kittycat16170

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Miss. Congeniality Movie review OATS

I selected this review on Miss Congeniality because it referred to it as a “...classic Hollywood makeover … the story of an ugly duckling…”. Since I enjoy makeovers, I liked the phrasing of this review and film. However, the review is weak as it lacks rating. It has a lively and witty tone and used examples from the film but not quotes. It did not make any recommendation to see the movie. The critique was superficial in that it was not supported with enough detail.  

Miss Congeniality Movie Review Oats

Bullock the producer found a pretty good vehicle for Bullock the actress in this clever variation on the classic Hollywood "makeover movie." As in predecessors from Cinderella to My Fair Lady to Pretty Woman, MISS CONGENIALITY is at its core the story of an ugly duckling who finds empowerment and a boyfriend after a few pointers on good grooming and accessorizing. But Bullock's performance and a couple of new twists on the classic formula make it a pleasant and entertaining effort.

There are few new jokes to be made about beauty pageants, but Bullock delivers the lines as though no one had ever said them before. The plot is flimsy, but Bullock plays it as though it is really happening. She gets some fine support from Caine and from Candice Bergen and William Shatner as the pageant's director and master of ceremonies, both far more three-dimensional than Benjamin Bratt as Grace's FBI colleague/Prince Charming.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/miss-congeniality

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The Ridiculous Standards of the Beauty Industry

Where can you find a perfect face with no flaws, a perfect body in perfect proportions, perfect self esteem, perfect job,  and perfect clothes.? Well you can not ever find this.

I believe the media is responsible for presenting the public with these false images and ideas. Just imagine a salesperson saying, "If you buy this top, you will appear thin and consequently be beautiful and well-liked." Sounds crazy, right?

“The media consistently sends the message that it’s not acceptable to be healthy and love who you are, as you are. That you should fill any void you feel with the various products they recommended. This message is completely false.” I believe the media has created an impossible standard for most people to live up to. People are expected to look a certain way, wear certain brands of clothes, and use a certain type of cosmetics all in order to fit into the popular group.  

To further the point of that fashion industry has too lofty of a goal, consider this; media tends to idolize an often unattainable body type. Fashion models, for example, are 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 120 pounds on average, while the average American woman 20 years old averages about 5 feet, 3 inches and 166 pounds. Perhaps it's time we started thinking (and talking) about women's bodies in a more realistic way.

Although there is nothing wrong with this, what goes into making screen images is sometimes what is questionable. A lot of celebrities have gone in for surgical procedures that include the lifting of sagging skin, tummy tucking and body contouring. These procedures are legal although they have come under sharp criticism from society for misleading people, especially the youth, with these fake beauty standards.

“Don’t let the media own real estate in your mind. Ultimately, you have the power to turn off the television, put down the magazine or stop shopping at that store.”  We need to stop blaming the media and start believing in ourselves and have better self esteem.

This has created a ripple effect where everyone is sort of motivated to find certain beauty standards in the quest ‘to look better, feel beautiful and look way younger’.

Work Cited 

Mind your Mind  “Beauty Standers Bewear”  Accessed on June 7, 2018  https://mindyourmind.ca/blog/beauty-standards-beware

Life Advancer  at least August 6, 2017   Egline “Ridiculous Beauty Standards Revealed in Before & After Celeb Photos” Accessed on June 7, 2018.  

  https://www.lifeadvancer.com/ridiculous-beauty-standards-photos

Huffpost March 24, 2014 Lauren Berninger “Stop Blaming the Media for Our Body Image Issues” Accessed on June 11, 2018.  

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-berninger/stop-blaming-the-media-fo_b_4633388.html

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The Transformation of Gracie Hart

Desperately seeking approval from her working peers, Gracie Heart is a tomboy FBI agent, who is played by Sandra Bullock starring in the movie, Miss Congeniality.

