Essay for AP. comp still revising

Laci Miller
Mrs. Hartman
A.P. Composition
11 June 2007
Body Image
The American people are constantly being bombarded with the tons of Media through propaganda, as well as other devices used to get them to buy, buy, buy. But while trying to turn a buck these companies also create, promote, and over exaggerate social stereotypes. Though we would hate to believe it, media sculpts cultural attitudes and behaviors and has infused itself into our lives. We have become dependent upon the media for our fix of what’s hot and what’s not. Media such as the kind today has a woman and men flocking to plastic surgeons, buying tons of makeup, and spending thousands of dollars at gyms across the nation. Pharmaceutical companies are making a fortune pushing drugs like Dexatrim and Trim spa; pill formed promises to a better body and in turn a better you. Media does have a negative and positive effect on the culture today.
Although media does affect the American people this is not a new or American thing. Media has been affecting the world and the images it considers ideal for years. Before there was TV there were radio shows that gave in depth details of the styles from France and England. The celebrities and models then were the people of royalty and high esteem. However they are not as bombarded with media as we are today. Due to the surge in technology media we receive it should not be surprising that the these very things shape the way we behave in the social world. When you turn on the TV today no matter what channel you turn to there is a commercial for a new diet pill or fad. Celebrities telling you to “Call Jenny Now!” and movies with goofy fat men who have loveable personalities but no girl would give the time of day (Mirror Image). Media is constantly pushing this image of perfection and everyone is effected one way or another, some people are harming themselves through starvation, unnecessary surgeries, and regurgitation. Not to mention the psychological effects that it can have on an individual. This idea that fat is not attractive and that perfection can only be obtained if you buy this or do that is embodied in the media. People are watching and listening and they react accordingly to the messages spewed out from the media.
In society when we see a heavy person we already have an image or idea in our brain of what they must be like. We decide before we meet them that they meet every brain of what they must be like. We decide before we meet them that they meet every standard of the stereotype that we push upon them. It should be no question on what puts this image there to begin with. We surely didn’t make a national decision that fat people were unlovable and pitiful. We didn’t envision some fat kid sitting in their room shoving cake in his mouth crying over the torments his peers administered him throughout the day. These images have been seen before, chopped up and spoon fed to us through the media.
I would be unfair if I didn’t mention some of the good things that media does for society. Not only does it inform thousands of people of current events around the world. Through some of the advertisements about weight control they do promote healthy eating and daily exercise.. And some plastic surgery (when done for the right reasons) can be life changing. The greatest example of how media has moved a large group of people towards a greater good is the ending of the Vietnam War. Never before had a war been so publicized and information so freely accessible. The pictures on TV and in newspapers out raged the American people who took a final stand to end the war.
Despite these few good deeds media does shine and ugly light on “oversized Americans”. As a heavy person myself I know first hand that it is not easy being heavy and living in America. Clothes don’t fit the way you’d like, and any place where bathing suits are required can be a little embarrassing and sometimes uncomfortable. I am not downing the media for supporting healthy eating habits and going to the gym to stay fit. However it should not be pushing these unobtainable images of perfection. Images that themselves had to be edited and chopped up for press. Furthermore there should be a reduction in the amount of influence the media has on us as a society. Until this happens people will continue to be dissatisfied with themselves and do reckless and unnecessary things to themselves.