Comments | dvlspencer: Fantasy beauty, fiction, and the real world

dvl_spencer in dvlspencer

Fantasy beauty, fiction, and the real world

Oct 09, 2009 18:18

You may have recently seen the mini-uproar about the distorted Ralph Lauren ad, which had bloggers and most sensible people outraged over the continuing insanity about perceptions of female beauty.

Poking around articles about the ad led me to other articles on the fashion industry and pressures on women to attain impossible ideals. Some folks ( Read more... )

Comments 7

andolinn October 10 2009, 04:42:10 UTC

Hmmmm... Well first of all who is it exactly who thinks that there is anything at all attractive about Photoshop!woman? She's gross. Like a sick thing, about to fall over from anorexia. Truly, that's my gut response to her ( ... )

dvl_spencer October 10 2009, 05:30:30 UTC

I believe all of the praise for the Photoshop!woman that I saw was in the comments section, largely from guys, though some from women. A few of those could very well have been trolls trying to stir up trouble--I was happy to see they were largely ignored. But it was upsetting to me that Ralph Lauren's first response was to send DMCA notices to the blogs who criticized the ad, and only when the furor grew larger did they finally say "Oops, maybe this image wasn't the best idea, sorry ( ... )

dvl_spencer October 10 2009, 05:32:57 UTC

And I should have said "male hero", because Trinity is also a hero in the story, even though she's not "The One".

andolinn October 10 2009, 05:49:17 UTC

I think that resisting is a matter of practice as much as anything else. I think that we all need to start using a bit more critical thinking in our lives (on everything and not just advertising) and actually start questioning images/products/purchasing paradigms. I think that would have prevented the current economic meltdown as well as self-hatred ( ... )

Thread 5

amise October 10 2009, 13:34:51 UTC

I first read The Blue Sword in jr. high and it continues to be one of my favorite books, partially because the main character is not pretty. Not just insecure about her looks, but not pretty, period.

dvl_spencer October 14 2009, 05:03:42 UTC

I think Jane Eyre is actually meant to be literally plain, too, not just modest. I think Bronte's whole book was really about inner beauty--I mean, the love of her life can't even see her at the end, so it's all about loving who she is as a person.

I'm not familiar with The Blue Sword, but like andolinn said above, it seems like we all liked sci-fi/fantasy novels because there was more chance of getting a heroine that didn't fit the cookie-cutter mold!