The actors in this comical film played their parts convincingly. Sandra’s character is goofy at first and displays unladylike manners. For example, she snorts when she laughs, speaks in a rough tone, and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand when she is eating with Victor Melling (Michael Caine), her eyebrows are grown in, and she walks and dresses like a man. We watch actor Michael Caine transform her into a poised undercover beauty pageant contestant. He gives her private etiquette lessons and a total makeover. Michael’s awesome performance is not surprising as he played a similar role in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Gracie’s mission is to catch a suspected group of terrorists who threaten to blow up the Miss United States Beauty Pageant. Her clumsiness makes her down to earth and her wit outshines all the other agents. Sandra Bullock’s use of snorting while laughing trademark could have been left out of this film as she seems to be typecast for this use. Supporting actors Candice Bergen and William Shatner play comical roles, as Kathy Morningstar the founder of the beauty pageant and Stan Fields as co-host. While Benjamin Bratt plays Eric Matthews her FBI partner, he treats her like one of the guys until after her makeover turns him into “prince charming”. His good looks match his performance.  All actors in this film receive a whopping 5/5!

The direction of the film is about a female working in a male-dominated career not expected to be successful and must work harder than a male to succeed.  We all have room in our lives to improve and the person who you least expect to succeed does. The script was well written for this movie genre. While the music and sound set the mood well, the special effects were believable. For example, young Gracie ducks and boy hits the poll and she also hits both of the boys on the nose. In another scene fighting, punching, and gunfire sounds are realistic. The artistic aspects of the film are great. Gracie’s character is dramatized with close up shots of her before and after makeover phase.  

The movie is rated PG 13 for violence on the playground, gunfire, punching, fights, and a choking man. Removing the close-up shots of these events would reduce the rating to PG. The overall movie is worth a rating of 5/5.

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The Bare Naked Truth

How young woman are confronting the issues of the beauty industry.

Bella Forbes is a working model for the magazine Cosmopolitan. She is 5’ 8” and just had her 21st birthday which ended up being her champagne birthday. She had a video chat interview the next week. When asked about how the fashion industry has impacted her life she said, the industry can pressure you into things that necessarily you don't want to do.

 Many of the girls that stride up and down the runway are from the ages of fourteen to nineteen, five-foot-ten and eleven, with an average weight of one hundred twenty to one hundred twenty-four pounds. If a girl, still growing up into her body, sees herself in the mirror and does not see that figure, what is she supposed to think? “The promotion of the thin, sexy ideal in our culture has created a situation where the majority of girls and women don’t like their bodies,” says body-image researchers, Sarah Murnen, professor of psychology at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.  “And body dissatisfaction can lead girls to participate in very unhealthy behaviors to try to control weight.” (rachelleet) A study done by  Emer Sheahan and Todd Morrison identified that “sociocultural norms and values in Western societies, particularly those portrayed in the mainstream media, are often proposed as major contributors to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among women.” (rachelleet). The particular searchers that were done brought to an end that the being skinny idea, that references to “the extent to which an individual cognitively buys into socially defined and unrealistic ideals of attractiveness,” has a correlation to girls developing eating disorders.”(rachelleet) Some girls are gravitating to; anorexia, bulimia, eating disorders, avoid eating, binging and purging, to dysmorphia, becoming so preoccupied with one’s looks to where it gets in the way with one’s life, for them to look like these women in magazines and the modeling industry.

It is for certain that a youthful woman thinks very differently than an older woman. When there are publications that are hounding girls with pictures that have the ‘perfect looking body’, how are they supposed to look at the ideal model? “A recent study was published by researchers who asked 12 girls, between the ages of 11-13, and 12 young adults, between the ages of 22 and 30, about their popularity and their academics. These women and girls were asked about whether phrases such as “I am popular” described them, and whether others would agree.” (rachelleet)   

