Princess to Professor and the Pink Toy Aisle

Because we've had mostly negative posts, I'm going to write a nice, positive-ish post about something that all, or nearly all of us love: Legos. Recently, Lego came out with a female scientist minifigure. It makes me really happy that they came out with her, and didn't just have a male scientist.

Lego's Intergalactic Girl
in a pink spacesuit

It annoys me that in toy stores there's always the blue aisle with a bunch of really cool toys, and then there's the pink aisle that looks like someone rolled everything in pink and purple glitter with a few cool toys. In the girls' section, it's all about dolls and princesses and dress up, and there aren't many toys that encourage actual professions. There are barely any toys where you have to think, and build, and make new things. Lego in general has great toys that let you build and engineer, but there's still a section where everything is pink. One of their other minifigures is a perfect example. Just because an astronaut is a girl does not mean that the space suit has to be pink. There is a time for things being pink and girly, but everything a girl does does not have to be girly.

Lego's female scientist minifigure

What we see when we're kids can effect the rest of our lives. If all we see growing up are girls being princesses and waitresses and dancers, with nothing else, then that's all you're going to think of. You won't immediately think of an engineer, or a scientist as being cool. Yes, you can still change your viewpoint once you grow up, but why? Why not just encourage girls from the start to get good jobs that they like doing, without gender restrictions? The answer is simply because it's different, and no one wants to see if something new is going to sell as well as something coated in pink glitter. There is nothing wrong at all with going into a profession that is already in the girl toy aisle, but there is also nothing wrong with going into a different profession. When you see a cool toy or character or something, sometimes it has no effect on you whatsoever, but sometimes it makes you think “I want to be like her when I grow up!”. Princesses are nice, but you shouldn't really plan on just marrying a prince and living happily ever after as your career goal. It's possible, but you should definitely have a backup plan. People are getting better, but there are still a lot of problems. I said that this would be a positive post, but I kind of lied about that. To make up for it, I'll have a happy ending. Now, finally, Lego has a female minifigure that isn't doused in glitter, and isn't in some girly profession. I love that Lego is having an actual person, someone that you could actually be if you worked hard. You probably still won't have skin that yellow, and if you did, you might need to see a doctor or wash your face.

--Luna Lovegood

The Stereotypical Media Setting

This post generally relates to my last one, and I’m trying to keep it different, so bear with me! This is a media issue that has bothered me for a long time now, and it’s really hard to watch a movie or TV show without seeing this. Unfortunately it’s everywhere and anywhere. So here it is.

 One of the things that bothers me in movies, TV shows, books, etc, is that the usual setting is a fancy house in California, or some high class setting with privileged people who have problems with their life. Now I know that many shows are filmed in LA, a fancy area, or a movie studio; but it seems like every show has lost the interest to portray what real people look like.

America does consist of many upper class people, and it appears that the point that studios are trying to prove is “The American Dream.” Is it a staple for films to portray people always aiming for things bigger and better? As I addressed in my last post, media seems to think America’s definition of dreams is just material wealth, and apparently that’s the way we like it. Even in kids movies you see kids living in nice houses with lawyer parents and country club lives, and think, “I sure don’t relate to them.” Even in TV shows trying to portray a middle class family, it always comes out as high-class.

Take commercials for example. Even though a nice life in a nice house is what some Americans want, it still doesn’t mean that you have to flaunt it with your extravagant things. It seems that every commercial is based in a fancy mansion with perfect families and lives. Too many car commercials are showing rich businessmen who have trophy wives and good-looking children, and not enough real family interaction. I always prefer the less expensive car brand commercials because of this. I understand that commercials are meant to appeal to people, but how can it appeal to us if it’s so far from the lives we live now?

This is the stereotypical setting for a car commercial. “Show off and be look cool.” Is what this Lexus ad seems to say.

As I said before, too many kids shows are showing rich families and not enough realistic portrayals. It bothers me that half the shows on Disney Channel show kids with big houses and trendy clothes. I can see the point they are trying to make though: “Work hard and you can achieve your dreams, and be where you want to be.” But somehow I think Disney Channel lacks diversity when it comes to what people want in life. Shows like Jessie, The Thundermans, Lab Rats, Hannah Montana, Liv and Maddie, and more, all seem to have a similar plot line where all the kids live in nice big houses and want to become singers and dancers, and only seek stardom. I do love Disney Channel, and many of their shows are great. I just wish they had a more realistic setting.

