Transformations on the Screen

            In today’s society, it is not uncommon to run into multiple beauty advertisements as you are simply going through you everyday life. There are billboards on highways of flawless models with perfect hair, skin, and teeth, all telling you to “be like them and buy this product.” The beauty industry is sending out an unrealistic type of person and society has been conforming to make their idea of beauty, a standard for beauty. The beauty industry has greatly influenced the world in the sense that people are now taking new measures to fit their standards. One prevalent way is that people of all ages are editing their photos on Facebook or changing their identity as a whole. Many people edit their photo in some type of way. I am a victim of this; on the social media site Instagram, I put a filter on my photos in order to put a different lighting on my photos. Although it is a minute change to my photos, it still happens in order to make it more suitable for all my friends and family to see.

            Sometimes, people may even go as far as to change whom they are completely online. The movie Catfish told a story about when Nev Schulman was tricked online by Angela Wesselman. She pretended to be her daughter, Megan, who was around Nev’s age in order to talk to him, flirt with him, and eventually date him. It wasn’t until a few months in until he realized Megan was not who she said she was. One possible reason Angela did this was because she felt as though she wouldn’t be good enough for somebody if she was open about herself. She clearly thought it was easier to hide behind a screen because she never came out to Nev about who she truly was.

            I feel like there needs to be a new change in society. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is trying to initiate the change we need to see happen in society. Their goal is to make women feel beautiful and embrace themselves for who they are, not by what they could be if they give into beauty pressures. I fully support this change because it is not right of the beauty industry to make women feel insecure about themselves. Uniqueness is important in a culture; it sets everybody aside from one another and lets everybody be themselves.