“Compared with the young adults, the study suggests that the teen’s self-image is largely based on how she believes others see her,” said Jennifer Pfeifer, an assistant professor of psychology in Oregon. Pfeifer continued on to say, “If you ask them what they think of themselves, they can’t separate that from what other people think of them…whenever you ask them about themselves, they immediately engage in thinking about what others think of them.” (rachelleet) Here holds a huge aiding debate to how young ladies are so massively troubled with the modeling industry and with what is seen on media sites. Young ladies are more likely to go basing their ideas of themselves because of what their friends or even stranger think of them, they are especial more likely to go into bad actions to try to get that look. Most of them turn to losing weight, and the fastest way to achieve this they end up, in the end, wounding up going through bulimia or anorexia. “The Eating Disorder Foundation in Denver, Colorado, reported that in 2009, 27 percent of girls 12-18 show significant symptoms of an eating disorder; that’s about one in every four girls in middle school and high school.” (rachelleet)

Nada Stotland, professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago and Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association, has went through a great deal of research on the negative effects of models and young viewers developing eating disorders to look like those models. “We know seeing super-thin models can play a role in causing anorexia,” she said. “And because many models and actresses are so thin, it makes anorexics think their emaciated bodies are normal, but these people look scary.” If every last bit of fat is erased in magazine advertisements, every commercial is edited for cellulite, and every fashion show presents size-0 models, then girls start to establish the ‘perfect’ advertised body’ as ‘a normal body’. To change this, a few years ago the Madrid fashion show banned overly thin models from the runway in order to show a healthy image. These models had to have a body mass index of 18 at least, meaning, a 5-foot-9 woman would have to weigh at least 125 pounds.

Psychologist Sharon Lamb, author of Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’  Schemes, is alarmed that the image of the “perfect woman” will start to affect the minds of even younger girls. “Some really sexy clothes are available in children’s size 6X,” says Lamb. “Girls are being taught very young that thin and sexy is the way they want to be when they grow up, so they’d better start working on that now.” Lamb is afraid that if girls start to focus all of their attention on looking perfect, it can “rid them of other options.” In a study several children were interviewed, ages 5 to 10, and take the  Children’s Eating Attitude Test (ChEAT). These children were asked questions about how they view themselves in their body image, obsessions and preoccupation with food, and dieting routines. The study finished with disturbed eating views and behaviors can certainly begin at a earlier age than teen years “approximately 11 percent of 9-year-olds surveys and 7 percent of 10-year-olds scored in the anorexic range.” If the media keeps advertising the size-0 body image at teenage girls, and even younger girls, there can be some very bad consequences if these females begin to believe this version. It has been shown that although some girls may refuse the “perfect body” look, it is a small percentage, about 18 percent. Sarah Murnen, body image researcher, found that “those who were exposed to the most fashion magazines were more likely to suffer from poor body images.”

The States should start to switch a few media policies to provide young girls a better self-image of what an actual woman appears in real life, specifically when she has not been photo edited. Just a while ago, the United Kingdom has planned many strategies to aid young girls to get a better self-image. One of the plans is to get rid of advertisements aimed at young girls below the age of sixteen like the photos being photoshopped and airbrushed. This branches off from many differences in ads, where young girls are presented with unreachable body figures. Advertisements in the States have many famous people being analyzed for letting photoshop happen. For an example, “on the December 2009 cover of W magazine, Demi Moore’s hip had been digitally removed, leaving her with a lot less skin than what looks normal. Jo Swinson, who is heading up the “body image” campaign in the UK, believes that young girls are under more pressure now than five years ago. Swinson would like to see advertisements portray a classic type of beauty, rather than the altered images that make their way into magazines and commercials. “Airbrushing means that [advertisements] contain completely unattainable images that no one can live up to in real life,” said Swinson. The leader would also like the Advertising Standards Authority to draw up new rules so that advertisements aimed at adults should indicate if images have been airbrushed.” (rachelleet)

Something else Swinson would like to come up within the United Kingdom is to introduce it into the education system in schools to incorporate classes on health, well-being, and body image. The States have many programs in schools that demo straight “these lessons about eating disorders and how to live healthy, but to really be effective American schools really need to add a media literacy program to curriculums that teach children, especially young girls, how to analyze the information they absorb and asking about how it impacts their lives.” (rachelleet) It is unthinkable to accept that in some form to shelter girls, parents have to almost fully protect them from media. We can wish sooner or later airbrushing and the stress to be a size-0 will go away, it is impossible to see this happening anytime soon like in the next five years for an example. Consider this, essential to advise young girls to understand that models and ads are illustrating a harmful and impractical body and self-image.

