When comparing the descriptive technique of Susan Sontag's On Photography book between ALL MY LIFE FOR SALE by John D. Freyer and eBay, we will find that Mr. Freyer demonstrated a merely subjective description that was mentored solely by his own point of view. The assumption that “every photographer should read this book” in the beginning of his description, and asserting this assumption later by using an overstated sentence like: “Even the mom and pop photographers”, and further emphasizing by generalizing his own opinion and applying his own theory to the whole world by stating: “world would be a better place if all of the image makers in this county read a little Sontag”, illustrating clearly that he based his description on this own opinion…
Humans grow socially and live controlled by the feelings. God gives us a wonderful present, that is a chance to have compassion. We born as a social human, we never could do everything by ourselves lonely, so we need helps each other in lives. For examples, when a child gets lose in the street, and you see her crying laughly there, you will grow a feeling that you need to help her, and make she smiles instead of the cry. That is because we leaned of others and we grow our compassion as well. Susan sontag asserts that people may choose not to look, it means they can make the decision to ignoring something or perceived something. And then, Ascher contends that people can not deny the existence of the helpness as their presence grows, it means…
“That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express,” Francis Bacon observes in his “Essay on the Subject.” And yet for centuries, we’ve attempted again and again to define beauty from social, cultural and religious perspectives. But in spite of establishing numerous theoretical definition, we continue to try for a substantial, solid and material structure to define women’s beauty. “Attitudes toward beauty are entwined with our deepest conflicts surrounding flesh and spirit,” Harvard’s Nancy Etcoff wrote in her article, “Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.” Indeed, “beauty is a complex beast surrounded by our equally complex attitudes”, and “The Myth of the Latin…
The 1950’s is when these new beauty standards began to evolve; previous to that, women were praised for their lack of attention to their bodies: Feminine virtue was found in a kind of unself-consciousness in which vanity about one’s body was considered immoral or wrong (Lipkin 598). Lipkin’s research would have been more valid had she given examples of what has caused these standards to change in recent years.…
Women have spent decades trying to become men’s equal in the United States, instead of being treated as objects. Now, the emphasis that our society has placed on appearance and body image has women yearning to be the prettiest, sexiest ‘objects’ around. As women look around in the world today, it is hard not to see advertisements or videos that suggest ‘beauty is everything’. The media is constantly turning attention onto young women with make-up caked faces and, even sometimes, underweight, unhealthy bodies. Esquire editor Alex Bilmes stated at a panel discussion on feminism “One of the things men like is a picture of pretty girls. So we provide them with pictures…
Jane Slayre, a treat for lovers of paranormal mash-ups, sees the growth and maturation of a swashbuckling nineteenth-century lady named Jane Slayre from her foster care by her loathsome vampire kins, to her adulthood where she falls in love with a man by the name of Edward Rochester, as well as all of the zombie slaying Jane does amidst these two major points in her life.…
At first, it may seem shallow to care a whole lot about one’s appearance, but according to Daniel Akst’s essay “What Meets the Eye”, we learn that in many ways, appearances actually serve as a source of inequality. In his expository piece, Akst probes into the importance of appearances in our society today; he explores the role that beauty plays in everyday life and and how it influences society. Akst makes numerous interesting discoveries on the role of appearances in society, but several of his arguments don’t seem to be well-argued.…
From the dieting tricks that promise to shave off weight within weeks, to the constant gossiping of the fashion trends of a femme fatale, the message is clear: the appearances of women matter. Especially prevalent for the past few decades, the pressure for young women to meet a certain physical standard has been growing ever since. Through the influence of the media and the scrutiny of others, women face the stress of carefully choosing each change they add to their appearance, going so far as to permanently change their genetic features in order to conform to what society has defined as beautiful, and such an issue calls for change.…
Over the centuries the definition of beauty has changed, but what hasn’t changed is the pressure on women and men to conform to those standards. In the 1920s the era of the flapper a rail thin figure was coveted with an emphasis on long legs. In the 1940s and 50s curves were all the rage with an emphasis on a plumper figure. Then the 1960s rolled around and we returned to the rail thin figure with the popularization of fashion icons like twiggy and Audrey Hepburn. In the 1990s, if twiggy's rail thin figure wasn’t enough, women were asked to become skinnier and this figure is coveted even in today's day in age. There are two ends to what is considered beautiful today. Either you had that extreme thin body or you had a curvier body. Even with…
Beauty in all of its intricate aspects, can be misinterpreted, judged, and crushed to its very core for the same reasons it was once praised. Society diminishes the prominence of beauty, while simultaneously inflicting pressure on the eradication of its imperfections. Women, nowadays, rely on more than just water, soap, and self-confidence to fabricate the mask society deems as pragmatic, and truly necessary. Although the misconception of the physical qualities possessing the upper level in the hierarchical scale of beauty has blindsided millions, there is time remaining to instill the concepts of authentic beauty, according to the article by Nicole James. Knowledge does not necessarily amplify wisdom, and therefore despite the exponentially…
Society sets and governs unrealistic and unobtainable regimes, and more recently has led to conformity of women to this dominant idea of female beauty. We, as individuals are continuously reminded of our imperfections, from our large figure to uneven skin tones, wrinkles or dimples. The media continuously bombards us with unnaturally thin models and actresses or products that guarantee weight loss or perfect skin. The media has constructed the dominant idea of female beauty as a wonderful illusion. But, in reality, these airbrushed images of celebrities are unachievable and undermines a woman’s uniqueness and individuality. The value on appearance in a superficial manner has led to conformity, particularly in women who strive to fit categorised…
With popular culture setting the norms for society women are left at a large disadvantage as far as how they are viewed and treated in society. As stated in the lecture “These sources have created many different cultural norms and expectations as well as have affected sexuality and sexual behavior. These sources have dictated many gender expectations and have subjugated women in many aspects of social life.” (Reali, 2017) In popular culture beauty among women is one of the most romanticized topics.…
Every year, women devote billions of dollars in exchange for beautiful hair, expensive cosmetics, and opulent wardrobes. Many of our culture's most common beauty procedures were nearly absent an era ago. The fact is, many of the beliefs of feminine beauty were created in large part by current advertisers, thus becoming societal norms. However, through her diffident wardrobe change, author of the article My Year of Modesty, Lauren Shields, suggests that to live an authentic life, one must be immune to society’s definition of beauty, thus giving release for a return to our true selves. Shields, detailed writing of her experience made for a compelling argument.…
In Sontag’s life, she totally wrote four novels, they are "The Benefactor” (1963), “Death Tool"(1967),"The Volcano Lover"(1992) and "In the United States" (2000);besides, there is one short stories “I , etcetera" and a few scripts. Then she also published eight other works, among these works , the famous works are "Against Interpretation" (1966), "The Radical Form of Will" (1969), "On Photography" (1977), "The Disease Metaphor" (1988), "The point" (2001) and " He is the Pain " (2003). (王晓群 2005)Her son David Rieff compiled the diary notes of her mother into a book, called ” The Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963”.In 2000, her historical novel "In the United States” won the National Book…
Beauty is one of the most important lesson for women to learn about. Every season they spend lots of money on buying cosmetics, clothes, shoes etc. They move with the times. They also spend money on changing hair style. They want to give a new and fresh appearance to others. As fashion is always ‘fashionable’ among women, they have to keep updating themselves. This wave will never die away. They earn more, they spend more. There’s a phrase meaning ’ To own beauty, To lose life’ for women. They have to keep fit all the times in order to wear trendy clothes; they endure pain when they wear high-heel shoes. They chase for beauty, for at least half of their lives.…