Essay on Victim of Beauty «Victim of Beauty» is the title of a series of photographs published in the Bulgarian fashion magazine «12» and it can be depicted as a powerful source of meaning from the content of it’s text and image. The title and image both have distinctive denotative meanings sujested by their literal characterization, however their merger creates a polysemy of connotative meanings that can be associated to the ideology of beauty, the evolution of its significance and its harm to society.
Nonetheless, when separated, each element also has its own denotation and connotation that give additional essence of the eventual message established by the creator of the editorial. Whilst causing an international controversy, a tide of discussions emerged about the editorial, raising questions such as the propriety of abuse used as an art form and the use of sexism for discrimination of gender, however these seem to be based on a superficial perspective of the prevailing image, therefore I intend to reveal the deeper meaning associated with this specific text and image.
The image of beautiful women with black eyes, viciously torn out piercings and sickening burns instantly puts the thought of domestic violence into the readers mind, however the natural expressions of the models suggest they aren’t necessarily being objectified but in fact “humanized”. Although the images are controversial, they appear to have a deeper connotative meaning that can be perceived as the psychological abuse caused by beauty alternatively to the physical abuse portrayed literally in the images. In today’s society, beauty brings an enormous amount of pressure to the lifestyle of each individual whether a woman, men or even a child.
The Essay on Journeys: Meaning of Life and Inner Journey
To go on a journey does not necessarily require one to physically move from one place to another. A journey can happen anywhere, and at any time, even if you are not moving. An inner journey is to transcend above the physical and temporal world into a spiritual realm. This enables one to look at life attentively and be alert to the lessons learnt from experience. ‘Of Eurydice’ by Ivan Lalic, ‘Fax ...
Whether they realize or not, people from all cultures and backgrounds are victims of beauty within the perspective of ideology created by the society that surrounds them. Appearance currently plays a role in much more than the ceaseless quest for partnership, which provokes the desire to appeal to the opposite sex. Nowadays, beauty and appearance remain as a form of language. Speech, facial expressions, body language and ways to dress can all, in a broad sense, be considered “a medium” of communication that is used to build relationships and give an impression that may determine the decision of an mployer or investor looking to provide a future career. Many job seekers have similar experience in the various areas of employment, however it is common for physical appearance to have a determining impact on job recruitment. Personal fulfillment is no longer achieved simply with the creation of a family, but with the discovery of our own potential and achievement and of course the ambition to gain money and possessions that are considered arguably to shape a particular standard of lifestyle, power and happiness.
Nevertheless, what can be concluded is that beauty has an exceeding social influence, cultural power and even political consequences. This is also present in the sense of confidence expressed by the models in the photographs of Vasil Germanov, fashion stylist of 12 magazines. Each model looks beautiful besides her injuries, facing forward with her eyes directly looking at the camera.
Whilst the bruises can represent struggle and sacrifice to maintain a beautiful physical appearance, the confidence and certainty in the eyes of the women can be perceived as a satisfaction of leverage and power held by their possession of beauty. The extract “Victim of Beauty” in itself is controversial as ordinarily the two words, “victim” and “beauty”, do not combine as a natural expression used in society or as a political and economic issue. The question derived, however, is why aren’t they seen as part of the conventional list of cultural issues.
The Essay on The English Language People Words Period
The English language is the language spoken by an estimated 300 million people as a first language in the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It has official status in over fifty countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, and is the most widely used second language in the world. Germanic speakers began settling in England from northern Germany and southern ...
Put aside, the title would literally delineate attractiveness as intolerance. Language as an instrument is used to send various messages. When a person’s thought is put in words it is then sent through speech or writing to others, who receive it and decode the words into their own thought. Using the same principle, decoding the words “victim of beauty” leaves me associated to the power of appearance and it’s ability to injure. According to the philologist and literary historian Roger Fowler “meanings of the words in a language are the community’s established knowledge”.
It is common knowledge that “victim” refers to someone who has been harmed, injured or killed, however a deeper meaning is found when the word is associated to the psychological injuries rather than the physical. Currently, men are beginning to experience, just as much as women, the increasing social and cultural pressure to meet the ideology of unachievable image of natural beauty and that results in a feeling of anxiety and rise in eating disorders, already vastly present amongst the female generation.
Nevertheless, aside from the pressure created by the current visual culture it can be interpreted that victims, of the construction of a specific standard of beauty and attractiveness, are also all mistreated people who fail to meet this ideology besides the people struggling to maintain their formerly natural beauty and aiming to reach their utmost level of perfection. Language takes part in producing identities and the creation of identity related to words such as “obese” has harmed and rejected a vast number of people from society due to their fabricated identity upon their physical appearance.
