Cover Girl Culture

Cover Girl Culture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRBp1x4vMc&feature=player_detailpage

With the advancements of electronics the mass media and popular magazines remain to keep a tight grasp on controlling how our youths and teens should look, act, and feel about themselves. Now a day’s more than ever the kids in America resort to saying inside playing video games, shows like TMZ to see what celebrities are doing, reading their favorite magazine, going on facebook, or playing with the latest gadget (Iphone, droids, and etc). I have also notice that the programmers of video games have started to put ad’s in the game so when your playing it you can see it. So I would definitely agree with the film and their critiques of popular media.  From the Film I remember Robert Stevens a success coach saying that “What is the Media doing to our kids? It’s creating an empty society.” That stuck out to me the most because it’s completely true about how big of an influence the media has on us and many fail to realize the power that media has on our youth and teens. They display this power by being the gate keepers on what should the perfect person look like male or female. In Kearney article “Producing girls: rethinking the study of female youth culture” the section about teen magazines, the magazine industry has had major effects on the formation of female youth since the 1980’s. Especially in Magazines that mainly focus on the spheres of fashion and beauty. After Looking at a few popular teen magazines like Seventeen, YM, and teen I notice that in some of magazines they give tips on many different topics and subjects particularly on ways to be sexy or hot. For example they had how to get the perfect body, one of the tips said to buy a dietary supplement drink that flushes your system that some celebrity uses. Instead of suggesting a healthy tips like working out or eating the right the foods something that would give them the best chance to achieve their goal, but they care more about selling the product to make money. They don’t care about what it may do to a growing child or teen that needs the nutrients that are being flushed.  Youth and teens now a day’s want to be like movies stars, models, and music artist instead of wanting to be like someone who wants to make a difference in a positive way like a doctor, cop, fireman, or a teacher. I am afraid to see how the future will be like if the media continue to increase their power on the younger generation. We will have a lot of self centered egotistical money hungry emotionless individuals in America. In Susan Bordo article Never Just Pictures Josie Natori says that fashion is not reality, this tells me that she doesn’t understand the impact that these fashion models have on adolescents. They see these glamorized skeletal models which makes kids want be as small as they are many of them that seek these kinds of body would develop eating disorders. Susan Bordo agreed with Josie on fashion not being reality but she added” it’s an artfully arranged manipulation of visual elements. Thos elements are, however arranged precisely in order to arouse desire, fantasy, and longing, to make us want to participate in the world they portray.” I completely agree with her because if the really wanted us to believe that all the models are is a fantasy, then they would try to give tips or advertise make–ups, heath/diet tips, etc  to help them look like these fantasy figures.