Ramblings On Beauty

So the other day I linked to one of Yllwdaisies' posts in which she discussed an insightful vid from Dove. The vid basically displayed, in sped up time, the manpower, artistry, and digital magic needed to turn the good-looking gal on the street into the gorgeous face of a cosmetic ad. I understand that most of us are aware that the flawless images of celebrities and models we see in advertising and the media are "touched up" to some extent. However I would just like to stress how important it is that we remind ourselves of this fact by viewing media that critically shows the "enhancements" at work. Personally speaking, I may view something like the Dove vid once for every hundred of touched up images I see. And while I am aware these advertising and celebrity images are enhanced, when I view them I do not get to see the enhancement process the image went through ... I only see the finished product, which is presented as though it were real and natural.

I understand I must sound like a raging anti-advertising luddite/media critic. And, I admit, I basically am. But that's for another post. The basic point of this post is that it is of the utmost importance that we (the public, the consumers of this advertising and media) maintain a sort of critical vigilance when we consume these images. Therefore I'd like to return to Yllwdaisies' post. She has updated it with a link (that I believe she found on Nello's website) to a digital imaging company called FluidEffect. One of the company's services is retouching. However, a section of the website shows celebrity and model images after AND BEFORE digital enhancement. To get to the section you'll need to click on PORTFOLIO, then AGREE to their terms for viewing, and finally select their BEFORE/AFTER portfolio.

The before and after images are very enlightening. Take the Billy Bob Thornton photograph for example. While Billy Bob looks pretty good for a 50 year old in the before image. The after image shows him to have flawless skin with nary a wrinkle. The enhancement of his neck speaks volumes.

The enhancement of skin is a common characteristic in most of the images. As someone who has terrible skin it comes as a relief to truly see how unreal the flawless skin one sees in the world of advertising and celebrity is. Now I am not saying these celebs and models have terrible skin. Their before images show good, normal skin, though clearly not flawless. And this brings me to my final point.

When I walk to campus or down a busy city street I see beautiful faces everywhere. I would even argue that the vast majority of the faces are attractive. These faces have good, but not great skin and strong, but not chiseled features. Could they substitute for the faces of celebrities and models we see in advertising? Of course they could! --- once their images went through the same enhancement process. These faces I see everyday are just as beautiful as the faces of celebrities and models! However if I was to compare these faces with the finished, touched up images of celebs and models, perhaps I would come to a different conclusion. Perhaps I would think these everyday faces were attractive but they weren't flawlessly beautiful like the faces of celebrities and models. I may then conclude, this is the reason celebrities and models are used in advertising and the attractive person I just walked passed is not. Unfortunately were I to think this way, I would clearly be wrong.

And that's one of the powers of uncovering the enhancement process advertising and media images go through. Many people are blessed with good skin and nice facial features. As someone who isn't so blessed I think it is of primary importance that people who are, the majority of people, understand that they are the essence of beautiful. That it is impossible to compare their face to the unreal, enhanced images of advertising. And that if they had the $10K to pay for a team of professional stylists and digital retouchers, their face would also be plastered across Times Square.

You are as beautiful, perhaps more. It is just that simple.

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Wow. What a random, strange post from me. Well not that random because I do think about these things quite often. Anyway, I'm kind of afraid to post this but I'm clearly not going to waste the time and energy I put into this. So here goes.

PS - check out the COMPOSITE/MANIPULATION portfolio on the FluidEffect website; it doesn't show as much enhancement but there is some.