Sunday, November 9, 2008
Uglies
Upon my completion of Uglies, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. I even found myself seeking the sequel. As shown in class, I chose to do my artistic response comparing the book to the movie, Stepford Wives. Even before deciding to do this comparison, I found myself thinking about other ways in which this story runs parallel to different aspects of our society. Dealing more specifically with pop culture and television, I thought of the endless number of shows we can watch each and everyday which deal with issues relating to beauty. Shows like Ugly Betty, Dr. 90210, Extreme Makeover, What Not to Wear, etc. all either directly or indirectly feed society perceptions of what we should consider as beautiful. Choosing to watch these shows or not, a person can be consciously or unconsciously affected by the messages of these shows. There is no doubt their image of what should be considered beautiful is skewed.
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2 comments:
After our last class I decided that I really enjoy the Uglies. I feel that the book touches on a lot of sensitive subjects that children in our society deal with today. However I think that you have to be careful on what age would be able to read this. It should depend on the maturity level of the child.
I know this was a few weeks ago, but I honestly really enjoyed your comparison of Uglies to Stepford Wives. Although I've never seen it, and therefore, couldn't directly relate to your comparison, the pictures really intrigued me. I feel as though that happens a lot of times with women, especially younger women, and that those women are seen as "inspiration" to others, which triggers the continued process of altering the body in that way. As you said, shows such as the ones you listed also affect the portrayal of beauty. I'll admit, I'm an avid watcher of What Not to Wear, and never thought about how that "skews" my image of beauty; I honestly found it humorous that some people dress certain ways and are so stuck on the clothes that they wear that are deemed "unfashionable." In my opinion, who creates the current "fashion" trend? Who defines "beauty"? But as you said, it's media, such as shows like this, that define it for us. I guess I'm one of the people that are unconsciously affected.
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