It seems that much of Disney Channel’s content only promotes kids who want to be in show business.

As for the books I mentioned, I can’t say that many fit my topic. Books are a whole different world than movies and TV, and there can be much more diversity in books than movies, and maybe that’s why we love them. I think sometimes it’s right to place main characters in a typically wealthy world, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes people don’t like to be reminded of their lives, and that movies are a way we can escape the harsh realities of life. They are for entertainment, and something we can look up to, no matter if it’s realistic or not. Only some movies are true to life, and those are the ones that make us feel good.

Again, this is just my opinion, and we are all entitled to our own. Sometimes I even think my own opinions are wrong, and that’s the beauty of it. J Thanks for reading!

~ Governess Bob

False Perfection- Unhealthy Images and the Real Problem

Hey guys!
Back in here for my third post already. Times flies, huh? I'm totally enjoying this little venture- it's so much fun to have a platform where I can express my views on this stuff, and to read the opinions of my friends and fellow authors on here. It's been absolutely fantastic so far.
Anyway, I had a hard time deciding on a topic for my post this week. Not because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say- exactly the opposite, actually. I literally have a page-long list of post ideas and it was so hard to choose just one. But that tells you that the one I did choose must be really important, right?

It is. I decided to write about body image in the media, specifically for girls and the way we get  pressured to be absolutely perfect 100% of the time. One of the things that really gets on my nerves is when models for magazines or photoshoots or advertisements or anything are photoshopped to a beyond-attainable point of so-called beauty. I mean, when conventionally gorgeous women have to be retouched and airbrushed and just completely redone with computer fakery, what sort of message are women and girls getting? That they're never going to be beautiful enough, because the images of "beautiful" women that they see are so fake and unrealistic. The amount of digital retouching that models receive make them literally impossible and set a just as impossible standard of beauty for girls.

A couple months back, Lorde tweeted these pictures of herself with the following statement:

"I find this curious- two photos from today, one edited so my skin is perfect and one real. Remember flaws are ok :-)"
I found it really impressive that not only did she feel comfortable enough in her own skin(literally) to go into the public eye big time without trying to be as perfect as possible, but also enough to point out her own flaws under said public eye. However, I also think this just goes to show how twisted society's image of women has become. After years of fake and unrealistic images, this concept of literal perfection has become so ingrained in people's minds that some idiot out there felt the need to take a picture of a confident, gorgeous-without-computer-fakery 17-year-old girl and then edit it to make it perfect, therefore sending her and other girls that what we can be on our own is never going to be enough.

Another example of this idealized concept of complete perfection was found in a controversy with Target a few months ago. On their website, an image of a bikini model was photoshopped to give her the trendy thigh gap that people are being told that they need nowadays. The picture, though, was messed up in an almost comical manner so that the cut that was made to make her legs perfect went up too high and it was obvious that it had been photoshopped. Target responded by saying "it was an unfortunate error and we apologize."

Yeah, right. If you take a close look at the photo above, you can tell that the thigh gap fail was not the only edit. Her arms and legs were also whittled down to toothpick proportions and her waist was edited to be thin and perfect.
Their intention was to photoshop this model and fix every so-called imperfection. They were intending to do the thing that upset everyone, which was to give this model a thigh gap. The only "error" they made was that they accidentally tipped off the public that their swimsuit model wasn't completely and utterly perfect. Their "error" was revealing to the public that, guess what, even their attractive swimsuit models haven't reached the unattainable standard of beauty that society has set up.
In a way, this goof could be viewed as a good thing. It taught everyone who saw it that hey, even this conventionally gorgeous woman isn't perfect. Even this woman who gets paid to pose for the camera in a skimpy swimsuit isn't naturally capable of the beauty standards that we're told to live up to, and that probably means that those standards aren't all that attainable.

The main part of this issue that bugs me is that it's not just in the heads of the advertisers and photographers and other people who take roles in this horrible promotion of absolute perfection. When someone is trying to sell something, either a product or a movie or a magazine, they use what they think will appeal to their audience. And then through some form of trial and error they figure out whether or not that really does appeal to their audience, and if it doesn't seem to, they try a different tactic. But if it does, they keep doing that same thing over and over and eventually even amp up the level a little more.

