Narcissism is not liberation
In her book Where the Girls Are: Growing up Female with the Mass Media, Susan Douglas tackles the subject of female representation in the media. Advertisers have successfully turned many women into narcissists by dictating the characteristics that supposedly make up an ideal woman. Through an onslaught of products that promise beauty and happiness, the overall mentality of our culture has become predominantly materialistic. Therefore, in chapter "Narcissism as Liberation" Douglas utilizes scrutiny, empathy and sarcasm to persuade and enlighten her reader to the danger of narcissistic behavior that stems from manipulative advertising. Starting at the beginning of the selection, advertising is immediately introduced with Cybill Shephered's hair commercial yelling "I'm worth it" . One of Douglas' initial goals is to bring advertisers perfect, flawless displays under close examination. According to her, much of the narcissism we see today can be attributed to "Americas multibazillion-dollar cosmetic industry realizing that all those kids who once bought Clearasil and Stri-Dex were now getting something even worse than acne - wrinkles"1. With this information advertisers switched their focus from a
Women can't help but wonder what truly determines the beauty that is so covet!ed by everyone. It seems Douglas took that into consideration when deciding how to present her views in "Narcissism as Liberation". Consequently, what the world views as beauty is almost impossible to abstain. It is on this premises that Douglas calls into question the authority advertisers have to make women feel as if the y must look a certain way. Starting at the beginning of the selection, advertising is immediately introduced with Cybill Shephered's hair commercial yelling "I'm worth it" . Through an onslaught of products that promise beauty and happiness, the overall mentality of our culture has become predominantly materialistic. Displaying the same type of emotions and sediments immediately works to draw her into the confidence of women who feel the same way, while at the same time giving validity to her words. In order to point out many people's gullibility to cosmetic ads she comments, "It wasn't enough to put some Lubriderm on your face - my God, that was like consigning your skin to the soup kitchen of moisturizers" . Displaying the same type of emotions and sediments immediately works to draw her into the confidence of women who feel the same way, while at the same time giving validity to her words. Basically, "here's the question, girls. By approaching the subject in a sarcastic light, it cause the reader to reconsider their position in an effort to not appear naive. From the Biblical standpoint, beauty in appearance has no real importance. Often it is believed that with beauty come feelings of acceptance, confidence and even some forms of happiness. Consequently, what the world views as beauty is almost impossible to abstain. According to her, much of the narcissism we see today can be attributed to "Americas multibazillion-dollar cosmetic industry realizing that all those kids who once bought Clearasil and Stri-Dex were now getting something even worse than acne - wrinkles"1.
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Acceptance Essays
