I really enjoyed today's discussions about self-esteem and the role the media plays in portraying beauty. In my EPHE 142 Health and Wellness course, we were recently discussing this issue. My prof showed us Cindy Crawford's Shape Your Body workout video. I've attached the link so please watch it. It's obvious that sex is used to sell this tape. She's prouncing around in a bathing suit for part of the tape and a lot of the moves she does are quite suggestive. My prof pointed out that some of her workout techniques are actually quite dangerous and could lead to injury. Instead of watching a real, professional fitness instructor doing the workout moves, a model gets to do them, simply because her body sells the product. I think it's fair to say Cindy didn't get the job for her talent as a fitness instructor, but as someone for women to strive to look like. This tape was the most popular fitness video around; it influenced millions of people. I find that scary to think about.
While she's doing a voice-over explaining how the session works, you see Cindy doing a bathing suit photoshoot. What does that have to do with fitness? The use of camera angles was thought out very carefully. It often zooms in on her butt or boobs. Even when she is drinking water, she's doing it in a sexual way. And I don't know about the rest of you, but when I workout, my hair isn't perfectly flowing, and my face isn't exactly ready for a close-up. Real women sweat when they workout; Cindy has a light dew on her (usually between her breasts). This video is just not a good representation of a real workout. I dare you to try some of her moves. I bet you'd feel slightly embarassed if you had to do them in front of people. As someone who really values the importance of physical activity, I find Cindy's video disgraceful. It isn't sending the right message to the viewers. I think if I were someone desperately trying to lose weight because I felt bad about my image, I'd be discouraged watching a supermodel leading my workout because deep down I'd know I'd never look like her. Her video sets people up for failure.
1 comments:
eeewwww. My friends and I watched this together and we were all sitting with our mouths wide open in disgust. We were especially creeped out with the guy would was doing a lot of touching and stuff. If you watched this without the the sound I doubt you would guess its about fitness.
But we believe her because she is half naked, on TV, and is obviously powerful right?
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