Nowadays,
the term “image change” is very common especially to young female
celebrities in their twenties. The said transition involves shedding
out their sweet good girl roles for more provocative ones, supposedly
out of maturity. Oftentimes, the line between audience pressure and
issues of personal growth become blurry that these young women come
out more vulnerable than ever instead of being more empowered. The
change often demands sexy and racy new identities. And the girls
succumb to these changes, convinced that if ever they want to stay
fresh in the public eye, they have to try something 'new', no matter
how uncomfortable they are, no matter how exposed their bodies might
be. It is a sad reality that people think that the only road to
maturity is by going bare. The case applies to recent Disney Channel
teen stars who equated entrance to womanhood with exit from decent
wardrobe choices- all of this for the sake of pleasing their bosses,
which is us, the audience. With a generation more concerned with
bikini-ready bodies and Maybelline-painted faces, it is a no-brainer
how these girls came up with the decision to flaunt everything they
have got.
Celebrities
are said to be public property. They chose a profession in which
privacy plays less than the minor role. Come to think of it, I
myself, am guilty of being obsessed with some actors' daily routine.
Sadly, this kind of obsession becomes unhealthy for some. It becomes
a habit for them to prowl on the stars' lives even worse, make quick
judgments and accusations with mere hear-says as evidence. The lives
of the celebs are so open for public consumption that people think it
is their right to comment and point fingers. What is often forgot is
that these stars are humans too, who make mistakes, become foolish
but aim to bounce back. They are not dogs we order around to do
tricks and spins to please us. They have their life outside the
cameras- one we can never fully know. These people are much more than
the characters they play on TV, they should not be our source of past
time and small talks with neighbors. They have their own life to
better, so do us.
Another
way in which actors and actresses become downsized to objects is when
they are often used as marketing strategies for products- mostly
those for beauty and body enhancement. Admit it or not, aesthetics
play a big part in converting consumers to goods here and there. The
sought-after and most talked-about celebrity of the moment, suddenly
appear in every commercial possible- endorsing products ranging from
foot socks to sardines to toothpaste to moisturizer. All that's
missing is them advertising funeral plans. Have you ever wondered if
ever they actually use the products they say will make your life
better? Or are they really just props used by companies to get hold
of your hard-earned money? Mostly, the talk of beauty is what is at
stake here. In the point of view of an ordinary school girl having
bad hair days and pimple outbursts, she hopes one day to look like
her favorite model endorsing creams and lotions, not knowing she is
slowly falling into self-esteem issues and a specific patronage to a
specific kind of beauty- the one dictated by society itself. The
model endorser may have no idea of it, but she just caused a feeling
of inferiority in that girl, perhaps unconsciously. All of this
because man used man. And man once again suffers in the end.
-an
excerpt from “Men as a commodity in
the
entertainment business and pop
culture”
by Yours Truly for subject SCL 3
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