Basically, this altered perception of what it means to acquire the “perfect body” is causing young ladies to see themselves. Sadly, this has happened to many young ladies evolving illnesses, for example, bulimia, dysmorphia, and anorexia to try and obtain the advertised body appearance. Audrey Brashich, a previous teen fashion model, is convinced that “The most celebrated, recognizable women today are famous primarily for being thin and pretty, while women who are actually changing the world remain comparatively invisible.” Brashich believes that it is not solely up to these girls to know that these models are giving them a bad sense of self; she believes that the “idolizing of models, stars, and other celebrities is not going to change until the pop culture changes the women it celebrates and focuses on,” (Hellmich). Jo Swinson also recognizes that the focus on women’s appearance has gotten out of hand. “Since no one really has perfect skin, perfect hair, and a perfect figure,” said Swinson, “why do women and young girls increasingly feel that nothing less than thin and perfect will do?” (rachelleet)

Definitely, there is still the demand for a difference in the modeling industries and media by some people. After all, it is essential to notice that society and companies as of now are talking about the unreachable actual goals the media put on females and by means of it needs to stop. “If society continued to create websites, events, and issue proposals about advertising strategies to Congress, girls will hold more-self-confidence and hopefully stop taking part in harmful body disorders.” (rachelleet)

Work Cited 

The 20-something tales “How the Modeling Industry Affect a Young Girl’s Perception”   Accessed on May 13, 2018 https://rachelleet.wordpress.com/articles-and-newswriting/how-the-modeling-industry-affects-a-young-girl%E2%80%99s-perception/

Market watch April 20, 2011   Anna Maria Andriotis “10 things the beauty industry won’t tell you” Accessed on May 13, 2018.  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-the-beauty-industry-wont-tell-you-1303249279432

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Lovely nails!

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Some Lipsticks Can Be Dangerous for You

Lipsticks come in different colors and shades but are you aware of the lethal ingredients? A toxin interferes with healthy body functions. Toxins in lipsticks are more common than people think because companies do not take responsibility for what goes into a product they are selling. They are just trying to sell a product they do not care about the customer’s health, and about the larger amounts of lead that goes into their products.  There should not be any toxic metals lead in their products. Lead in lipstick is dangerous because some have high amounts of toxic metals, the companies are just trying to sell a product, and regulations do not have high standards.

          So what is lead doing in lipsticks? Not all lipsticks contain lead, but a number of studies in recent times show that the metal is more common than one thought. “In 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics conducted a study – “A Poison Kiss” (C.F.S.C.) -- that detected lead in 61% of the thirty-three lipsticks tested, with levels ranging from 0.03 ppm to 0.65 ppm. Parts per million (ppm) is the measurement of lead in the environment.” Medical experts say there is no safe amount of lead in the blood (CDS). The Food and Drug Association (FDA) says it does not consider the levels of the lead discovered in lipsticks to be a safety problem and health concern (Rasanayagam). A lipstick company will not label their products containing lead and other toxic metals as an ingredient. The amounts are not significant enough, but the presences of lead in lipstick, which is ingested and absorbed through the skin, an increasing concern about how safe is a cosmetic product that is very popular among women. Pushed by both buyers and the cosmetic industry, “the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted its own testing in 2010. The FDA's results were even more” surprising, the agency found lead in all four-hundred lipsticks tested, between 0.9 to 3.06 ppm -- four times higher than the levels noticed in the study done by Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. (Rasanayagam) Lead is not the only toxic metal that you may be putting to your lips. In a recent study, University of California scientists tested eight lipsticks and twenty-four lip glosses and found nine toxic heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, aluminum, beryllium, thallium, mercury, and arsenic. The FDA said, “We have assessed the potential harm to buyers from the use of lipstick having lead at the levels found in both rounds of testing. Lipstick, as a product intended for topical use with limited absorption, is ingested only in very small quantities. We do not consider the lead levels we found in the lipsticks to be a safety concern.” (Rasanayagam). Besides, the cosmetic industry also does not view this as a problem, “saying that the dose makes the poison -- in other words, the trace levels of heavy metals in lipsticks are not harmful.” (Rasanayagam) Companies do not care about what ingredients are in their products because they just care about making money. Cheaper the costs for the ingredients the better for them, well “that’s the way they see it”.

