The changing shape of the “sexy” woman on television

The shape of “sexy” and provocative women is changing and is apparent with the current whirlwind of attention surrounding “Mad Men’s” Christina Hendricks who is not rail thin but pretty voluptous and curvy, signaling that the public can find fuller figured women to be worthy of attention. Plumper more round women until recently are constantly being portrayed as someone who is alright but could be so much better with some weight loss, causing their present attractiveness to go unappreciated and enjoyed. Our media plays a large part in societal acceptance of what is deemed attractive, desirable or worthy and television shows seen often play a large role in that .

 

   I know many of us flip through our favorite magazines and see women many sizes smaller than most of us dressed impeccably and seen as being the epitome of beauty and sophistication, and our TV celebs are usually constantly on weight watch choosing to be as thin as they are able. In no way am I promoting that any of us be slovenly heavy and unkempt and rejoice about it but seeing Christina Hendrick’s as the headturning  secretary on “Mad Men” cheers me up and I realize that any of us can be the total package , it’s all up to how you project yourself. As her character Joan Holloway in “Mad Men”  Hendrick’s presents herself as being a virtual goddess and captivates the men in her company as well as the audience that watches. Joan Holloway is chesty and by no means stick thin and seems to be glad for that, I really wish more of us could celebrate ourselves in this way rather than being far too critical of ourselves and appreciate the great attributes we already have.  If Christina’s Joan helps us feel good about ourselves as we put a best foot forward than “Mad Men” has done more than just entertain us for an hour, here’s hoping other’s in the media begin to follow in their footsteps.

http://plussize.about.com/

Is there a little “Desperate Housewives” in all of us?

By now due to the heavy promotion and exposure of the show we all have at least heard of “Desperate Housewives” and have seen it’s players in advertisements and commercials. This show is narrated at times and all I think it lends is a spooky feel to the show but this is not a horror themed series although some topics are dangerously close to being nightmarish. This show is wildly popular and I think the reason is that the viewers will choose one of the main characters to identify with. While I do not have the character’s names committed to memory I have their persona’s remembered and quite frankly feel that these women are exaggerations of the types of wives and lovers out there in society. There is the dutiful and prim type of wife , the spoiled and self centered wife, the doubtful exploratory and self evolving wife and the fierce and unbridled type of wife. You will find these qualities to the extreme in the women of “Desperate Housewives”  and it is because of the wild storyline and exxagerations on the types of women and wives that exist that has brought such an adoring and huge audience to the series. 

   We can identify eith at least one of the women in the group of “Housewives” and see how this kind of behavior will bring certain results and consequences. The story of these women’ s lives  offer entertainment but also offer up a comment on the behavior of women in the role of wife, mother and daughter in daily life. While a character is given certain situations to handle we are shown how their approach and action can affect their life in negative and positive ways, making us think of how similar our life may be to a certain character’s life. This is my opinion and may not be that of another viwers. If alien life viewed this show as a representation of how the human woman behaved it would offer an eerie, glamorous and humorous rendition of women and their behavior in the American family but regardless would captivate any kind of life form with access.

http://abc.go.com/shows/desperate-housewives/photos/the-coffee-cup/336467

Bridezillas, Dress Yes and the “Wedding” craze that scares the ….

 So many trends are prevalent on TV but I’ve noticed recently one in particular the craze going on with weddings, wedding dresses and those wacked out Bridezillas on some of the shows I watch. It seems that we are presently being bombarded with all things wedding and we can’t get enough , myself included. What is even more outrageous is that the audience watching consists of a wide demographic of ladies from young or not so young single women to happily or unhappily married women and the wedding industry is promoting itself like nobodies business.  I adore the show “Say Yes to the Dress”, and I eat up the episodes I am able to watch wondering which dress each woman will finally choose. I think this is like accompanying so many friends to choose their special dress and of course everyone has an opinion some more so than the bride to-be  herself. The consultants at the Kleinfeld store are like no other wedding shop consultant and if your a bride to-be with a mission they will get you your dress with lots of counsel and style and if you are shrewd even some kind of discount or deal. When I decide to take the plunge I’m heading straight to Kleinfelds, probably their resplendent Blowout sale!

   “Bridezillas”, is a crazy show with brides who take no prisoners and are fortunate that they get married at all when everything is said and done . They are a wedding themed “Girls Behaving Badly”, and they make no apology. Usually this show is an example to me of what not to do and say to ensure that my wedding party does not plot my death by the big day and of course it provides me with a chuckle or two on a Saturday night. It’s a comment on how disrespectful and inconsiderate self absorbed brides to-be can act and maybe why it is the viewers should not.

