Searching for the real girl Peeking Behind the Curtain of the Celebrity Beauty Machine

Today’s focus: beauty in the media Who are your favourite “beautiful people”? We see these beautiful people in teen magazines, in ads and posters, and on the web and other media. Are they the real thing? (thumbs up, thumbs down) Sometimes we look up to celebrities as role models. We want to be like them. Is that possible?

Today’s agenda PowerPoint: “Perfection” in the media Think-pair-share Class discussion Individual assignment: Create a digital poster to communicate a message about the media’s influence on body image.

What message are these ads sending? Who created these messages and why? What do these ads tell you about what is the ideal body? Could anyone ever match this version of perfection? How does that make you feel?

Who is included in these images? How well does it reflect reality? Who is left out? What does this say about beauty in the media? Although trends are changing, advertising in North America used to use only Caucasion models. How does that make you feel?

These magazine covers show a few of the “beautiful people.” Do these women represent “perfection”? What is perfection?

Do these women represent “perfection”? How do you know?

What has to happen to change an ordinary looking person into a cover girl?

Is the “perfection” that we see in ads real? What is the difference between these two photographs? Dove Commercial Makeover Girl Makeover Guy Makeover Guy2 Celebrity Perfection Obsession Music Artist's Video Social Commentary

Do you think images of men are photoshoped, too? Are these images of the ideal male possible to live up to? What is the overt (surface) message? What is the implied (hidden) message?

Photoshoping the Image Link to Photoshoping Video As you watch the video, take notes. Make a list of types of changes the digital artist makes to the model’s Image.

Let’s compare notes (Think-pair-share) Extend your list of changes by comparing notes with a partner. Extend your list of changes by comparing notes with another pair. Count up the types of changes you noticed, and then compare them at the class level.

Let’s discuss (Class discussion) Do you understand better why celebrities always look fabulous in the media? Is it possible for ordinary people to measure up? How does the media image of beauty affect what we think about our own bodies? Why would people react in different ways to fabricated beauty in the media? How could becoming more aware of what the media does help us change our ideas about our own body image?

Poster Campaign to Encourage Media Literacy Find an advertisement that suggests ‘beauty’and/or “perfection” that you believe would be hard to live up to. Cut out (or print) image and stick onto another paper. Create a mini-poster with your visual. Identify all the areas of ‘perfection’ that you feel has been: chosen on purpose, enhanced, fixed up, photoshoped, etc. Give your poster a title that ‘outs’ or criticizes the concept of ‘perfection’ (like FAKE with the F backwards)