Naomi Wolf's 'The Beauty Myth' is a book based around the idea that women have gained social power and prominence in relation to beauty and that the standards of beauty have grown.
Quotes from the book:
“Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it.”
- I find this interesting when thinking about this in relation to my film. These ideas make the sheer amount of what is there within the film feel even more overwhelming as it links to ideas such as this.
“Sadly, the signals that allow men and women to find the partners who
most please them are scrambled by the sexual insecurity initiated by
beauty thinking. A woman who is self-conscious can't relax to let her
sensuality come into play. If she is hungry she will be tense. If she is
"done up" she will be on the alert for her reflection in his eyes. If
she is ashamed of her body, its movement will be stilled. If she does
not feel entitled to claim attention, she will not demand that airspace
to shine in. If his field of vision has been boxed in by "beauty"--a box
continually shrinking--he simply will not see her, his real love,
standing right before him.”
- Beauty is taking over. It's a cover that shields things, including these feelings.
“What becomes of a man who acquires a beautiful woman, with her "beauty"
his sole target? He sabotages himself. He has gained no friend, no
ally, no mutual trust: She knows quite well why she has been chosen. He
has succeeded in buying something: the esteem of other men who find such
an acquisition impressive.”
- Beauty can definitely be seen in different ways. Those that try to make themselves beautiful by using all of these products in some cases can do it for a reason, much like within this quote. The, woman knows why this man wants her and this can put her in a position of authority. She might think that she is better than him. She could think that she has power.
“Whatever is deeply, essentially female--the life in a woman's
expression, the feel of her flesh, the shape of her breasts, the
transformations after childbirth of her skin--is being reclassified as
ugly, and ugliness as disease. These qualities are about an
intensification of female power, which explains why they are being
recast as a diminution of power. At least a third of a woman's life is
marked with aging; about a third of her body is made of fat. Both
symbols are being transformed into operable condition--so that
women will only feel healthy if we are two thirds of the women we could
be. How can an "ideal" be about women if it is defined as how much of a
female sexual characteristic does not exist on the woman's body, and how much of a female life does not show on her face?”
- Aging and 'fat' have been defined as ugly and ugly is a bad thing. These products are used to stop aging, stop the appearance of fat or even stop it. The amount of products show the amount of ways women will go to make themselves stay beautiful but really, you can't stop aging fully. You will always age, weight will always change too but it doesn't stop the want from trying to prevent this. Culture has made us believe that each of these things aren't normal or that they're an awful thing as though it's almost as though it is a disease.
“Cosmetic surgery processes the bodies of woman-made women, who make up
the vast majority of its patient pool, into man-made women.”
- Talking about beauty, a further step almost in relation to cosmetic surgery. The next step up from what is being showed within the film. It is almost as though it could be implied as if a woman would go to the extent of using all of those products then what wouldn't they do? Beauty is a sexualised thing, and through going to these extent they are making themselves become 'man-made' for the man.
I really like a lot of the ideas expressed within this book. The ideas work really effectively with the ideas expressed within my film.
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