Hollywood, Media and Body Image
Posted by blessed_harlot | Filed under Uncategorized
The short version is: Keira Knightley recently refused to consent to a very common practice: having her body digitally changed for publicity shots (in this case, having her boobs enlarged in a photo).
Here is the ABC story that I first came across, when I was pointed there by a friend. ABC filters the story (accurately, by my taste) through a body image theme, and does a decent job of discussing some issues (the embedded 4 minute video is a longer version of the written story, and is worth sitting through the 30-second commercial first).
In looking around, however, I discover that every other news article I can find is much more scattered, ambivalent, and/or unreflective in their writing. Fox News gave a second hand quote about how proud Knightley is of her body, then ended their piece with a direct quote emphasizing how much the actress would loooooove to have bigger tits. Many other news sources (mostly online newspapers) emphasize her pride in her “slim” figure, her desire for bigger boobs, or both.
I don’t really know Knightley’s feelings, or who is accurately representing them. I do know who is reemphasizing the fucked-up, catch 22 cultural standards of self-abuse we are all supposed to maintain, and who is… well, jumping on a different bandwagon with their agenda, but is at least attempting to provide more media literacy and greater education and personal choice in how we take in images.
