When you think of media image, is this what you see? Is this really what is behind the tabloids and advertisements? Take a look.
** All images were from stock images on google, free clip art for the animated graphics **
** I would like to note before I continue, that these images are recreations of course. And this is my artistic take on what I believe the media is pushing on young minds even today. Both of these models and the photographers who are the original creators are amazing and very talents individuals. I by no means am accusing them of taking part in that idea or that they have gotten work done to their bodies or photos. **
Media Design and Image:
Growing up and loving photography and fashion I always saw the most beautiful woman in the magazines and in photos. I always felt as if I'd never have the chance to be in front of the camera because of my weight. I grew up "cubbier" than I am now, but I still have weight struggles. With that being said, my body image struggled for years because of what I always saw in the media, on billboards and also just what I really thought was the "perfect body".
For this project I wanted to think deeper into that thought I had growing up. The "perfect body". I wanted to create something that would show the visual representation that happen physiologically to young woman and men. For that to happen I needed to show what goes through someone's mind when they see these images. So I went with a metaphoric image. The lines on the face, the drawn on eyes and mouths are both to represent the idea of seeing what we, the viewer, needs to fix of themselves. They see these amazing faces and think, I need to recreate and fix my face to look like that. A perfect example is when Kylie Jenner suddenly wasn't the same girl everyone remembered. She had new lips, eyes and facial structure. At the end of the day, the lines of the face were meant to make you visually think about those changes that the view might think they need in order to be beautiful.
I do believe not everyone has this look at media and we as a society have come far since the days of me being in elementary school looking at these super models. But we need to think of how we can fully change this narrative without hurting the other body types. No one body type is the "approved" image. Healthy and true to themselves is the only thing we as a society should be advertising.
Now before I start rambling! Let me speak on some of the challenges I had building this project. One of course was time. The time of thinking of what is next and what the right image should be. Another struggle was really trying to figure out which images will work well with the clip art. I had many sets of eyes and mouths and many different models portraits. It hard to pick when some just don't sit right or end up looking to creepy. Putting them together once I saw which ones flowed well was the fun part.
Please let me know how you feel about these images and if you agree or disagree with my analysis. This is meant to be a thinking post for us all. How do you feel media has changed how we view ourselves?
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