Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Appearances Just May Be Everything
Throughout my reading of Amusing Ourselves to Death, I have noticed many things that have been brought up by Postman that I would not have noticed on my own. For example, he brings up the fact that since our 27th president, William Howard Taft, we as the United States have not elected an overweight or bald president. Now I know as a teenager that we are very concerned about what people look like, could it be possible that the entire nation is a “teenager” itself? Some other examples of this include the number of young women these days dealing with eating disorders. They go through all these problems just so they can look good; when half the time, they look worse because of it. Another example is a Planters Peanuts commercial I once saw. The commercial had this overweight, unattractive woman with a uni-brow walking down the street with all these men whistling and cat-calling her. Then the scene changes to her home where she is seen rubbing peanuts all over her body. The problem here is that the company had to use this completely unattractive woman to advertise the “lure” of the peanuts. Yet another example is on television so many times, no one realizes it. Whenever you see some commercial advertising clothing or cosmetics, you always see the beautiful woman wearing the item or the handsome man running around. You never see a person who would be deemed unattractive to the general public. Do the products need that much of a boost for the advertising that they can’t be seen being used or worn by an unattractive person?
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Hey Jacob, you really hit on a subject that I've been interested in for quite a while. People have done studies all over our nation to determine whether more attractive people are given more oppurtunities, and this is almost always the case. I definetely see what you're saying about the media using attractive people to sell products to the general public. Attractive people are all over our magazine adds and television screens. The only time I ever see an average person on television is in Dove commercials, and they specifically promote natural, average beauty. Even reality television shows generally only feature good-looking people. Then again, reality shows are pretty much the furthest thing frome reality.
I don't know about guys, but many girls , myself included, notice that when we are dressed nicer, people are generally more willing to help us. I know what you might be thinking, too. And o, its not just the teenage guy behind the sales counter that's eager to help all of a sudden. It's also the middle-aged, female librarian or the manager at a supermarket. People are more willing to help attractive girls who dress a certain way. This doesn't mean scantily clad, either. I wonder if guys notice that people are more helpful to them when they dress nicer as well.
I belive that this helpfulness is the result of two things. People respond better to others when they feel or look more confident, and people associate attractiveness with wealth and intelligence.
What do you think about the connections that people make between attractiveness, intelligence, and wealth?
In general, male CEOs are taller than average. Do you suppose that tall men somehow better qualified to run companies than average or shorter men?
You kids are circling around some dicey stuff here. What is attractive in America? Jacob mentioned THIN, and that is a given. How about YOUNG? Aging in America is not for the faint of heart.
Now think about other characteristics...what kinds of faces are presented as the ideal? Who is left out?
Today's LA Times Sport Section, lead story:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-open25-2008jun25,0,2779136.story
I agree with Tashiana. If you dress nicer you seem more confident and people are attracted to that. Even a factor like height can give you an air of confidence or self assurance. In Brave New World the character Bernard Marx is kind of an outsider because he is not the average height of the other Alpha males.
I once accidently tested the theory about if how I dressed affected the way people saw me. The result was that it did. A guy I sat next to in second period talked to me more and offered to help me more on days I dressed up then on days when I wore regular shirts and jeans. I did notice I was more confident on those days and that also could have had something to do with it.
In response to Ms. Fletcher's question, I don't believe that tall men are better qualified to run companies than average or shorter men. In fact, I think the shorter men would run something such as a company better than taller men. The only reason I think this is because of what people call "short man syndrome". I believe this because the CEO or whoever is so self-concious that he thnks he has to compensate for that by being better than everyone else at everything he does.
Also, Ms. Fletcher, in my opinion, in today's society, beauty is most definitely skin deep. The main thing that men are concerned with is the girl's face; if she's pretty, great. If she has a "great personality", that's just a plus in a man's eyes. Now this doesn't necessarily apply to all guys, but it does apply to a good amount of them.
