Body Image in Society

 

This appraisal intends to uncover the reasoning for current depictions and representations of body image in today’s culture. “Standards for feminine beauty are inherently inconsistent and impossible to meet, women must struggle with bodies and appearances that inevitably fail to measure up Gimlin (2002, p.17). This text will explore the catalyst provoking pressure onto women of all ages to avoid ugliness; focusing on the ugly truth of deformity and how disfigurement is projected in film, the strive for unachievable perfection and the obsession with the ideal self. Furthermore the catalyst provoking women to mould themselves into objects of sex merely fantasies of heterosexual men.

 

How Deformity is Portrayed as Ugliness in Film

 

“The term ‘ugly’ originates from the Old Norse ugglig meaning to be feared or dreaded” Baker (2010 p.11) suggesting the viewer feels unnerved by ugliness. In society those who present a deformity are frequently subject to judgmental gaze, the awareness that something or someone is abnormal projects great fear in society. Open Your Eyes directed and co-written by Alejandro Amenabar is the original 1997 Spanish version of Vanilla Sky; a 2001 film directed and written by Cameron Crowe starring Tom Cruise. The story follows the trials a successful young man David Aames undergoes in search of the love of his life after being severely disfigured in a life changing car crash with a previous lover. The depiction of disfigurement in both films differ marginally as the 2001 remake remains faithful to the original storyline, however the focus on Tom Cruise as an actor rather than a character is evident.

 

Throughout both films the disfigurement post-accident is depicted negatively, the attitude towards the face is that of disgust and remorse. Typical behaviour often experienced by individuals living with a deformity in society is carefully suggested in the film. In one specific scene at a nightclub in Vanilla Sky the visibly disfigured Tom Cruise receives a remark from a passing intoxicated male “Dude fix your fucking face” Crowe,C. (2001), assessing the idea that in society straying from the norm is avoided and self-alterations are frequently made to fit into a stereotypical ideology of normality. This even promotes cosmetic surgery with the idea that if something is ugly, fix it. The doctors suggest wearing a mask ultimately preventing anyone from witnessing David’s face while disfigured until they can find a cure. Later it is revealed that all the thoughts and scenarios after the accident are feelings constructed in David Aames’ mind through an elusive dream; thus merely a projection of his personal views on deformity and ugliness.

 

Naomi Baker considers both literacy and visuals in attempt to understand the changing relationship between the body and the self, providing alternative views on ugliness, deformity, gender, race and age in English culture in her book Plain Ugly-The Unattractive Body in Early Modern Culture. “Evil is ugly according to William of Avergne thirteenth century bishop of Paris because it repels our mind and arouses aversion and offends our inner sense with its sight” (Baker 2010 Pg.11). David Aames presents an altered personality post-accident in both films, his friend and love interest dislike him with the deformity “I miss the old you, we all miss the old you; because the new guy is shit” Crowe,C. (2001) supporting the ideology that ugliness is evil. David’s rapid change back to a face free from scarring without adjusting to life successfully highlights the “inability to transform skin deep deformity into something more transcendent and thus the impossibility of getting beyond the material of the ugly face.” (Baker 2010 Pg. 156-157).

 

Another significant factor is the sexual relationship between David Aames and Sofia Serrano played by Penelope Cruz in both films. There is considerable chemistry between the two characters when they first meet however, after David has been affected by the car crash there is no sexual involvement or sexual tension between the two at all.  This contributes to the argument that the film represents the disfigurement as ugliness; Sophia is quite visibly unattracted to David during this time. As soon as the disfigurement has disappeared she removes the mask, holds his jaw in her hands and refers to his healed face as perfect; they then proceed to have sexual intercourse for the first time in the film. Perfection with a disfigurement or deformity appears to be unachievable in both films; there is strong indication that society believes deformity is repulsive simply because it is unfamiliar and provokes great fear.

 

The Obsession with Perfection in Society

 

Social pressure is ascending on women to destroy ‘deformities’ on their healthy bodies in pursuit of perfection. Self-worth and self-esteem has declined significantly in western culture, individuals surround themselves in an obscure cloud of negative depictions of one’s self; striving for unrealistic and unachievable standards. Feminists have fought for decades to provide women with a voice, with equality, with control and with power in civilisation; yet modern influences of the ‘beauty myth’ are destroying women physically and psychologically. Naomi Wolf (1990, Pg.10) claims that:

Recent research consistently shows that inside the majority of the west’s controlled, attractive, successful working women, there is a secret “underlife” poisoning our freedom; infused with notions of beauty, it is a dark vein of self-hatred, physical obsessions, terror of ageing and dread of lost control.

 

Naomi Wolf explores the idea of the beauty myth that is feeding a nation of insecure women. Wolf investigates the beauty myth at work, in the media, in the religious sphere, in sex and in sexual relations; she also discusses the violent relationship against women by men and by women themselves through eating disorders and cosmetic surgery fuelled by self-hate.

