This is not a one-off occurrence, many other actors have spoken of how they have also experienced pressure to make changes to their bodies.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Actors at all levels face pressure to change their appearance, not just stars like Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker
This is not a one-off occurrence, many other actors have spoken of how they have also experienced pressure to make changes to their bodies.
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I find it ridiculous that the current actor portraying The Doctor was asked to fill in a wrinkle in her forehead. Almost every doctor has been some older white guy with gray hair and wrinkles galore. The Doctor's body is essentially randomized every time they regenerate. How is it that we are just now getting to a place where young thin white women are considered among those possible body types? How long will it take until other races, genders, and body types will be considered human enough to enter the randomization process of Doctor Who? When will we stop policing people's bodies and identities to match some idealized version of society? Not only is this damaging to humanity as a whole to have such warped views, but it specifically damages actors' bodies. It is not healthy and it is not right. Actors need to eat. As said in the article, their bodies are not costumes. If they damage their body to literally fit into a role, that stays with them forever.
This idea of aesthetic labor is really interesting to me, because everyone does it no matter what their job is. We all to some extent feel the need or desire to alter our appearances somehow whether through the clothes or jewelry we wear to more extreme measures like plastic surgery. Clearly this affects performers disproportionally, and female performers probably even more so, but this is something that almost everyone can relate to. There is something about the way we present ourselves to the world through our personal lives and jobs alike that demands we pay attention to the way other people look at us and notice us. But the major issue here is when it is being prescribed by other people. On one hand, I want to side with the director or whoever it is making these decisions because clearly there are certain roles that require certain body types for them to played effectively. It is when this is done in a crude manner with disregard to the human behind the actor that it becomes an issue or when it is done needlessly and simply for the fact that Hollywood demands a certain look. I think it is getting better. I guess we’ll see.
This is such a bizarre yet interesting commercial tactic, I love when people realize advertising as an art form. Advertisements get big money, and I believe it is a great opportunity for people to make weird, uncommon art, and this is a great example of that. Having a giant woman hold artists in their hand reminds us of the power we have with all these high-tech high definition bluetooth speakers we have in our everyday lives. This “poster” reminds us that these things are special, and have an almost magic quality to them. Being bold and new creates new boundaries for what things can and cannot be. I believe this was one successful piece of marketing. The Super Bowl is one of the few places where the art of advertisement is truly appreciated in our country I believe. People only go out of their way to see ads when it is the superbowl, and companies should take more advantage of storytelling and art within their markets. They do not need to ask to attract us, but make art which we will choose to go see.
I think it’s crazy that actors and celebrities are asked to fix the smallest ‘imperfections’ about themselves, as though they’re expected to not even be human. Aesthetic labour is an interesting thing, and the push of the media does no help to our incessant drive to try and achieve a perfect image that we’ll never really be able to reach. In some cases I can understand making some alterations to your appearance for certain roles, or to make yourself more comfortable in your own body, but when it comes to people needing to obsess over the tiniest things like a single wrinkle is insane. No one should feel the need to starve themselves or go insane over just physical appearance. Like the beginning of the article says, your body isn’t just a costume you can hang up at the end of the night. You live in it, and drastically altering it to conform to a standard or role could very well lead to permanent damage. I think we really need to push more for people to be more accepting of how they were born, and strive to be the HEALTHIEST they can be, rather than just the prettiest.
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