Jun 30, 2013

Photoshopping and male gaze

I was inspired to do this post after reading (mainly "seeing" as the male writer was speechless at the beauty of the female celebs he was praising. He praised them for having "good genes". Yes, you heard it right. Good genes. When he's talking about celebs (who often change something in their bodies) and showing us pics from fashion magazine Ceci (which are even more likely to be photoshopped for aesthetics). The said pics are below.

Edited: Beauty is not always artificial, sure, some people are more blessed than others. But I've become very skeptical about beauty in the media for the following reasons. I'm not fooled by the airbrushed creatures even if I know I don't give credit enough when it's due to the celebrity.

He was talking about Korean celebs, who are very well-known for having had plastic surgery, perhaps more than other nationalities (many Hollywood celebs are not really natural either).
So you're telling me that her face is really naturally beautiful besides having (lots of) make-up on? OK, I'll give him that I guess. He compared 2 celeb cousins who have both good genes. The thing is, they could have had the same facial surgery, like MJ's nose and her sister Janet. Let's say that they didn't.
But don't you know that every single photograph that is used on any media has been photoshopped?? Yes, every single one, even dogs are photoshopped. Let's take a look at the girl's picture: you can see a weird lower hole between her legs, probably an effort from the photoshop artist to make her look skinnier. That hole doesn't look real nor natural. How can her left leg be that straight and frontal (camera angle) when her right knee is also frontal but the leg looks reverted because of the hole...? See, her legs are even crossed so how can her legs have such a lower hole if she's not super skinny? I'm no expert, and bodies can be weird in certain positions sometimes, but I used to be very observant when I was into drawing for a decade. I drew a lot by reproducing pictures of models, celebs or members of family. I drew at home, at school.

You can also clearly see that the pic on the left where she shows off her booty has been photoshopped: her legs look pinkish and the lines are undefined because of a white brush for special effect. Why? To make her legs look longer and skinnier. Her skin doesn't look real at all. As for the booty, who knows if the photoshop artist added some plump under her booty to make it naturally big? Nobody will know. My point is to point out the fakeness and ridiculous perfection rubbed on us everyday. More on the booty below.



Now, let's talk about the huge effort in Korean stores to provide padded panties. Padded bras exist in the West and are very common here (I live in the West), but padded panties are not THAT numerous in underwear stores where I live.
Asians are not known for having big, round booties. Some do have them, there is some variety in every ethnicity, like big breasts and small breasts. But let's be real, what are the chances of Korean celebs of having such a booty and overall look "perfect" naturally? Asian or not, most celebs aren't naturally blessed with conventionally perfect looks from head to toe.
If you don't know what a padded panty looks like under clothes, here's a link for you:
http://netizenbuzz.blogspot.fr/2013/04/instiz-power-of-padding.html

To conclude, in order to look conventionally perfect on a picture you need 5 things:
1- Work out very regularly and/or be on a diet
2- A good photoshop artist
3- Plastic surgery
4- A good make-up artist (obvious...)
5- Know your best angles

Genes, good or not, have little to do with that. Period. Many people can look like a star if they have the money for it and take care of their body a lot.