Beauty Role Model

I was currently rereading a book called Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. It was a children’s book. It had all the fairytale structure incorporated. If you are familiar with the other book called Ella enchanted then you know what this book is about. Basically this book was about a hideous girl with a talented voice. She lives in a kingdom where beauty is essential and your voice (singing) is praised. She doesn’t fit in. She is too ugly to be able to fit in with the kingdom’s society. This fact alone got me thinking what is the archetype for beauty. Who do we all (as a society) think fits the mold the best? Is it just made up by all the media or is it something we all truly believe.

            In the book, the beginning, as in the prologue, we get the feeling that beauty and singing (talent) are the only two requirements to be able to be part of the human species in this kingdom. Since there are ogres, gnomes, fairies and other magical creature those two points are really the only way you know if you are a human, gnome, fairy, or an ogre. It is as if you have to fit in the mold. If you cannot be classified as a human with these two qualities you actually will be shut out and shunned. I think this is sad. In fact it’s pretty pathetic to even consider the fact that if you don’t posses this two qualities you are classified as whole other specie or disowned from your parents.

            I started thinking the author wouldn’t exaggerate and create this whole other world with these principals out of nowhere. He had to have gotten them from someplace. Where else would he have gained this idea of beauty being a necessity than us, the society Then I started thinking are we actually that similar to that book and that kingdom. Do we only judge a book by its cover or in this case face and beauty? Just think about it for a second. If it comes down to a good-looking person and a merely decent face that do you think will be chosen? Okay, yes they have the exactly the same amount of talent, but who do you think will get produced. Obviously I would give them both a fair chance for the place and let a diva competition begin but I’m not rich and successful... yet. Seriously though, the prettier person would win does anyone know why? It’s because the media has portrayed this imaginary person with looks that are smoking hot and totally gorgeous and everyone aspires to be this person. So the prettier face would win. I think this is totally unfair because they should both get the same amount of chance of making it into the show business.

            Looks should not matter in people. That’s why we have surgery, duhh! Just kidding! On a serious matter we really shouldn’t let the media decide how we should portray ourselves in real life. Yeah, they can portray Megan Fox as smoking hot and gorgeous but that shouldn’t make us feel incomplete and hideous. Plus we should be sending this message out to Hollywood and all those other big money places that makes us feel hideous. We can wear sweats and a t-shirt any day and still look hot, screw being all pretty and doll-like we didn’t decide for an imaginary beauty role model. We should be allowed how to dictate our lives and ourselves not the media! We should not truly believe this beauty role model is right! We are all beautiful in our own weird, creepy, pretty, ugly, tall, small, big, fat, skinny way! 

Ballerinas

Splendid Falls is about a ballerina whose name is Sylvie, Sylvie’s life was purely ballet related. When she broke her ankle she realized that she had no life. All she ever did was work for ballet purposes. Ever single highlight in her life was an accomplishment in her ballet career. Every downfall was unexpected.

Sylvie fell on a simple fell on a simple turn. That simple turn cost her greatly. She went from being the youngest most important ballerina to being a one shot single. She went from having all the things she wanted to not having anything at all.

The only thing Sylvie wanted was to fulfill her legacy. Once her ankle became broken her life was cut short. She felt the weight of the world, or at least the weight of her ballet world.

The way Sylvie was portrayed in Splendid Falls made me realize that ballerinas suffer a lot. Sylvie suffered once she lost her ballet because all she could ever remember was her striving for the better. Making herself a certain way, doing everything just right, in order to be able to accomplish her dreams, even if her dreams were harmful to her.

The media also portrays ballerinas similarly. For example, in the movie, Black Swan, the main character, Nina (Nathalie Portman) was very similar on the basic bases. They both made themselves a certain way; they had no real meaning of the value of life, besides ballet.

The only difference between these two main characters, Sylvie and Nina was the way they handled situations. Once Nina realized they were going to cut her out of her ballet career she did everything in her power to stop it. She reduced down to low levels just to obtain her career back. When Sylvie’s career ended abruptly she went through a great depression because her life ended when her ballet career ended. She did not handle the situation badly she handled it much much better.

Both main characters broke down in some point in the movie or book. I strongly believe that they felt too much pressure into becoming a certain way. Nina did wrong doings in order to confront her depression, while Sylvie just sort of kept her opinions to herself and destroyed herself on her own. The Media portrays ballerinas like this. I do not have a first-hand resource on ballerinas, and how they have high stress levels and mental disorders, but from all the writings in Splendid Falls, Black Swan, and so many other books, plays and articles I can conclude ballerinas are under great pressure. They force themselves to be a certain way and do not have a life they are content with outside of ballet.

Fast Food

                                      “Chew On This”

The book Chew On This by Eric Schlosser has changed my view about fast food companies.  I am going to stop eating fast food because of the unhealthy, unsanitary conditions and the abuse of factory workers, and animals.

       I knew eating too much junk food could cause you harm, likewise your weight, but it never concerned me.  I knew that it was so unhealthy -with all the chemicals, et cetera…- but after I read Chew On This my opinion changed direction. The book states that almost two thirds of adults, and one sixth of kids in the U.S.A are obese, or overweight. This is due to people eating more and not exercising/moving around. Fast food is very unhealthy because the fat that accumulates on your body can cause other problems such as, diabetes, asthma, heart problems, high blood pressure, and many more diseases. I realized I didn’t want my body to suffer through any of these medical conditions, so I decided to discontinue fast food from my life.

       The slaughterhouse is not as clean as one might expect, not that anyone will expect high standards. According to Chew On This and its resources, in the 1990’s workers were not allowed any breaks at all, so they had to pee/poo in their pants while they worked, which allowed more possibility of contamination of the meat. It is very unsanitary where cows are raised. Cows produce tons of manure in which, a lot of manure has to be removed that cows are raised in their own pile of poop. Also, a cow can get sick/poisoned because of its manure, and still become manufactured. Um… Eww!!! I know I do not want to eat my hamburger knowing that my meat has been in an unsanitary location! Yet, another reason I am trying to avoid fast food.

       People who work for fast food companies are mistreated. These people are paid the minimum wage, and work long hours. Farmers are now owned by huge corporations, in which they only get paid for the amount of livestock they produce (not including the ones that die because of the hormones they are fed).  It is unbelievable to see that factory workers have to confront many dangers while they are slaughtering animals for large periods of times. Workers can be at risk of being cut or chopped up, or even burned by the machines, and they don’t even get insurance for their injuries. That’s totally unfair, they are workers and should be respected! Injustice does not qualify in my vocabulary, so from now on NO MORE fast food for me!

       Huge corporations mistreat animals, but the chickens suffer the most. They suffer during their stay at a farm and can suffer a huge amount of pain in the slaughterhouse. Chickens are clustered on the farms, in which they can barely move, and live clustered for 6 weeks. During their time at the slaughterhouse chickens are knocked unconscious at a stage called “stung bath”, in which chickens are dropped down into a pot filled with water where electricity is running through it. 2 out of every 100 chickens survive this stage. Then the chickens go through a blade, but some chickens can also survive the blade. The chickens that are still alive are boiled to their death, which is cruel to animals. I know I do not want to be part of this terrible abuse of animals, and I sincerely am going to stop eating fast food.

       In conclusion, I now strongly do not desire to eat anymore fast food. I can’t stand the thought of the cruelty of these companies towards animals and workers. Also, the unsanitary and unhealthy junk that goes in to making a hamburger is nasty. I will never eat another piece of fast food EVER! Eww!