In which my respect for Britney Spears increases

[roseembolism]

(Edit: Forgot to mention: original story nicked from James Nicoll's blog) Britney Spears shows original pictures of herself next to airbrushed ones. Just to show how the perfection-obsessed world of mass media alters already attractive humans to remove any "imperfections" and make them adhere to an inhuman standard of beauty.

Not that I've ever been a fan of Britney Spears, either her music or the person, but this is actually pretty interesting and frankly, something of a brave move.  In the original pictures Britney is still a fairly attractive woman, but the editing makes her something different, less human, frankly.  It's like the people in charge of advertising are desperate to approach the Uncanny Valley from the other direction, and on some magazine covers and advertisements have succeeded.

Myself, I think the future will probably end up with everyone wearing VR goggles that automatically photoshop away all imperfections in real time.  After all, why stop at magazines if you can 'shop the people themselves?

Comments

[jadecat9.livejournal.com]

Given all of the photoshopping I've seen on other models, the stuff they did for Brittany is "small" in comparison.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, compared to the last one I linked to, Britney's 'shopping isn't too bad. Though I'm amused by the "She's got knees! KNEES! Remove them at once!" element of the picture.

Fitness mags seem to be one of the worst offenders. In fact I once recall one mag cover that had two models that were so plastic looking it looked like they had put fake pec muscles, like that old Incredible Hulk toy, onto a Barbie and Ken doll.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

"Britney". I only mention this because I did the same thing myself.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Oops! I also forgot to give credit where credit's due.