JLS has pointed out in the past that UK tv, at least, does have much more normal looking people in their tv shows than most US series. If Swedish tv is anything like British then perhaps everyone just isn't as hammered with glossy unreality as here. On American tv, most women are slim and beautiful, and old, stereotypically ugly male characters are often paired with women much younger - I'm guessing that if this gets presented as normal every day on the box people start to think it is, and completely forget that TV is fantasy :(
That makes perfect sense! The infamous normalization process! We make fun of US tv-shows, like Sunset Beach and The bold and the beautiful, how the actresses hairs are all the same, how Barbie/Ken like they are, and how none of the actors can make a facial expression due to what we assume is way too many botox injections.
Personally I find the discussion fascinating and hopeful - more people are finally starting to realize that beauty isn't a tiny set of innate qualities but something we're taught.
I learnt that in school, high school to be precise. We had what it's called "Bild" in Swedish, "Picture" if I translate it. We did not only learn the basics in drawing, painting and photography, but also how advertising pictures are made and how to analyse the advertising message. We got to analyse an episode of "Dallas" to see how Sue-Ellen always was placed in the right lower corner of the screen while JR always inhabited the upper left corner, and how the women all could tremble with their chin when arguing while the men kept stern. Oh boy! Our teacher claimed: "It is all about sex and domination, that is what life is all about." And I think she was right ;)
I don't think I'm entirely immune, I think I'm just choosing different teachers - I don't watch much broadcast TV anymore and seldom read fashion magazines.
I don't think anyone is immune. And your assumption about just choosing different teachers looks very accurate. We all have our mental back-pack of experiences. I got told that during the Victorian time in England, they had an experiment to show young boys/men dead female bodies, all in the name of science and studies, to make the female body less myserious for them, less tempting and sexy, and the result ended up with a bunch of boys/men going necrophilian.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-08-10 08:40 am (UTC)That makes perfect sense! The infamous normalization process! We make fun of US tv-shows, like Sunset Beach and The bold and the beautiful, how the actresses hairs are all the same, how Barbie/Ken like they are, and how none of the actors can make a facial expression due to what we assume is way too many botox injections.
Personally I find the discussion fascinating and hopeful - more people are finally starting to realize that beauty isn't a tiny set of innate qualities but something we're taught.
I learnt that in school, high school to be precise. We had what it's called "Bild" in Swedish, "Picture" if I translate it. We did not only learn the basics in drawing, painting and photography, but also how advertising pictures are made and how to analyse the advertising message. We got to analyse an episode of "Dallas" to see how Sue-Ellen always was placed in the right lower corner of the screen while JR always inhabited the upper left corner, and how the women all could tremble with their chin when arguing while the men kept stern. Oh boy! Our teacher claimed: "It is all about sex and domination, that is what life is all about." And I think she was right ;)
I don't think I'm entirely immune, I think I'm just choosing different teachers - I don't watch much broadcast TV anymore and seldom read fashion magazines.
I don't think anyone is immune. And your assumption about just choosing different teachers looks very accurate. We all have our mental back-pack of experiences. I got told that during the Victorian time in England, they had an experiment to show young boys/men dead female bodies, all in the name of science and studies, to make the female body less myserious for them, less tempting and sexy, and the result ended up with a bunch of boys/men going necrophilian.