Manipulating photographs have been around for years, but it has been increasingly more controversial in recent times. Celebrities and models are retouched in various forms—photographs, online advertisements, magazines, and more. There are more forms of advertisements today than ever before. Technology is becoming more and more advanced. With more advanced technology come more consumers, ranging in all ages. Younger generations are becoming more acquainted with new gadgets today. They are likely to be exposed to retouched photographs from online advertisements. Many models in these photographs are often retouched in such a way that negatively influences consumers, teenagers and young adults today. There should be rules and limitations for retouching digital photographs to decrease the amount of pressure and manipulation to society.
Photographers have the freedom to express their artistry to their audience. According to Cornell University Law School, they are allowed to exercise “the freedom of speech, or of the press.” By no means should retouching photographs should be illegal, but photographers should consider reducing the amount of retouching in images. Retouched photographs can greatly influence many teenagers and young adults on what they should and should not look like. By limiting retouching and applying standards to certain types of photographs, society is less likely to feel doubtful of their appearance. For example, excessively manipulating an image of a well-known celebrity such as Lady Gaga can greatly pressure many young women’s perception of beauty. Flawless skin, a disproportionate body shape, and a slim body are hard to come by to this day and age. Even celebrities feel the anxiety to be perfect and thin because th...
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Winogrand symbolized a new generation of photographers on the rise in the mid-1960s known as “street photographers.” While each photo is of simple, everyday life, they each contain an individual message and meaning much deeper than what was seen through the lens. His impact is still being felt in photography today and has been identified as a turning point in American photographic history.
Leah Hardy (2010) argues that models in today’s magazines are no more than works of the digital retouching. Digital retouching is the use of computer program to remove unwanted impurities of the body, making a person look ideal. Digital retouching is sending a negative message to women because it sets up a false sense of what beauty is. It is impossible for women to look like a digital retouch models, because they are not real. In the film, Killing Us Softly 4 Jean Kilbourne argues that advertisement sends out the same type of message to women (Kilbourne, 2010). Kilbourne states “Advertisement tells women that what’s most important is how they look, an advertisement surround us with the image of ideal beauty. However, this flawlessness cannot be achieved. It’s a look that’s been created through airbrushing, cosmetics, and computer retouching ” (Kilbourne, 2010). Women are being told that in order to fit in society, they have to look a certain way, yet it is nearly impossible because the standard is too high.
Thinner and thinner models are being used in combination with Photoshop, creating an impossible beauty ideal that is affecting the physical and emotional health of women in our society. The typical fashion model presented in advertisements has protruding hip bones and an androgynous body shape due to dangerously low body fat. They are slimmed and smoothed further in images by the use of Photoshop. The documentary MissRepresentation points out, “you never see a photograph in the media of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been digitally altered to make her absolutely inhumanely perfect”.
The use of photoshop creates an unobtainable ideal for society. Teens everywhere are dealing with self-esteem issues that are causing major problems. Having women photoshopped to perfection is showing how women have to look like for them to be considered beautiful. Even famous people are taking a stand. Lorde reported, "Taylor Swift is so flawless, and so unattainable, and I don't think that's
...ese images but it is awareness that society should be promoting. In 2009 in Europe, French Parliament member Valerie Boyer suggested that all published images that are digitally enhanced - including advertisements - come with a warning label that reads, “Retouched photograph aimed at changing a person’s physical appearance.” If they fail to do so they will be fined up to 50 percent of the cost of the publicity campaign in question. America should be creating a proactive movement that will bring teens and adults in society up to par on what is going and informing them of how they can change how they view their images. Like cigarettes, advertisements with false images should be given a warning label. Essentially, these industries should be creating an encouraging message to their viewers to provide a healthier outlook about size, beauty, and weight.
Due to the portrayal of specific beauty standards in the media, women have re-imagined true beauty, causing drastic impacts that affect the lives of women both physically and psychologically. In order to reach the societal standard of this “ideal body”, women of all ages go to drastic measures to achieve it (extreme dieting and plastic surgery). However, having come so far in gaining more freedom and rights women should fight for more representative images of real women celebrating things other than physical appearance, so that women can have substantial and legitimate models to which they can aspire. Hopefully one day, all women will be able to look at a photograph in a magazine and then at their own image in a mirror and not experience a moment of disgust but rather a moment of self-assurance and self-confidence.
