beauty ultimately causes her to reject the essence of
To illustrate, we can begin with how media affects our personal perception of self-image i.e self-worth and acceptance. Media enjoys being able to influence what we do in order to benefit those that are trying to advertise a certain idea or object. Many times, the idea that is trying to be demonstrated is the perception of “true beauty.” What many people don't know or tend to forget at a moment of awe, is that these idea's of beauty are conveyed at many times through woman and men with a well amount of make-up and Photoshop done to them. They have been completely transformed from their original natural looks, to match a perfection that is not possible naturally nor realistically. For example, Global Democracy three years ago, presented a time-lapse video that serves to highlight the post-production techniques used in the alteration of an image via use of the software Photoshop. The model was unrecognizable after th...
Color is a characteristic that humans can notice almost instantly. Whether it is a flower or someone’s skin, color can be very noticeable. A person’s skin tone has been an effective way of knowing how to view or treat a person on earth. In Toni Morrison’s book, “The Bluest Eye” set in the early 1900’s, Morrison writes, “We stare at her…wanting to poke the arrogance
Yet, once again, the airbrushed photo of a white model graces our magazine covers, and it is her white skin, thin frame and blonde hair that personifies beauty. A size 16 body; a full nose and lips; a head of curly, 'natural' hair; a darker coloured skin—such features are hastily dismissed, often with the entire accompanying race. Oh, you can almost hear the snobbish, distain-dripping voice
The second assumption is, that in order for them to be beautiful, they need to aspire to white hetero-femininity (Sanger, 2009). This notion of setting an example for all black women having to aspire to white women’s looks, links back to an old, racist colonial ideology (Sanger, 2009). Back in the 20th century, black women in advertisements were presented as hypersexual, that are presented only for the male is deeply related to the recent racist and colonial past of South Africa (Sanger, 2009). As is with the case of Sara Baartman, who was put on display like an object of interest, presented as a sexual product, purely for men’s enjoyment. She was presented as something other-worldly from the norm (coming from a western perspective), a South African women that would be presented as a standard for all black women, assuming that’s what all black women look like. So is the case with adverts today. They set the standards for all women in the similar context, depending on the culture in which it is presented (Jacobs & Tyree,