Many tend to see the media as a very modern and controversial topic. Over the years, it has developed faster than we might be able to keep up with and has been shaping societal norms whether we like it or not. This is specifically true in terms of media and body image. Before the internet, there were no social media sites that people could post and compare their body to others, there were no ways to follow your favorite celebrity’s every move, and there most definitely wasn’t photoshop. There is no doubt that through the media, our society’s view on body image has drastically changed.

One thing that stood out to me during my research on this topic, was how cruel the media can be to celebrities regarding their weight. On the top left corner of my mashboard there is a picture of a cover of a magazine with the title, “Weight Winners and Losers”. Surrounding that title, are several pictures of celebrities with captions judging whether their weight loss/gain was a win or loss. It is not the media’s business to keep up on a person’s weight fluctuations. This magazine is also wrongfully encouraging others that it is ok to judge and critique peoples bodies.

A quote (located directly under the magazine cover) from the memoir Hunger by Roxane Gay that I thought related well to this concept states, “When you’re overweight, your body becomes a matter of public record in many respects. Your body is constantly and prominently on display. People project assumed narratives onto your body and are not at all interested in the truth of your body, whatever the truth might be,” (pg. 120). With the current stigma on body weight, it’s almost like it is a shame to be overweight. If celebrities gain or lose even a pound it is noticed and published for the whole world to know. Not only does this affect the celebrity themselves, but their fans also start to give more thought about their own weight and how it is seen with others.

The media is also widely known for its false advertising that can greatly alter a person’s view on body image. Photoshop is guilty of altering this mindset. I chose to include two pictures on my mashboard of models being photoshopped because I personally found it very upsetting. It’s like the company, magazine, commercial, etc. is blatantly telling the models that their bodies still aren’t good enough to advertise. These models spend their entire careers going on crazy diets and enduring brutal workouts every day to get the body they need to succeed at their job, yet it still is not good enough. Their bodies will still be chopped up, their skin will still be airbrushed smooth, and their faces will still be rearranged all to get this unrealistic idea of a perfect body.

 

 

But who is to say what the perfect body is? Why are we letting computers and the people behind those computers altering models to decide what perfect should be? These photoshopped models are leaving viewers with a botched impression of what a normal, healthy body should look like. Ribs, or any bones of that matter, should not be protruding out of one’s skin like they make Karlie Kloss’s look like. Skin should not look as smooth as paper. The worst part of it all is that these advertising companies are so good at their jobs that many people believe that everything they see on the internet is real.

 

 

Since my mashboard was based on media its effect on body image, I found it fitting to make the entire poster look like a television screen. We tend to spend most of our day staring at a screen, constantly connected to the internet, making us more susceptible and prone to always being on media. There’s no denying that our generation is addicted to internet screens, and this addiction is only feeding into the recent changes in societal ideologies like it has with perceiving body image.