  In addition to this there are some shows depicting wedding planners who promise unforgettable days and all that goes with achieving this. If your along this crazy ride once it stops you may vow to be single until the end of your days or wish to be married tomorrow but at any rate you can be sure to get quite a show either way. Deep down inside most of us desire to entertain that little girl in us who dreamed to be a beautiful bride with all the trimmings, we just never counted on the craziness on the way to our wedding day.

  http://www.newjerseybride.com/blogs/editor-mollys-blog/masters-of-reception-to-premiere-this-friday/index.html

Alcohol, midlife crisis and faith among intellectuals

 

 I love my ” Elle” magazine , with all of its glossy ads and fashion forward articles and among the pages I found an article about author Mary Karr’s latest work called LIT which is a memoir of her time through college and beyond coping with life and her battles with alcohol. While she is at presently a Professor of Literature @Syracuse University she was for quite a time in a cycle of destructive behavior patterns which resulted in her being sent to a psych ward .

I am curious to read this work by Karr as it is a revelation that so many women  who feel they have life under control actually are under the control of so many outward influnces, whether it be money , sex, drugs or alcohol. I congratulate Karr for coming face to face with her addiction and her loss of control in her life and how she regaine her sobriety and her salvation in a crossroads of her life. Karr’s book requires us all  to look at our lives and reevaluate behaviours that are harmful and the source of these destructive patterns and how facing them can ultimately lead to our regaining control of the demons who would consume us.

yaa figured out how to insert images !

At last I think i figured it out now I can happily insert the mages for my posts, yaa.

The women of “Army Wives”

   The television network Lifetime creates and shows alot of quality programs addressing alot of quality programs addressing women’s issues and problems in a provocative and thoughtful way. One such creation that has aired for three seasons is ” Army Wives” which tells the story of women who are married to men in the Army who are of various ranks. This show is relevant to women because it reveals that women regardless what kind of life they are part of , they all share ( the same obstacles and life issues that will challenge them and test their endurance and tenacity.

   Since this show aired 3 years ago the characters have dealt with death , infedility, returns of estranged parents, military demands, terrorists acts and much more. This show is such a great vehicle in which to express the troubles most spouses in the military and beyond must deal with and each week poses powerful questions to its viewers about morality, community and esteem issues most girls and women face on a daily basis. You are drawn to the characters and their lives, whether it is Denise who was raised in a military family and now has both her son and husband in its forces and hasdealt with abuse  from her son and being unfaithful to her husband, or Claudia Joy married to the Commander of the Base andwho gave up law school and a possible career as a lawyer to be there for her husband, she remains a superb events planner and hostess for all post functions and lost her older daughter to a base tragedy and when faced with her own diagnosis of diabetes tries to remain unaffected. There is also Roxy who with 2 small boys marries a young private and begins a better life for her family and goes into business of running a base bar and restaurant . as well as Joan who commands a whole unit in combat who has recently had a baby and decides to redeploy out to Iraq in order to support her soldiers in battle, she is faced with the heartbreaking seperation of her and her child only months old and husband . Lastly there is Pamela who an ex police detective is married to a member of Special Ops who seems more eager to go on his next assignment than the family picnic, which has ultimately in the finale led her to leave him alone in a echoingly empty house.

  I applaud the writer of this story and think each episode helps many women military and non military to face issues we all face as wives , mother and daughters and I know it has helped me to analyze my own life issues.

 

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/army-wives

Drop Dead Diva summer time fun

 

 

I recently saw the last episode of a show that grew on me  since the summer when it first aired, “Drop Dead Diva” with some great new actresses, which explored the theme of superficiality as the beautiful blonde Deb dies in an auto accident while applying lip gloss. Deb is able through her persistence to implant her soul into the body of freshly shot Jane whois an overweight and emotionally starved overworked and brilliantly genious lawyer.

This invasion of Jane’s body by Deb is what makes this series so good and very much examines the obsession our society has with the superficial. Deb through Jane is able to realize some flaws in both women’s lives. Deb’s over obsession with her looks and Jane’s apparent absence of enthusiasm or fun in her life. While Jane no longer exists soul wise her life and all of its trappings are where Deb finds herself and it leaves her thrilled and upset at times because Deb’s life is forall purposes ended. She coincidentally as Jane/Deb’s soul  finds herself working at the same law firm as Deb’s grieving fiancee.  It makes for some highly conflicted emotions and revalations.