In the article entitled “Shutting Down Body Shaming,” the author Allison Abrams addresses how the media is negatively impacting body image. First, Abrams explains the different results of people especially women that suffer from a poor body image. These results included low self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders. Abrams also points out a study that was in the Journal of Adolescent Health stating that “negative body image was determined to be a predictor of suicidal thoughts among college students.” Second, Abrams includes that France has a new law that can help calm this public issue happening in their country. This law makes it mandatory for any images in the media that have been tampered with to make models look thinner to label them as “retouched photos.” The reading also describes how Getty Images is doing something similar to France. Getty Images has officially banned the submission of images that have been modified to meet society’s needs of someone with a good body. In addition, Abrams continues to emphasize the reasons people have bad body images by putting a quote by naturopath and yoga therapist Dr. Lynn Anderson in the article. Dr. Anderson makes a brief statement stating that “we need to address the real issue, and that is mental health,
The online photograph sharing, storytelling app has challenged the way people identify themselves. It has help raise the question of which identity is more important in today’s digital age? Self-identity is the “verbal conceptions we hold about ourselves and our emotional identification with these conceptions.” Social identity is the “expectations and opinions that others have of us.” (Kitzmann, Lecture 12) Instagram allows its users to post photographs of anything they choose, however at times these photos give people to challenge the idea of appearance versus reality. The use of photo editing apps is just an example of a way that users are able to fix the imperfections they see in order to make the picture “instagram worthy.” The appearance of the photograph is flawless when in reality it took several minutes (or hours) to take over fifty selfies and to edit the perfect one before it was considered for posting. This is how the app challenges hegemonic practices of beauty. In the fall of 2015, a model by the name of Essena O’Neil decided to quit instagram. For most people, they would assume that she deleted the app or deactivated her account; however she kept her account running only to re-caption her old pictures. O’Neil went back to her old posts and changed their captions, exposing all of
The use of today’s photography technology invites many controversial arguments among the public. Some people have no problem with manipulated pictures, others believe that editing the picture of human being means not to appreciate human as God’s creature. It is commonly known that the majority of the pictures in magazines, billboards, and advertisements in public areas must have gone through the professional photo editing process to be maximized in effectiveness. The pictures are retouched so that it looks much more lively and delightful than the original ones. Using today’s photography technology, we are able to manipulate picture’s appearance into anything we want; it can be extremely fascinating or conversely. For example, you can transform people’s bodies to be as thin as a twig or as fleshy as an elephant.
Swinson, J. (2011, August 10). False beauty in advertising and the pressure to look 'good'. CNN. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/opinion/08/08/swinson.airbrushing.ads/
Airbrushing is a deceiving way to make young teenagers believe that models are flawless. “Advertisers often use airbrushing to make models or celebrities look younger, to alter the apparent weight of individuals, and to remove perceived physical imperfections” (Issitt). Many individuals don't know the people they dream having the bodies of are not actually how they appear to be due to airbrushing. A considerable amount of people go through plastic surgery to accomplish getting the ideal body. Using advertisements, airbrushing is a deceiving way to alter the appearances of individuals (Issitt). Several individuals try to obtain the bodies they see in advertisements, not knowing the images they are observing are not how the models look. Airbrushing has a huge influence on the models “beauty”. “Guillen and Barr's study further indicated that adolescent girls are the primary targets of much of this weight-loss advertising” (Issitt). Sadly, the market has no sympathy for young girls, trying to convince them that they are not as beautiful as they really are. Media hooks the minds of these girls by selling them beauty products to cover up their natura...
Throughout history, we have proven time after time, that society has a natural inclination towards image obsessiveness and in more recent years seems to have become a greater factor in our everyday lives. We are constantly altering our persona as well as our physical features including what products we purchase. What is s...
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