Prosecuting the Media (Valentine's Day Lit Assignment)
Throughout the world there are many holidays. Most of them are to celebrate the good fortune that we have, and so we get together with our families to celebrate them, for they are the greatest fortune of all. And what do humans do when large groups of us get together? We eat. Christmas time: we feast without worry because we know that we’ve got a gym membership all planned out for the New Year. Easter: we feast on a combination of chocolate and fancy table fare, thinking that the treadmill out in the cold garage will be more appealing once the weather warms up. Thanksgiving: we get together to give thanks for the food and family, etc. Point is, every major holiday vaunted by the media is one where we are eating.
Valentine’s Day is the worst, though. Unlike at other holidays, the pressure to slim down and have the supposed “perfect” body is put on you days or even weeks before the holiday begins. Suddenly all the billboards are singing, “Oh, you want to have a Valentine this February 14th? Here’s what you have to do.” This isn’t just targeted at girls who have any degree of self-consciousness; everybody has to deal with it. Boys are pressured to have perfect teeth, be tanned, be toned, have a six-pack… in short, become Taylor Lautner. Girls have to deal with the same pressures, but the template for them is basically a Barbie doll: have perfect makeup, perfect hair, perfect teeth, an hourglass figure and massive cleavage.
Either way, the odds that you’re going to become Taylor Lautner or a Barbie any time soon are severely low. And if they’re what the media considers perfection (not that they necessarily consider them perfection, but the general public view is that you have to have a body like either of theirs) then you are going to be left feeling down. Your body will not be perfect in the eyes of the media, no matter how hard you try.
This will most likely have a negative impact on your self-esteem if you don’t have a partner on Valentine’s Day. If you are the type of person who is totally antisocial, then this maybe won’t affect you as much, but if you’re single and you enjoy being in a relationship a bit, then you may start thinking really terrible thoughts about yourself and your body.
“I’m fat” and “I’m ugly” are two such thoughts. These two thoughts can corrupt your entire way of looking at yourself, in a mirror or otherwise. If you have even the tiniest crack in your shell of self-esteem you’ll be dogged by those thoughts. If you see a friend who’s skinnier than you, or more muscular; someone who has a better tan, or a bigger bra size; a girl who gets all the guys (or gals, if that’s her preference), or a guy who gets all the girls (if he likes girls). If these things worm their way into your mind, you’ll be able to find fault with yourself everywhere.
In addition to screwing with how you perceive your own body and lowering your self-esteem, it also creates the misconception that love is purely superficial. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be about spending time with that special someone in your life, special meaning what’s between your hearts, not what covers your body.
Some people say that love is blind. Though not always the case, it can be true (and in some cases, very true), and when it is, you know that you’ve found someone who actually cares, a person who is deserving of being your special someone. Forget how many layers of makeup they cake on, or how muscular they are. Bond with your hearts, and not your eyes.
The effect the media can have on perceptions of love can be proven by looking at the school system. For most people, this can be an extremely trying time. First love, first kiss, puberty, sexual desires, bullying, insecurities. Valentine’s Day in the younger grades is basically an excuse to have a party; everyone brings in something, the kids give out little mass-produced Valentine’s cards, and if one or two of them are feeling lucky (or cocky, which is developing in kids at younger ages all the time) they’ll go over to the person they like and maybe give them a hug or a kiss. In the older grades, the entire day is basically just an excuse for extensive PDAs and massive sugar highs. One guy might pluck up the courage to ask out the girl he likes (based solely on her looks, not knowing anything about her personality) and if he’s lucky, she might say yes. If not, he’ll get shot down so hard that the walls he built in his tear ducts after he got beat up for crying in the 7th grade come crumbling down and the water that dammed there over the years comes pouring out in rivers.
That would be normal. The media affects us from the tenderest of ages, molding our perceptions of beauty and social convention until they fit with the skewed version that basically dictates the rest of our lives. If the media didn’t influence us like that, just think how different our lives would be. Maybe that boy in high school would have the courage right from the beginning to go over and talk to that girl, or even to just walk up and hug her, introduce himself. But because of what the media drills into us about “attractive” and “unattractive” people, in schools people can very rarely find real love. School reflects real life, which is proven by the fact that more and more people are getting divorces. In 2008, the number of couples who were granted a legal divorce was estimated to be approximately 70,000. Partners are finding it hard to live with each other after a period of time. They just can’t make it work, and all their problems, if they cared to look back that far, could be traced back to the media.