Looker is a 1981 film directed and written by Michael Crichton following a plastic surgeon that performs cosmetic alterations on a group of models seeking perfection. In the most relevant scene one of the models claims:

You probably think I’m beautiful Doctor Roberts but I’m not, I have lots of defects to fix. I have a list right here; my nose is 0.2 mm too narrow, my cheekbones are 0.4mm too high and my chin has a little 0.1 bump right here. My areola distance is 5mm and I have a mole here on my ribs so I need plastic surgery.

Crichton,M. (1981)

 

Stephen Marquarts ideology of the perfect face defined by the “golden ratio” supports this idea that perfection can be achieved through measurements and numbers. Stephen Marquardt has created a quantified computer generated mask said to define an attractive face; if an individual’s face matches the proportions of the mask they are seemingly beautiful. The film however almost mocks this ideology as the actress is obviously beautiful forcing the viewer to question the beauty myth.

The constant pressure on women to achieve a perfect face results in a consistent rise in cosmetic surgery as the insecurities of women magnify. Are they ultimately killing themselves in the quest for beauty? In Looker (1981) all the models post-surgery are murdered by a mysterious killer, however the girls appear to have committed suicide. The film suggests that sometimes beautiful women assume being physically perfect will solve all their problems; however after surgery they realise their lives are no better than before.  This relates to the idea that women are inevitably destroying themselves in the search of becoming something unattainable as Wolf suggests in her book.

 

Wolf claims “The surgeons market is imaginary, since there is nothing wrong with women’s faces or bodies that social change won’t cure: so the surgeons depend on their income on warping female self-perception and multiplying female self-hatred” Wolf,N (1990 Pg 232). Ultimately proclaiming surgeons are at the forefront of the growth however, the film The Looker suggests the surgeons are merely fulfilling desires women possess contrary to fuelling the fire that has been generated by media influences.

 

Sexualisation of Women in the Media

 

The constructions and expectations of beauty and ugliness are frequently referred to as the result of a large media backlash of sexualisation and female submission to ‘The Male Gaze’. The Male Gaze is a feminist theory first developed in 1975; the theory occurs when the audience or viewer is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. There is concern and alarm that the overall impact of the media has become so powerful, that people, especially young girls and young women, are progressively comparing themselves to sexualised, beautiful women that are merely Photoshop constructions. It seems that the media is subjective to sexualising females in film, television and in music videos creating pressure on women to look good and have the perfect body all the time.

 

As growing numbers of younger women obtain role models that represent sex and nudity, magazines continue to expose adolescents to the cultural obsession with this subject that society possesses. Miley Cyrus’ music video Wrecking Ball is a definitive example of how sex is used to sell, the single once released quickly became the most watched video with over seven hundred million views on YouTube. The biggest reason for the mass publicity is the eroticism in the video that caused great controversy; Miley Cyrus appears to ride a large wrecking ball completely naked, she also involves suggestive actions such as licking a sledge hammer with eyes fixated on the camera. Laura Mulvey states in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure”. Mulvey, L. (1975 Pg. 808). This idea suggests that women in the media are nothing but submissive to male fantasy and ultimately the object of male desire.

 

The viewer is absorbed by the red lipstick throughout the music video; red is known to symbolize danger, seduction, violence, and sex. Red also symbolises fear, as Laura Mulvey explains in her essay; men somewhat fear women and are threatened by them because a woman “symbolises the castration threat by her real absence of a penis” Mulvey, L. (1975 Pg. 804). The singer however appears vulnerable in the video indicating that although in an attempt to provide an empowering song whereby she smashes walls with a sledge hammer in anger, she is inevitably under the male gaze and remains weak.

Miley Cyrus previously starred as Hannah Montana in a children’s television series, Miley quickly exploded into the media as a controversial pop star building a reputation upon her suggestively sexual behaviour. For younger generations Miley Cyrus is an influential singer and ultimate role model, whether it is appropriate for children to be exposed to the level of sexualisation she projects is questionable. Young girls are growing up surrounded by the truth that “In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact” Mulvey, L. (1975 Pg. 809).

 

Cultivation and social comparison theories have been used to understand attitudes towards body dissatisfaction in women. Cultivation Theory concludes that viewing unrealistic media images of women provokes unrealistic beauty standards to be seen as a reality creating unachievable goals. Such high standards are being represented as the norm rather than the exception and society is generating the idea that failing to present as the epitome of beauty is abnormal. Women remain objects of fantasy in a heterosexual man’s mind through the media so long as “there are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure, just as, in the reverse formation there is pleasure in being looked at” Mulvey, L. (1975 Pg.806).

In conclusion it appears there is no real definition of perfection or ugliness and ultimately the attitudes towards the topics are constructed in the mind. Society’s opinions of ugliness and beauty are generated mainly by the media with its influential ideas surrounding body image and the depictions of what is normal and abnormal. Images and ideas of the perfect woman in in the media will not disappear. They cannot be fought, they cannot be ignored and they cannot be stopped, instead women need to look beyond the surface and attempt to appreciate the beauty in themselves. “If we are to free ourselves from the dead weight that has once again been made out of femaleness, it is not ballots or lobbyists or placards that women will need first; it is a new way to see.” Wolf, N. (1990 Pg. 19).

 

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