Nowadays, the media, as a mainstream source of information, has a significant impact on public perception and aesthetics. With the rise of social media platforms, more and more “ordinary” groups of people are going online, and the Internet is no longer just for celebrities and models. The perfect female figure presented by those “Social Media influencers” on the Internet has distorted the public’s aesthetics.
What is Media Discourse?
Media discourse is a more complex concept that refers to the information and discussions, etc. that are disseminated through the media. Most people cannot escape the influence of media discourse. Since discourse plays a vital role in constituting people’s realities, the implications for the power and influence of media discourse are clear. (Talbot, 2007)
Media discourse is selective
The media selects specific, topical stories when reporting, which may lead to bias.
The media chooses to report on specific, topical issues, which can lead to biased sentences. Originally, the media was not so close to our lives, and we were limited in what we could see, usually through adverts or films, and those celebrities had less influence on us. And now with the proliferation of social media filters, there is an excessive push for images of extremely slim, perfectly curvy women. As a result of this constant pushing of images, most people are influenced, which invariably creates anxiety for the general public, which can cause them to act in ways that are detrimental to their physical and mental health, and diminish their sense of self-identity.
Such anxiety is everywhere around us.
Nowadays, with the internet’s promotion of the perfect body, clothing sizes are actually shrinking. Many clothing sizes are “shrinking” and some normal-sized people can’t even fit into a larger size.
When we order online, many merchants will talk about the calorie label of food, which may be for the sake of people’s health. But for people who are deeply affected by body image, this is certainly a pain.
However, is what is presented in the media true? Obviously not, most of what is presented is specially processed and computerized. Now, more and more women are awakening to the fact that they are no longer influenced by the media, and more and more plus-size clothing is appearing, so they are diversifying their beauty and are no longer subject to the “bullying” of body. Different figures have different beauty.
Reference
- Halliwell, E. and Dittmar, H., 2004. Does size matter? The impact of model’s body size on women’s body-focused anxiety and advertising effectiveness. Journal of social and clinical psychology, 23(1), pp.104-122.
- Talbot, M 2007, ‘Introduction: media and discourse’, chapter, in Media Discourse: Representation and Interaction, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 3–17.
Hi Feifan, I like your post very much. Now in this society, there are more and more “labels” on women, complaining that women must have a perfect figure, must be exquisite, and so on, binding each of us a woman’s freedom. You said in your article that clothes are getting smaller and smaller, gradually away from the original size standards, previously in China there are similar reports, there is a women’s clothing brand named “chuu,” the size is very different from the standard size, not only by the dissatisfaction of the Volkswagen, even the stars also had a complaint about the brand. Female prejudice is an important issue in contemporary society. The stereotypes that women face not only affect their personal development and self-identity, but also cause inequality and division to the whole society. So what should we do to eliminate the social prejudice against women?
Hi! I think this blog of yours is well written because it is about the role of media discourse, especially in the area of popular aesthetics and self-identity. This is a major point of discussion in contemporary society. And it presents the fact that the impact of selective media coverage on the audience. These were very much needed to be put into this blog. However, I think you are still missing the clarification. For example, your entire blog exists on points throughout without showing evidence to back them up, as if claims such as clothes sizes shrinking need to be backed up with more factual evidence.
Hello Feifan,
You chose a very relevant topic to today’s social issues, talking about body image and the representation of bodies on social media. You bring up an interesting point about how, before there would be a reprieve from the ideas of discourse around beauty standards as you could turn off the TV or look away from that advert. You bring up how now these standards follow us everywhere as we are bombarded with them on our phones. You mention that “Obviously not, most of what is presented is specially processed and computerised.” Not being able to see the citations in the text makes this statement come out of nowhere. You finish on a positive note, mentioning that everyone has a unique beauty, which gives your blog an uplifting tone.