And that's the main problem, isn't it? In a way, it's really just a vicious cycle that no-one's been able to end through all these years. Media makers pick this image of perfection that they think will please their audience, and whether it pleases everyone or not, it's what they see and it gets stuck in their heads. But then the media makers do the same thing again and again and again, because they think it's what pleases us- and even if it doesn't appeal to all of us at first, how can it not? Maybe some of us still don't love it, but because it's what we see over and over, it becomes the norm. We get used to it. And so the media makers never stop, because their job is to sell, and after all these years, perfection has become the thing that does sell. It's a cycle that repeats itself and that will continue for a long time until somebody sticks their foot in the door to stop it. It'll go on until somebody says "no more" and puts a bump in the road. And maybe, just maybe then things will improve. Things might look up then and maybe people will attempt to change the ways that have become so set in stone over the years.

I just hope that, even if all of this doesn't change for years and years, people will start to see the error of these ways and begin to see the true meaning of beauty- the real things we should look up to. Like kindness and generosity and other things that are a little more attainable. And that, I think, is when things will start to change. I just hope it changes before too much damage is caused.

I hope I've managed to inspire you a little bit with these wild opinions of mine and that I haven't been too dreadfully boring. Until next time, lovelies.
~Oswin

Work Hard, Get Rich, Do Nothing

The problem with rich people in commercials, is that they’re so unrealistically portrayed, it’s hard to think, “Wow, I could own this product.”  If you’ve ever seen commercials like Lexus, which I’m sure you have, they all have to involve some high-speed chase, or a picture perfect couple going out to eat at a fancy restaurant. “Yep, there goes my hope of having a fancy car,” It seems that they’re just meant for rich businessmen who sit around all day and drink coffee.

One of the new Cadillac commercials stars a self absorbed, rich man who spends his life working all the time so he can buy expensive things. Now this add has become a controversy providing a misguided representation of the American work ethic, and received very critical feedback. The Cadillac ad starred actor Neil McDonough as a rich guy looking out at his pool and pondering why he and other Americans work so hard when people in other countries take off the whole month of August.

Neil McDonough in the Cadillac commercial

He then turns to the camera and gives a vivid monologue while walking around his expensive house. In it, he describes Americans as "crazy-driven, hard-working believers" who do bold things like go to the moon. He ultimately walks out to his new Cadillac ELR hybrid coupe. "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you create your own luck, and you've got to believe anything is possible. As for all the stuff? That's the upside of only taking two weeks off in August. N’est Ce-pas?”

Can we really expect that that’s going to make you want to buy a car? Do they think we want people to turn to look at you and judge you as a snob with nothing but material wealth? Outside of this guy being incredibly annoying, here's a question: Does taking two fewer weeks of vacation guarantee upper-middle-class wealth? Thinking about how many people labor all over the world—here and abroad—and don't enjoy the same opportunities as this guy, this is extremely hard to dismiss. This commercial was aired during the Winter 2014 Olympics, which was a strange choice. The Olympics is supposed to be about celebrating different countries and cultures coming together, not slamming their success and diligence. Since the commercial, there has been a debate between sides, which includes the supporters of the commercial, and vice-versa. Some people have applauded the commercial for a well represented portrayal of America, while most others have criticized its fake ambition.

In order to draw a contrast, Ford copied the theme of Cadillac's commercial in a recent take on their ad. Only it decided to use Pasho Murray, a real woman who founded Detroit Dirt, a company that turns waste into compost and sells it to people who want to create urban gardens.

The woman looks out at a landfill and wonders why Americans aren't more like other countries who buy locally-grown food.

She gives her speech while walking through a local restaurant where she collects food scraps for compost. She says Americans are starting to get more food from local markets because they're "crazy entrepreneurs trying to make the world better."

She then walks out to her Ford C-Max Energi and draws a phrase of her own. "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you believe that anything is possible, and you try to make the world better. You try. As for helping the city grow good, green, healthy vegetables? That's the upside of giving a damn. N'est-ce pas?"

--Governess Bob