At one instance in the film, Rebecca is torn between whether to accept her dream job at the fashion magazine or decline it. She declines it in the end (spoiler!) due to a bad feeling she gets in her stomach which is, in turn, due to the untrustworthy image she holds of the magazine company. This sparked a thought in my mind of magazines today and the information they give to their audience.

I myself am guilty of divulging into magazine stories. My ignorant nature finds it amusing, but with a new perspective, it’s becoming quite sickening. I was reading a certain magazine at the gym the other day and saw that most of the articles were about finding a sense of self worth in something that we are not. Whether it be through living vicariously through celebrity lifestyles or the tremendous amount of advertisements before even reaching the table of contents, it is obvious that the magazine does not intend for us to be satisfied with who we are. In fact, how often do you go throughout your day without hearing someone, or even yourself, complain about their unsatisfactory lifestyle- all because we do not think we measure up to the standard of living as laid out by these magazines- or even more applicable- the media. They frame who they want us to be with every hint of popular culture that exists in this world. Time Magazine even said that we were the person of the year in 2006, promoting the idea that letting the media so heavily influence our lives is a good thing. By making us the person of the year, they are complimenting us on our actions, implying that being influenced by so many different things (technology, fashion, money, magazines, etc.) is the right thing to do. This disgusts me. How insulting is it to be told that who we are isn’t good enough for this world? It’s not only insulting, but it’s completely false. If we were created only to be transformed into something that we are not, what kind of world are we living in?

Two arguments could be made here. Yes, we do see magazines portraying the manipulating images listed above, but is the magazine to blame fully? They produce articles, stories, and advertisements that would appease the general public. We do not reject these images, but in fact, we support them by buying the magazines off of the supermarket shelves over and over again. Mediated magazines aren’t going to change until we let them change. My proposition is to reject the framework the media puts forth and see, one and for all, that we do not need to change who we are to find out who we are supposed to be in this world. We were created for something huge- created. Not transformed. Created. We know who we are and we don’t need magazines, television, movies, or any other mediated medium to tell us otherwise.

I realize this is a bit of a stretch, but that’s pretty much how my mind works. Also, this is my blog and therefore, my opinion. You are entitled to your own as well.

Prior to reading this blog, it is important to understand that I love film, and I love to overanalyze everything. After watching a typical cheesy chick flick tonight, (Hey, I’m a girl, aren’t I?) the idea sparked into my mind to start a blog discussing these entertaining movies and exactly what role the media has in either the message the film is sending or the film itself. Therefore, here we are, doing what could very well be a school research project that I intend to do for fun. I would be what my friends would say, a “comm nerd.”

I’m going to try to post often, but I’ve never kept up a blog before that was not required for class. We’ll see how this goes.