Yesterday, as I was sick and facebooking all day, I came across a new game added to facebook, the Sims. I used to play this game often when I was younger and I decided to check it out. I was creating my own personal Sims character and I began to realize how even this video game is brainwashing people into believing that skinny and big boobs are the only way to go. The Sims that I was playing on facebook does not let u choose a body type; you are skinny and perfect, as everyone "should be." I remember on the other Sims I used to play you could choose a body type, but most people still chose the "perfect one" as I always did too.
I feel as though many people play this game to escape their imperfect lives and create for themselves a perfect world with a perfect body and the perfect husband. The funny part is that no one has a body like those on the Sims. You can't get married within an hour and you cannot easily obtain the perfect job. I will admit that I grew up playing this game and I used to think that one day my life could be like the life of my Sims character. However, with all the time that I wasted playing with my imaginary life, I missed out on my real life. While I was preoccupied with the Sims, many other children are preoccupied with superheroes. At first these things are fun and entertaining and maybe give you something to work towards but too much obsession with being perfect is not good. Wonder Woman's perfect body is only one problem. There are millions of other things influencing people and this is the way it will always be.
While reading comic books, people should be more concerned with the good these superheroes are doing instead of the way they look. In real life, Wonder Woman's costume would not be able to stay on her while she was fighting, flipping and jumping. The reason why Wonder Woman's costume is so revealing is to attract audiences who read comic books for the images and to make more money. It is a shame that the real reason for superheroes can not be preserved but instead all of these superficial factors are introduced just to make the comic books sell. Money is probably the biggest problem with these comic books. If money was not such a big factor then maybe superheroes could go back to saving the world with more comfortable clothing.
There is a fine line between leisurely fantasy and unrealistic expectations. Striving for dreams is good to some degree, but when someone aims for the unattainable (i.e. the perfect "Barbie Doll" body, effortless, leisurely and wealthy life), it can only end in depression. Since everyone is obsessed over this ideal "perfect image", some people are even more unwilling to let it go, and it drives them to the unthinkable; altering their mind body and soul to adapt to some impossible daydream.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has played The Sims on Facebook for over a month now, I can't believe that the fact that you could only choose from ONE body type for your Sim didn't hit me until I read your post. I guess this proves a pretty sad point--even if we acknowledge at some point in our life that a lot of the "popular images" in society are unrealistic and impractical, most of us have already accepted it since we were young and don't mind (or even enjoy) playing with these "perfect" images.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Yvonne that it is kind of sad that we have accepted this unrealistic definition of beauty and glamour. This unrealistic image of beauty is so embedded in my mind, at least, that, honestly, it is hard for me to think of some other forms of physical beauty... As we talked about in class so many times, we associate external beauty and perfection with super heroines...and by doing so, I think we are also making a connection between beauty and power/ strength. Although I do not think it is a big problem that people devote lots of time creating that socially acceptable beauty and appearance, it is sort of sad that people find it difficult to get rid of their obsessions with the "popular images" that Yvonne has mentioned above.
ReplyDelete