people labels-intelligence versus beauty



Beauty and the Geek is a popular reality television programmed in which contestants-the ‘geeks’ and ‘beauties’ are paired up together to compete in challenges, all for a chance not to be eliminated at the end of each episode and be sent home. Although I quite like this programme for its entertainment value, I think that it has a lot to answer for. Firstly, its portrayal of ‘beauties’ and ‘geeks’ is very much stereotyped. Whilst the beauties are pretty, pretty stupid and girly, the geeks are socially awkward, not very attractive (by our current standards of beauty) and ridiculously clever. Whilst this stereotyping is bad enough, in that it encourages the fixing of people into judgmental, restrictive boxes, it does little  to support intelligence. Whilst the beauties are often laughed at for their lack of intelligence, it is the geeks who are given makeovers during the series. This is because they do not seem to fit the mould for what is attractive in our current society. I think that this is completely degrading for people because, by doing so, all sense of character is lost from them and they become boring, generic people. All sense of individuality is taken away from them, all sense of personality, so that they can become, in our society’s view, ‘attractive’. What I find particularly annoying is that, whilst the show seems to support both the Beauties and the Geeks, it clearly favors the Beauties-they never have intelligence makeovers. This just shows how beauty is more favored in our society-after all, the geeks could be improved but it was not thought of as important enough to improve the Beauties. What I also find annoying is that the Geeks on the show are generally males and the Beauties generally females (in one season, however, there was a male beauty and a female geek). This just reinforces the stereotype that men are more dominant and intelligent than women and that all women are good for is being pretty.  It is especially disturbing that children no doubt watch this show, too-it doesn’t have any age restrictions-. They are no doubt being told by it that they should only aspire to be pretty and dumb, because that is what television wants them to be. Is this really what we want or children to be exposed to? I think that this is shocking and, whilst I like the programme, do not like how it portrays the average person of today.

This video, in which a women talked about a British survey which revealed that 50% of women in Britain would rather have bigger breasts than a higher IQ, was very interesting. She was much with the same opinion I have-that is, that it is very sad that, nowadays, so much emphasis in the media is put on beauty rather than brains-so much so that women would rather be pretty that smart. This is rather shocking because I think that this puts an unattainable hold on the ‘ideal woman’-making the much aspired to stereotyped woman even further from our reach. For young girls and teenagers, it is not a very good thing that this woman portrayed in the media-the gorgeous, flawless, perfect body supermodel-is to be looked up to. Not only setting unhealthy standards of beauty-many of those shown in the media have plastic surgery, eating disorders or photo shopping before they look like what we see-they lead us to question whether it really is better that we are pretty than intelligent. It seems that the media’s, and society’s answer to this is that we should all be pretty, we should all aim to be perfect. But this is not a healthy idea at all. For one, very few people can reach the standard of beauty so much upheld by the media and, in their struggle to do so, many young girls end up with eating disorders and mental health issues.

 For one, eating disorders, especially in young girls, are so damaging because a young girl is still developing. With an eating disorder, such as anorexia, she starves herself of development and risks affecting her metabolism for years to come and the stress and feelings of worthlessness created are obviously very damaging. If however, the ideal for women in society was to be intelligent, free-thinking individuals, I think that the world would be a better place. It is so much smarter to work towards intelligence than it is to work towards beauty because intelligence, unlike beauty, can be worked towards and can benefit people a lot more. High paying, challenging jobs are, more often than not, the ones which require a decent sense of smarts and women who are intelligent are generally seen as more powerful and more fun to be around. Another bonus, especially for young girls, is that striving to be smarter does not damage them-in fact, it improves them mentally and will help prepare them for their lives. I think, therefore, that a lot has to be explained as to why the media-and, therefore, our current society, values beauty so much more that brains.

Bella Swan is the main character in the film and book series Twilight. She is, in my humble opinion, a perfect example of the pathetic female ‘heroines’ that we are exposed to these days. Little description of her is given, but that she is very plain looking-brown haired, clumsy, awkward around people and weak. Whilst she is barely given room to develop, her male love interest, Edward Cullen, is described, in detail, for about fifty pages, in lingering, excessive detail. He is the wonderful hero by comparison-tall, stunningly handsome, muscular and very much the dominant male. For some reason, Bella is so in awe of him that she becomes completely infatuated with him-in his presence and not she is ditsy and pathetic. She is everything a main female character should not be.

 

 

 She is so much dependent on Edward that, when he leaves her at the start of the second book she curls up into a ball-literally- and becomes a non-talking shell who ignores her family and friends for several months. Is this really the sort of role model we should be looking up to? The type who can’t even survive without a man to help her? She is completely pathetic-throwing herself at Edward and having absolutely no admirable features at all. Stephanie Meyer, the author of the series, degrades women so much that Bella is not given any development whatsoever during the series, all she ever thinks about is Edward and, to top it off, she is controlled by him-never allowed to make any decisions for herself. I find it completely shocking that ‘role models’ like Bella are still being created in the media today. Haven’t we moved on from the era where women were considered too dainty to do men’s jobs and not even allowed out without a man? Haven’t we moved on from the age when women were the less dominant sex? If Twilight is anything to go by, apparently not.

