In Scott Westerfeld’s novel Uglies, there is a great debate on the topic of “being pretty”, and in Tally Youngblood’s superficial society, the people who are considered attractive and powerful are those they call Pretties. As one of the Uglies in her society, they cannot help but await their sixteenth birthday when they will be cosmetically transformed into Pretties and leave their primitive community for good. Being one of the Pretties gives people a great life, and Tally believes that they are perfect because of their looks.
“There was something magic in their large and perfect eyes, something that made you want to pay attention to whatever they said, to protect them from any danger, to make them happy. They were so… pretty” (Westerfeld, pg. 8).
As humans, it can be hard for us to look past our own perception of beauty. This explains where problems like Anorexia or Body Dysmorphic Disorder originate from, because we make such a priority out of beauty. Humanity’s history of discrimination against those who may not look like a model made it possible for Westerfeld to predict that our future may turn out to be this way.
Every day we see magazine articles, newspaper ads, commercials and billboards that showcase a perceived beautiful person advertising some kind of product, mostly those that can alter a person’s appearance in a minor or major way. People can be easily convinced that others may accept them if they try to follow the trends these models seem to abide by.
No comments:
Post a Comment