Essay Sample on Body Image & Photo Manipulation: Understanding Society's Standards

To grasp the issue of digital photo manipulations and body image, we need to understand what body image means and what it means to individuals when they are growing up. Body image can be defined as the sexual attractiveness and beauty of an individual's physique. The society places more attention on the human body, although an individual's point of view concerning their body may not be in line with the societal standards, which are always changing. Most individuals have tried altering how they look through extensive editing features and drawings, to look different and more appealing to society. This essay argues that it is possible that long-term exposure to altered images can have a negative effect on children, adolescents, and how adults view themselves.

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From the Kaltura video on "Body Evolution, Model Before and After," we see a beautiful woman, whose features are enhanced in a photo through distinct editing features. The program enhances and cleans up the female's beauty to the point of perfection (Body Evolution - Model Before and After, n.d.). Two photos are presented at the end, with one edited so that the female's skin is perfect and real. The fact that the individual wants to look different than they already are explains that she has exposed to the idea of altered images too much that the way she views herself has changed in such a manner that she no longer sees herself as a beautiful creature. She cannot find anything good about her body image before editing. The image has been manipulated and presented to sell a particular idea of being flawless, and yet, no human can exist without flaws (Body Evolution - Model Before and After, n.d.).

The other video is on, "Dove Real Beauty Sketches, you are more beautiful than you think," which shows how a woman views herself negatively before her pictures are drawn. When she sees the drawings, she has different emotions concerning each image (Dove Real Beauty Sketches _ You're more beautiful than you think (6mins), n.d.). In one picture, she looks old and sad, and in another, she looks young and smiling, but none of the images presents the person that she is, perfectly. Drawings can make a person view themselves to be less beautiful than they are, or more beautiful than they are, depending on how the artist managed to play with the features. A poorly drawn mage will ultimately have adverse psychological effects, prompting a person to want to change how they look in certain areas.

An individual's negative notion of their body is more about how the media has ^portrayed that being a size two or having beautiful and healthy skin is flawless and not because they think it is wrong to look and be healthy. Most people claim that looks do not matter and yet struggle too hard to look different than they are the society. The media has placed a considerable burden on people to become flawless, that this exposure has led to a lack of satisfaction, loss of confidence, and low self-esteem issues.

References

Body Evolution - Model Before and After [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1700302/uiconf_id/32654372/entry_id/0_j9cqvhwu/embed/dynamic

Dove Real Beauty Sketches _ You're more beautiful than you think (6mins) [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1700302/uiconf_id/32654372/entry_id/0_6lglr7t9/embed/dynamic