don't just watch- see.

A few weeks ago in my Film Theory class, my professor said "guys- when you watch a film, I actually want you to see it, okay?" That comment really opened my eyes to examining art. Whether it's movies, TV or ads, I now feel that I'm not just watching- I'm seeing.

I've always known that women are objectified in the media- but it wasn't until this class I realized how bad. I recently got cable in my apartment (huge deal)- and watching commercial after commercial becomes exhausting- not only are they the same commercials they are all dirty and completely exploiting women.

In the "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising" it mentions how teens are so vulnerable to the pressures of advertising. It's about looking, and acting a certain way; being an object instead of a person. "Women are shown exclusively as housewives or sex objects."

When I saw the film "The Merchants of Cool" it was brought to my attention how much media shapes culture, and how much culture shapes media. People are actually paid to find out what is hip- what is "in". To m

e, that's hilarious. Everyone wants to be an individual, so what do they do? Package that- and sell it.

I think one of the biggest problems in the advertising industry is that they are NOT listening to the whole story. They're starting to caught on, but slowly. Sex sells, we know this, but, women are starting to get to a point where they see the damage that's bei

ng done, whether it's an eating disorder, or feeling of constant inadequacy- eyes are being opened.

So what do we do? When I complain about a situation my mother always says "Leila- if you could just take

the energy you are wasti

ng by being upset about this, and transfer it to being productive you would get so much work done". Transferring energy from selling sex to selling reality. As much as we might not want to admit this, media has more control over our lives than we realize. For example (not pertaining to w

omen i

n media) "goin' green" whose not "goin' green" now-a-days? Advertising has transferred the energy from plastic to clothe- everyone's doing it, celebrities are endorsing organic and natural products. Every store you go to, you have the option of buying a clothe bag for your items. And whose profiting, besides the earth, of course; the advertising industry.

Some celebrities have already started what I'm about to propose- but like I said "instead of selling sex, sell reality". For example a few years ago, Jamie Lee Curtis posed in a magazine without airbrushing, Cindy Crawford recently disclosed that she TOO has cellulite (ahhhhhh can you believe it!?) Dove has started a really great campaign to show "real beauty"- and their s

ales are profiting from it. If advertising companies could take all the energy from using and abusing to REALLY seeing what is being done and what

COULD be done- I think everyone would see it is profitable.

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