Some thoughts about image

I've posted about this elsewhere, but I feel it's something that must be said.

On the television show Arrow, one of the characters wears glasses. To me, this is actually a very big deal. One, because she is smart, sassy and well-liked. Two, she is loved by two of the male characters. Three, she is very attractive, with or without glasses.

Maybe this is shallow, but here's my point.

I grew up wearing glasses in a time where it was definitely not cool. The adage of: "Guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses" was something that I had to put up with. I was bullied. Mostly because I was shy, but also because I wore glasses.

So, when I see a character on a primetime television show who wears glasses but is not treated as the geek, but is actually a very strong character in her own right, as well as the fact that the glasses are treated as 'no big deal', well, it's a very big deal to someone like me.

Let's face it. Hollywood sells lies. Almost every character who is the protagonist on a television show or movie tends to be attractive, thin, or they have a muscular build. The antagonist, on the other hand, can sometimes be unattractive.

Here's the crux of the matter. Kids are practically killing themselves to be like this image. We hear hundreds of stories of kids suffering from anorexia or bulimia, or hurting themselves because they think the image Hollywood sells is real. We've all seen the articles on how images of models are photoshopped to make them conform to an image they think people want to see and we're now seeing some backlash.

Maybe it's a small thing where a girl looks pretty wearing glasses. These days glasses are a fashion statement. I'm not disputing that. It's just that I spent my formative years, the years which are crucial in affirming self-esteem, being made to feel like I was ugly. I'm still not over that and it's been a long time since my teen years.

Have you ever seen those teen movies where the girl who wears glasses is either ignored or bullied because she's considered unattractive, then suddenly she gets contact lenses and everyone looks at her with new eyes? Yeah, that was me. The before anyway. The after: that was wishful thinking on my part. It didn't happen for me.

Hollywood has a long way to go in undoing the damage it has done through these particular movies. It's still one step forward two steps back, but to me the character on Arrow represents a certain type of person who doesn't usually get to be the love interest, or even a strong character.

Baby steps. We can still effect change, one small step at a time.

Food For Thought

There’s an epidemic that is sweeping the world. And it’s not obesity. It’s not even swine flu. It doesn’t even have one of those ‘scientific’ sounding names.

Anyone who watches the television news, reads the newspaper, or browses the Internet would no doubt have heard of the death of Amy Winehouse.

Tragic though this singer’s death may be, and her life may have been equally tragic, what could be of greater concern is how many young women have or are attempting to emulate this girl.

Not having known Amy Winehouse personally, it would not be appropriate to sit in moral judgment of this girl, despite there having been stories of drunkenness, drug use and other issues.

The point of this is, how did this girl become such a role model for thousands of girls who followed her given this alleged behaviour.

Which brings us back to the point of the epidemic, and that is bad self-image.
Hollywood sells perfection.

It sells stories of great adventures, beautiful people, and most of the time, happy endings.

What it doesn’t do is provide an accurate representation of reality.

It is the same with the music world, or the modelling world.

After all, these are worlds which ensure that the most successful people are the ones who have a ‘certain look’.

They place high expectations on those who do climb the ladder of success, but as in Amy’s case, it comes at a price.

Amy isn’t the only one who has paid such a high price.

Back in the seventies, there was a young singer who had an incredible voice.

But Karen Carpenter’s image did not suit the music industry and she became anorexic and bulimic in order to attempt to become that ‘perfect image’.

At least, that is what a television movie tried to portray.

Karen Carpenter was just 32 years old when she died of heart failure – a direct result of her illness placing strain on her heart.

Actor John Candy was always known as ‘roly-poly’, but at one point he must have been so unhappy with his image that he tried to lose weight.

He also died of heart failure.

We hear stories of celebrities, mostly in Hollywood and the UK, ‘acting up’, misbehaving, getting arrested for one thing or another.

And yet these are the people we hold up as role models for children.

It begs the question.

How do we expect children to grow up healthy and happy to become successful adults if the only examples they have of success are people who have it but are clearly so unhappy with that success they choose to sabotage it, and themselves, with, in some cases, fatal results.

Food for thought.