In response to Tashiana's question, I absolutely think that there is a connection between attractiveness, intelligence, and wealth. I believe that the more attractive girl tries to dumb herself down to make herself seem even more attractive; because for some reason, women, especially teenagers, think that you cannot be beautiful and intelligent at the same time. Also, I believe that the more money you have the money you have to spend on things that'll make you look more attrcative, i.e. botox, liposuction,plastic surgery, etc.
i completely agree with jacob. Everyone judges, subconciously or not. We like to look good so we will give a good impression. Many jobs even, won't hire you mainly because of the way you dress. Is it fair? Maybe, or maybe not. Sometimes people just dont care, or dont have the time or the patience to look amazing every single day. And on days we dont we might feel bad or self concious. It seems society is just becoming an image. There are image consultants that people actually hire, to help fix you reputation. That is completely wrong of us. If there was a job opportunity and a smart, but not so gifted in the fashion department went up against a maybe not as smart but beautiful person, its obious the beautiful person would get the job. There are shows like americas next top model, that are based on looks and the most beautiful, funny, girl gets the modeling contract. Well what if your not so beautiful?
I agree with Tashiana and Lily. The first thing someone thinks about when they see one another is how attractive they are or are not. It is all about how the other person looks, especially for girls. Most usually will look at other girl friends or girls on the medias and feel jealous and say, Maaan, i wish i was like her! Girls dislike other girls because of how attractive the other girls look. For example, Vanessa Hudgens, Jessica Alba and Megan Fox.
I believe that all girls have beauty, even if they are overweight, or unattractive looking. Everyone, including guys, have flaws, but we should use it to our advantage. What happened to natural beauty? Now a days, it is about make up, botox and plastic surgery. I blame the media for this image that girls have to have big boobs, long legs, and skinny bodies.
I wonder if i should gain 150 lbs and see if my friends will look at me the same way. That one girl in the movie Hairspray was overweight, but she had such a wonderful personality. Can America change its ways and have more unattractive people in the media? Will the people accept this or will they stop watching tv and looking at magazines?
In response to Ms. Fletcher's question about the taller than average CEOs, it's not the fact that height makes you more or less capable of being a leader, but more like the fact that height gives a sense of power and dominance. People are more likely to listen to someone taller than them just because they feel smaller and in some sense, a bit more insignificant. They hold those people in higher regard (no pun intended) just because they got lucky in the world of genetics. Taller people can stare others down and intimidate them. The shorter people are therefore a bit less reluctant to do what they're told.
All this talk about height reminds of something I've observed within my own family. Over the years my cousins, my siblings, and I have grown significantly. In height that is. And in doing so, we shot past the heights of our parents (or in most cases, just dear old mom). I noticed that when we grew taller, we also grew sassier. I believe it may be the mere fact that when we were younger and significantly smaller than our parents, we were more willing to bend to the will of the tall people around us. Now that the tables have turned, our heights gave us a sense of confidence that wasn't there before, fueling us to rebel and talk back.
Is height really such an important factor on life? Does height mean power? Is bigger really better?
Griselda, (It's weird calling you by your actual name now.) you make an iteresting point and I agree with you. I even notice that peers seem to disrespect shorter or younger teachers or coaches more often in school.
I think that actual appearances are less important than the connections that people automatically make about them. For instance, I recently had a professor at Cerritos College who was paralyzed and spoke with a thick accent. Many students in the class did not take him seriously and spent the majority of class mocking his accent, rather than listening to what this bilingual man with a doctorate degree actually had to say. They assumed he was a push-over and may have even doubted his intelligence. They were all very surprised when he proceeded to lecture us all about prejudging people and dismissed class early out of anger.
I believe, however, that most people are prejudiced without being racist. We all judge others before we know them based on the images the media bombards us with and our previous experiences with people who we percieve to be similar to them. We are all constantly prejudging people, then readjusting our images of them based on what we learn about them as individuals later. It is only when people prejudge others negatively, and never bother to correct themselves, that racism ensues.
On a side note, while writing this, my computer froze, and I had to come back and find this article again. I had a thought. Why are there now ten comments on the post that is titled "Appearances Just May be Everything". Is this a coincidence, or the result of the modern obsession with appearance.
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