Some companies do not care about having lead or other toxic and unhealthy metals in their products like “Maybelline Color Sensational (#125 Pink Petal), L’Oréal Colour Riche (#410 Volcanic), NARS Semi-Matte (#1005 Red Lizard), Cover Girl Queen Collection Vibrant Hues (#580 Ruby Remix), Stargazer Lipstick (#103c), Revlon Matte (#009 Fabulous Fig), Sonia Kashuk Luxury Lip Color (#27 Mauvey), Avon Beyond Color (#558 Mad for Mauve), and many more other colours in these brands” (Mother Jones). [The problem is when women who wear lipstick too many times a day, according to the University of California study.] (EHP) “The result is that they are ingesting and absorbing through their lips as much as eighty-seven milligrams of product a day, said the study.” (Rasanayagam) Women are not only putting their lipsticks many times a day, but they are also doing this in the span of a whole lifetime, which means that there are many risks to lead and other heavy metals adding up in the body and can eventually affect their health. (Berkeley news) One obstacle for people wanting to avoid exposure is that none of the metals, with the exception of aluminum, are knowingly added to the lipsticks and lip glosses that are out there. The metals are poisons that are present in the dyes and base ingredients used to make the products because the metals are not ingredients, cosmetic companies do not have to list them on the product's packaging. (Rasanayagam)

The FDA noted, “Although we do not believe that the lead content found in our recent lipstick analyses poses a safety concern, we are evaluating whether there may be a need to recommend an upper limit for lead in lipstick in order to further protect the health and welfare of buyers.” (Rasanayagam) Naturally, what the FDA and the cosmetic industry have been refusing is an increased risk and possibility of long-term negative effects. It is true that a few times lipstick use will not lead to harm. The good news is that not all lipsticks have noticeable levels of lead or other heavy metals and cost is not a factor; a cheap or expensive lipstick is not the purpose of how much lead is present. (Rasanayagam) The law regulating cosmetics passed on cosmetics in 1938 has never been revised. The FDA has no legal power to make certain products safe before they are sold in stores, and the agency does not allow taking down harmful products from store shelves. It is well known for cosmetic companies, to have very few rules for decreasing chemical additives used in shampoos to lotions to lipsticks. (Rasanayagam)

Lead in lipstick is very bad for you and because some have high amounts of toxic metals in them, companies are trying to sell a product, and companies do not set or have high standards. For now, buyers should take safety measures to protect themselves from heavy metal exposure from products. Basically useless, if you see yourself applying lipstick way too many times a day, think about cutting back. Then, do not let children use lipstick, as their youthful bodies are especially exposed to toxic metals. Next, let's get to work on making products that are free of chemicals, so when they have grown up, the problem has been solved, having chemicals in cosmetics.

Work Cited

CNN   April 4, 2014    Rasanayagam Sharima “Are Lipsticks Dangerous” Accessed on November 1, 2017

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/04/opinion/rasanayagam-lipstick-lead/index.html

CBS   2017 “Poisonous puckers? Top 10 lead – filled lipstick. Accessed on November 1, 2017

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/poisonous-puckers-top-10-lead-filled-lipsticks/

CDS July 12, 2013 “Lead” Accessed on November 1, 2017

https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Lead_FactSheet.html

Mother Jones May 6, 2013   “Which 20 lipsticks contain the most lead” Accessed on November 1, 2017

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/05/study-lead-metals-lipstick-top-20/

EHP   “Concentrations and Potential Health risks of metals in lip products” Accessed on November 1, 2017

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1205518/