This rejection can lead to serious health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke, however, emotional suffering, caused by the abundance of beauty in mass culture and media, can be seen among the most painful aspects of obesity. Emotion is the most powerful aspect that drives people to go lengths to live up to the beauty ideals of their society and victims are created when gentle concerns about appearance become an obsession. For instance, to become more attractive in the middle Ages, affluent noblewomen would swallow arsenic or dab bat’s blood on their skin to improve their complexion.
The Essay on Culture and Cultural Norms
Culture can be referred to as a people’s way of life. It can be used to refer to the way we live and all that goes along with our life. That means that for us to have a life we have to be affiliated to a certain culture or to belong to a certain culture. To be in a certain culture, one has to comply will the cultural values, norms and expectations. Cultural values can be used or rather the term ...
In today’s society, the obsession of appearance can lead to the excessive use of cosmetic surgery and drug intake and in turn beauty ceases to be natural, which poses the question of how would the excessively cyber spaced future transform the form of beauty. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, murder over two million teenage girls and women at an alarming rate, in addition to affecting the victims with further emotional, spiritual and psychological problems. Would this figure continue to rise, or have we begun undertaking a cultural change where talent and verbal intelligence overtake the significance of beauty.
Every period of history held its own standards on what was and was not considered as beautiful and as powerful cultural ideologies changed, beauty standards changed. For example, during the 20th century, the icon of beauty, Marilyn Monroe set the desirable and ideological body image to be in the form of perfectly curved and natural hourglass shape. In the 21st century, however, her body ideal is considered too heavy for today’s icons of beauty. Beauty provides important clues to the mechanics of society as appearance has a great social significance.
It can be a site for the expression of power in a culture and for communicating group membership, social status, social identity and associated beliefs and values. For instance, in Cameroon and many other parts of Africa, obesity, especially in the buttocks, has been associated with abundance, erotic desirability, and fertility. Fat has been seen as a statement of well being and has been frequently produced artificially through fattening processes whereas, in the United States, most people hold negative attitudes toward body fat.
According to surveys, people attribute increased body weight to being poor or having poor health. There are endless number of cultural definitions of beauty, nevertheless it’s presence in society today can be transposed as a cultural symbol delineated in different ways by the various cultural settings and its evolution has been simultaneous to that of technology and science, which is what allows the media today to artificially enhance the natural beauty of individuals and create controversy between naturalism and counterfeit.
The Essay on Culture And Cultural Diversity In The Medieval Islamic World
Culture and Cultural Diversity in the Medieval Islamic World Diversity can be defined as differences between people worth respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental abilities, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice and other human differences (Religion and Cultural Diversity Conferences). The medieval Islamic world encompasses the period from 622 C.E. or the first year of ...
Scientists have studied the elements of youth, healthiness, sexual prime and facial symmetry to have a considerable impact on the perspective on the ideology of beauty. Nevertheless, there are aspects such as love and talent that define beauty differently and can amplify it’s meaning by making it more appreciated which is not an aspect present in ideology. As clearly presented cultural ideologies can be of complete opposition and the standards of what is beautiful might vary from culture to culture and from time to time, however it is clear that beauty affects each individual and is undeniably a part of society’s cultural issues.
The semiotic analysis of the image and text derived from the editorial of “12” magazine has allowed me to deconstruct the significance of beauty within its historical, cultural and social context and reflect on its impact on today’s society, as well as briefly address it’s possible influence on the future. References: Mikko Lehtonen (2000).
The Culture Analysis of Texts. London: SAGE Publications. 10-49. Julie Gray. (2012).
Beauty and Culture – Trinity University. Available: http://www. trinity. du/rjensen/temp/kristin. ppt. Last accessed 6th Dec 2012. Gad Saad. (2010).
Beauty: Culture-Specific or Universally Defined?. Available: http://www. psychologytoday. com/blog/homo-consumericus/201004/beauty-culture-specific-or-universally-defined. Last accessed 6th Dec 2012. James Mould. (2012).
Natural beauty: Men are “feeling pressure to look good”. Available: http://www. mypure. co. uk/natural-grooming-news/natural-beauty-men-are-feeling-pressure-to-look-good–id19916566. Last accessed 6th Dec 2012.
Nancy S Wellman. (2002).
Causes and consequences of adult obesity. Available: http://211. 76. 170. 15/server/APJCN/Volume11/vol11sup7/S705. pdf. Last accessed 6th Dec 2012.
Bibliography:
Mikko Lehtonen (2000).
The Essay on Real beauty is the natural beauty
Purpose is defined as author’s goals; in “The Eye of the Beholder”, Suh’s goal is to persuade readers just be themselves, and do not use makeup to make a fake face. (2) Ethos is defined as credibility; Suh used her own experience and her reputation to support her argument on stop making up, and just be natural. (3) Logos is defined as evidence and logic; Suh used some evidence and logic to prove ...
The Culture Analysis of Texts. Malcolm Barnard (2001).
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