Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Magazines and Photoshop... What is the point?

BuzzFeed is an awesome place. It is usually just hilariously entertaining, but occasionally it really hits the gold mine.  Recently, I saw the title on twitter and later sat down to watch the very short (37 sec) video.  37 seconds says EVERYTHING:

Watch Photoshop Transform This "Average" Woman Into A Real-Life Barbie In 37 Seconds

This video, created by GlobalDemocracy.com, is part of a campaign that would make publications include disclaimers if models have been significantly airbrushed or Photoshopped.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maycie/powerful-video-shows-what-photoshop-can-do

There is not really anything for me to say.  The woman at the end is, of course, very attractive, but we cannot even attain that physical shape or beauty!  Why do we continue to show altered pictures in magazines, newspapers and Facebook that portray a life that is not physically, humanly possible? Defying logic a bit here.

I am guilty of it too.  Airbrush here, teeth whiten there, throw a filter on.  It seems simple, harmless, but where do we cross the line?  It is this kind of non-realistic expectations that cause women to want plastic surgery and develop eating disorders and depression.

Watch that last gif again (BuzzFeed allows you to watch it on infinite loop).  Is this normal?  If so, why do we accept this as normal?

4 comments:

  1. Incrementalism. . . the editing slowly became more and more pervasive so we didn't notice the change. Marketers figured out the cues (big eyes, big lips, pure skin, long legs, tiny waist, huge gravity defying boobs) and are enhancing their images to trigger these cues. They're not alone though, anyone seen a Disney or anime character lately?

    Dove put out one of these tranformation things a few years back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4y5b7INvqE

    After a while you start to recognize the editor's hand. It's almost funny to me now, and there are blogs devoted to finding the outrageous jobs: http://www.psdisasters.com/ for example

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  2. Hahaha that last link its pretty hilarious!

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  3. I think the thing that freaks me out, is although you can see how insane the alterations are when you watch them in real time, I have a really hard time seeing the altered finished image as non-human as it really it. It is like some sort of optical illusion. I'm getting a bit better, but unless the photoshopping is really bad, I have a hard time telling the difference. It is scary!

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  4. On the subject of photoshopping, I just saw this on my facebook feed. http://www.visualnews.com/2012/02/08/classic-beauties-get-a-shocking-photoshop-treatment/

    In my opinion, some of them look just as beautiful, like just women with different body types, but others look unhealthy or like a section of their hips just got shaved off. I wonder why reducing the hips/butt area is so important in photoshopping.

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