The most obvious challenge is the difficulty of upholding the media’s fourth estate role of allowing us to define ourselves “in terms of the self knowledge we are able to distil from the images in news and entertainment.”  (Horne, Lucky Country)  To put it cynically, this is because media organisations are corporate organisations with commercial ties to the beauty industry that dictate the notion of ‘beauty’.  Schultz argues that “the news media has become “a source of real and significant power and influence, an industry prepared to exercise and pursue self-interested commercial, political and cultural agendas” (Schultz 1998, pg 1).  So, rather than presenting beauty objectively, “beauty is perceived as whatever promises that product offers and the masses agree with it.” (Helium, Stembridge)   By presenting beauty as difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries increase their profits and growth (Media Awareness Network: Beauty and Body Image in the Media, http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm)

Clearly, the media has a tough time to represent beauty realistically according to our everyday life standards, because of their financial interests.  This is the major challenge to overcome.  Ads from the beauty industry and their endorsements from beautiful celebrities like Jessica Alba for Revlon in the media only add to this unrealistic portrayal of women.  The representation of women’s beauty in the media can also be called ‘tabloid news’ so the commercial interests of media companies are even clearer.   When celebrities are just so gorgeous nowadays, much more than normal people, it is really difficult for media companies to give a balanced representation of physical appearances, especially if are trying to profit from tabloid news.  We all remember the tabloid magazine criticisms of the ‘best and worst dressed’ and the ‘best and worst beach bodies’, right?  These only further pursue this bias towards ridiculous standards set by the beauty industry.  As Hirst and Patching say, “Here we begin to examine the contradiction between the idealistic view of journalism as the fourth estate, and the competing view that the media is just another business”.  (Hirst, M. and Patching R (2007) Journal Ethics: Arguments and Cases, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2^nd Ed.

The Media Awareness Network paints a contrasting picture on beauty to commercial media organisations.  Why?  Precisely because they are a non-profit organisation that aims to achieve a 4th estate watchdog and guarddog role on how well the media are keeping citizens informed, and how the media is affecting people’s lifestyle choices. They report that the media’s representations of beauty are unattainable for most women which can lead to unhealthy eating habits and increased self esteem issues.  As media activist Jean Kilbourne concludes, “Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.”  (Media Awareness Network: Beauty and Body Image in the Media, http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm)

This challenge of balancing social responsibility with their commercial interests is probably the biggest hurdle in the media’s representation of beauty.   If we don’t take action to reform this unrealistic picture of beauty, the media and beauty industry’s encouragement of ’perfecting our physical appearances’ will only provoke serious effects.  Depression, loss of self-esteem and eating disorders name but a few.

Even Susan Boyle has had a makeover to conform with society’s sense of ‘beauty’.  See the below article:

Boshoff A., “A reborn angel’s delight: From bushy brows to polished perfection, Susan Boyle’s transformation has astounded everyone”, 8th August 09

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1205142/A-reborn-angels-delight-From-bushy-brows-polished-perfection-Susan-Boyles-transformation-astounded-everyone.html

http://www.tvfunspot.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6286

Finding this discussion forum for the reality TV show, “True Beauty” really enlightened me to the subverted treatment of beauty in the reality TV show genre.  That the contestants are being judged on their inner beauty, on top of their outer is a worthy effort to reform society’s stereotypical attachment to physical appearance.  For once, it is a different approach to reality TV shows’ quest for beauty, with popular shows like America’s Next Top Model.

 This discussion forum also gives viewers the opportunity to comment- give their opinions.  We can only hope that online public protests have encouraged producers to create a show acknowledging the importance of inner beauty. Thank goodness for the development of discussion forums on the Internet which have created the chances for viewers’ opinions to infiltrate media production companies!

Since the same story has been published multiple times, obviously, it sells.  Is that because of Megan Fox’s prominence as one of the most beautiful women in the world, and because the media believes that society is eager for any articles relating to our physical appearances?  I tend to think so.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/people/megan-fox-scared-of-her-supernatural-sexual-power-20090921-fx5k.html

http://www.nwonline.com.au/news/breaking-news/megans-at-it-again.htm

The NW Weekly article also shows the emerging opportunity for interactions between readers with the comments below demonstrating their opinion on the article and Megan Fox.  Hopefully this will encourage global mass action from people contesting the media’s obsession with beauty.

http://www.mediaknowall.com/gender.html

Representations of Femininity

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

• beauty (within narrow conventions)
• size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
• sexuality (as expressed by the above)
• emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
• relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood (see the discussion of the misogynistic PantyRaider below). Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories.

The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to societal expectations, and characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant. And they get their comeuppance, particularly in the movies. Think of Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction or, more recently, Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) in Boys Don’t Cry. America seems to expect its women to behave better than their European counterparts – British viewers adored the antics of Patsy & Edina in Absolutely Fabulous, but these had to be severely toned down (less swearing, NO drugtaking) for the US remake, High Society (which was a flop).

Discussions of women’s representation in the media tend to revolve around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other values, the lack of powerful female role models, and the extremely artificial nature of such portrayals, which bear little or no relation to the reality experience by women across the planet. It would take almost a whole A-level course to cover these representations and the issues surrounding them in depth (if interested, do Womens or Gender Studies at uni)….”

The article continues- I have only copied the relevant section.

Amanda Fox’s article describes the history of the changing definition of women’s beauty from the time of limited print advertising to the real development of media’s enormous influence on women’s beauty in the 1970s.  She has very enlightening explanations on the media’s motivation towards promoting their view of beauty on every available visual medium, because “it is at its core a money making industry”.  Her article resonates with the cynicism a down-to-earth retired woman, representative of us everyday people.  http://www.helium.com/items/1490944-how-the-media-changes-our-perception-of-beauty.  

Kim Everett advocates that “Beauty comes in many different sizes, shapes, and colors, and it has nothing to do with height, weight, expensive clothing, or ridiculously priced cosmetics” as advertised in the media.  I couldn’t agree more with her.  These things should not and do not define beauty, and it will be a worthy challenge to fight the ‘propaganda’ of the beauty and media industry.  http://www.helium.com/items/1051970-how-the-media-changes-our-perception-of-beauty

The ‘Helium’ website demonstrates the changing nature of media practices.  New opportunities have arisen for ordinary bloggers and makeshift writers/journalists to counter and correct the media’s traditional perception of beauty.  And how?  The answer lies with the development of the Internet, which has allowed our protestations against mass media’s traditional portrayal of female beauty to infiltrate millions of readers round the world.  Hopefully, more people will seize the opportunity to voice their protestations on the Internet, so beauty can be more realistically represented.