Skip to main content

Merchants of Cool: Midriff

5/21/19

One topic discussed in Merchants of Cool that I found interesting was the “midriff.” The movie showed clips of girls in their early teen years trying to get parts as models or actresses in commercials. To get the part, they all were wearing tiny crop tops, had fake tans, and were very skinny. I don’t think at age thirteen these girls knew what they were doing by selling their bodies for a commercial or the media. They simply do it because they want to make money and become famous. In my opinion, this is a horrible idea for young girls. Britney, a character we followed throughout Merchants of Cool was just thirteen years old when she started going to auditions specifically looking for a midriff model. The media valued this idea so much and practically had the idea of a perfect model in every ad, movie, commercial, etc. In the media today, there is much more of a variety of girls. I think merchants now look for diversity rather than the typical skinny white girl we have seen in the past. Using the midriff archetype, girls were consumed by appearance. This idea is still very popular today, but just like any other trend, there are new ideals forming now. By using the midriff characters, merchants tried to sell a lifestyle, like if you buy the shirt this girl is wearing, you’ll be famous, rich, and beautiful just like her. I don’t think it’s bad for young girls to want to be a model and show off their bodies however they want, but I think it’s different when girls grow up trying to be this certain figure and hating themselves if they don’t. Ultimately, I just don’t think girls are using the midriff idea in a positive way. In recent ads, we have seen girls of all different colors and sizes, which is much more beneficial to the merchants and girls growing up that see this. I am glad to say the midriff archetype has become less popular, and instead a healthy and happy archetype has replaced it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women in Media

5/25/19 By watching MissRepresentation, I learned a lot about the history of women’s roles in media. I was surprised to watch how women journalists on the news were depicted by their appearance so much by men. It was unbelievable what men said about women on national television showing no respect. This movie helped me understand why women often feel so discouraged to be involved in politics and media in general. In the film a man said the more power  women get, the more backlash they receive for it. I agree with this statement and think it’s a result of men being taught that they have to be smarter, stronger, and better than women. The film also talked about this issue. I think boys are being raised to believe they can’t show their emotions and they have to act tough and strong. They learn these ideals through media and common phrases like “Boys will be boys” and  “You throw like a girl.” Although these may not have like they have a big impact on boys, when everyone in ...
2 comments
Read more

Notre Dame Cathedral News

4/22/19 As many of us are aware, on April 15th, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught on fire. This was a tragic event that I heard about on many platforms of media: radio stations, instagram, snapchat, the news, and pretty much all over the internet. I saw posts of people saying how sad it was, people trying to raise money to rebuild it, but most interesting to me people criticizing those trying to spend millions of dollars to rebuild it. The point is valid, that there are many other problems in the world like starving children, shortage of water, and climate change that could definitely put the millions of dollars to a more valuable cause. This event has caused a lot of controversy and drew attention to some of the issues our planet is suffering. I looked into two news sources that had articles on the Notre Dame fire: Infowars and AP. Infowars , according to the infographic, is nonsense and damaging to public discourse. Their headliner for the article on the fire is ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Calvin Klein's #mytruth

5/14/19 Today I was scrolling through my instagram feed and saw multiple celebrities like ASAP Rocky and Kendall Jenner posting videos for Calvin Klein about “their truth.” After watching these videos along with others from big influencers like Billie Eilish, Shawn Mendes, and Noah Centineo, I found that Calvin Klein has started their own “campaign” on speaking “my truth.” All of these people shared stories on what believe their truth is. Many told stories of their childhood, their biggest challenges, or who they are today. I found that all eleven of their models in this campaign had nothing in common in their interview videos. They all had their own thoughts and different ways of taking on the idea of their truth. By all speaking on different topics, CK was promoting individuality and ideas that the viewers could relate to. These influencers talking weren’t really talking about the products and besides being dressed in Calvin Klein clothing, the interviews had nothing to do with ...
Post a Comment
Read more