I think this show is brilliantly written and in the final show this season I cheer for Jane/Deb as she has really come along way and when suspended by the law firm is given a opportunity to star a different existence than what Jane formerly had. However as fate wouls have it the final moment pans in as Jane/Deb answers the door to a man who announces himself as Jane’s husband.

This show is relevant to many women in our culture as it questions what is regarded as important and needed to have a whole life and it also challenges the demands placed on women physically and tries to dispel stereotypes given to beautiful women as well as brilliant women and I hope it returns this summer.

file:///C:/Users/Sarah/Downloads/season-finale-graysons-anatomy.htm

Women get their Bloody Revenge

In this aritcle in USA TODAY ” Women get their Bloody Revenge”, Susan Wloszyna allows us to reflect on women’s presence in the arena of horror flicks as she reviews the newest addition ” Jennifer’s Body”, starring Megan Fox as a beautiful predator who needs victims to feed on. Wloszczyna writes of the views of a few college professor’s and their opinion of what this film represents and some opinions range from retaliation through wome’ns violence as well as being more of the genre for men. It seems as the author expresses that through women portrayed in these horror flicks a dominion usually reserved for men has been entered in to. She also points out that more and more of  female movie goers are gravitating toward horror flicks rather than the usual more female oriented films. The film’s screenwriter Diablo Cody has grown up loving horror films and according to Wloszczyna has tried her hand at it with “Jennifer’s Body”(Wlosyna,p.1D,2D).

 This makes me think of my own love for another type of fright or horror genre , anything or almost anything touching on the topic of Vampyre. I find the whole Vampire notion quite seducing and miraculous like anything is possible even breaking the boundaries of death. It also does help that in many movies and shows the vampires are all extremely well-dressed and good looking and seem impervious to all of life’s upsets. Something I would kill for. Maybe through horror and scary fright type works women are able to express their “monster” which pays back the evil-doers and for a time makes them feared and all powerful, somethings which allude many women in today’s cut throat reality.

Wloszyna,Susan. “Women get their Bloody Revenge”USA TODAY 16 Sept. 2009:1D,2D.

New Series “Beautiful Life” is seen as not so beautiful

Last week while waititng to start work I read an article about the new series based on models called “Beautiful Life”, in USA Today . This new series is apparently directed in part by Demi Moore’s Ashton Kutcher and stars, Mischa Barton and Elle Macpherson but the writer , Robert Bianco has found it to be a shallow and even careless portrayal of the inner sanctum of models. It made me think as Bianco points out that the show should pay attention to being pretty as he observed that hair and makeup in the show wasn’t up to par with what supermodels would really have. So now it’s apparent that not only must we constantly see supermodels in our mags , online and on bill boards but of course in their own series. I am so amazed at the amount of attention that being beautiful will acquire for a person and I wonder why all of us seem to care so much about these beautiful prototypes and not more attention to our own lives.

I am as guilty as the next person of coveting the next issue of Vogue or Vanity Fair and can’t wait to see all the deliciously glamourous styles of bags shoes and the new colors of makeup for the given season. On the flipside I actually read the more scholarly or newsworhty articles in these magazines and feel when I do that maybe this is what women who are not so amazingly beautiful do.

Maybe we equate beauty with shallow, maybe we equate nerdy or unattractive with expected intelligence. Does this mean that a beautiful or attractive woman can’t possibly be competant or genius? I think an unattractive person could be unintelligent and that maybe thay are shallow as well. My point is appearance or image is really only one facet of a person , and in this course more specifically a woman. Beauty can be genius and ugly might be self absorbed, it’s contradictory but can happen. Too much maybe assumed of both but it should be a goal to prove otherwise.

Bianco, Robert.” New Model series ‘Beautiful Life’ struts its vapid stuff.”USA TODAY16 Sept.2009:5D

There is so much material to discuss int…

There is so much material to discuss interms of women and girls in the Media especially in our technological age where images are being posted of celebrities and known figures as soon as an event hapens or even while it is happening. Television alone has a huge variety of material dealing with women and girl’s depiction in our world and this has lasting impact on women and girls throughout our country and even the world. Tonight I watched a show called Diva’s and while it was wonderful, to those watchng especially the young there is a message to pusue stardom and fame as a way to one’s freedom and happiness. My own issue with this is that while Divas provide hours of enjoyment and have achieved their desires some girls and women may not see being a diva as even a goal and that it is more about craving attention and adoration . Should becoming a Diva be something that the girls and women of our society want to attain? Or maybe shouldn’t we be more concerned with other goals , less flashy and glitzy seduction but still meaningful ?