Hermione Granger-a comparison

Unlike most of the female characters we are exposed to in the media-that is the bland, pretty and feminine girls who seem to have no ulterior motive except getting a man’s approval- there are some characters young girls are exposed to that break this stereotype. One of the very good examples of this is the character of Hermione Granger, who is a lead role in the Harry Potter book series and films. She is a fabulous, in my opinion, role model for young girls and teenagers as she is smart, witty and does not need boys or boyfriends to validate her. Throughout the series, she proves herself to be a very heroic character who can work with others and by herself in surviving the many adventures that she and her friends have. Also, she is described as being not the prettiest of girls but this does not diminish her character-young girls can look up to her as she shows that you don’t need looks or a ‘hot body’ to succeed. Indeed, she is the smartest person in her school year and is well known in the series as a brain box. I think that this encourages girls to not be afraid to show their intelligence and teaches them the lesson that women can stand for themselves.

 

 

In our world where so much emphasis is put on girls who are pretty and attractive to men, I think that Hermione is a good female character for girls to look up to because she is strong and powerful-she never lives up to these toxic stereotypes often used in the media that girls are ‘weak’ by comparison to men. She isn’t stunningly pretty or ‘cute’ but is seriously smart-a character which we all, as young women, should want to be like. In this short video, much of Hermione’s wit is shown in a collaboration of her best lines in the film series. If for example, Bella Swan’s (from Twilight) best lines were shown, they would be completely related to her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, and would show her as the boy-obsessed, worthless idiot that she is. Hermione’s lines, however, are witty, smart and show her for the kick-ass character that she is. I think we should all be exposed to more characters like her in the world that what we are currently.

ModernT.V Series and how they influence our ideas of beauty

In our modern world, so much of our daily lives is made up of media-and, a large part of it is television programmmes. So prevalent on our screens, these programmes reflect cultural attitudes and,  more often than not, idealise beauty and favour good looks and social stautus over more traditionally favoured aspirations such as intelligence. Whereas beauty has always been considered a favourable attribute, there was a time, not so long ago, when intelligence, wisdom and wit was equally, or ,more so, important. In ancient Greek legends, the Gods were both philsosophers and superheroes, adored and admired and, in Victorian times, beauty was a time consuming pasttime-by no means a way of life.Nowadays, however, the tables are very much turned. Most children spend more time indoors than outside and are more likely to be watching television or playing computer games than reading books or studying.

But why is this?

Surely intelligence should get you further in life than beauty? Surely people who are smart get betetr careers and live nicer lives than those who are 'beautiful'?

Unfortunately, in our modern world where so much of our lives are influenced by the media, a lot of the time this isn't the case. Film star, celebrities, models-we see much more of them than we do of famous writers, scientists or doctors. Careers which take intelligence and dedication, years at university and extra training, have been thrust into the darkness whilst other careers, which take less intelligence and skill, are the ones which we are exposed and supposed to aspire to.

This is because our society has put such a high value on beauty. Everyone wants to be beautiful becuase the media tells them they should be and the media makes money because we pay money to buy products that make us pretty. It has become a vicious cycle-teh media tells us we need to be beautiful and pretty and skinny because we believe that it is necessary. It seems so much easier, in our fast-past lives, to aspire to be beautiful than to be intelligent. People can make themselves beautiful-with make-up or plastic surgery-but they can, too, make themselves smart, even though it seems like so much more effort.

 

It is such shame that our society today puts more value on what you can see on the outside than what's waiting to be revealed on the inside.

Serena Van Der Woodsen is one of the main characters in the popular television series Gossip Girl. A seemingly 'nice' character in a world of greed, back-stabbing and scandal, she is first introduced in the pilot episode by the mysterious Gossip Girl. Blonde, wide-eyed and pretty, the initial impression the viewer can gain of her is that she is the typecast bimbo character-naive and helpless but the character you always secretly admire. However, within a few minutes, this impression of her is slightly tarnished-we learn from Gossip Girl that she is in fact back from a stint in boarding school after a mysterious 'incident'. Throughout the first episode, it is heavily hinted that Serena had a less-than-perfect -past in that she is far from the goody-good the viewer first meets. Later in the first series, it is revealed that Serena escaped from Manhatten when she slept with her best friend, Blair's, boyfriend, Nate. As the series keeps going on, Serena seems to have left her 'bad girl' past behind her and has instead become a bland, simpering barbie girl who is well-liked for her carefree attitude.Unlike the other characters in the series, she is very heavily typecast, from the start of the series anyway, as the very-much stereotypical female character whom we are all supposed to look-up to for her lack of 'bitchiness', her gorgeousness and supermodel proportions. Asides from setting an unrealistic standard of beauty, her character does nothing to show her as a strong female role-instead, she is portryed as the female tool so common in the media-useful only as a love interest for the hero. Perhaps her only redeeming feature is her will to do the right thing when everyone around her is so, so bad.