I chose to read a Teen Vogue magazine. I decided to blog about my thoughts over reading through this magazine because of the advertisements and clothing represented. This magazine is specifically a fashion magazine aimed at teenage girls. It is full of beauty and fashion advice and pictures of the new clothing trends.
Upon reading the magazine, it is obvious that appearance and clothing are valued. Fashion and beauty are top priority, and a girl’s purpose is to have all the new trends, which are represented throughout Teen Vogue. Fashion and clothing are beautiful. As I flipped through the pages, I was in awe of the creativity, time and inspiration that was put into designing the clothes and creating different outfits. The photo shoots and spreads in the magazine were equally imaginative. It’s an art and a gift that God has given human beings. While I enjoy viewing that pictures and clothes, I am being bombarded with advertisements at the same time. I believe there’s a line between revealing one’s creativity and manipulative advertisements. While I still recognize the time and creativity that was put into designing the advertisements and the products, I feel almost stressed by the amount of “things” that this magazine is telling me that I should buy. I can’t help but be distracted by the prices when trying to appreciate the beauty of clothing and photography. The picture that I originally would’ve taken to be beautiful now speaks a completely different message to me. It tells me that if I want to look like the model, I must buy the clothes she is wearing. It implies that if I want to be happy, I should have the latest trends. Before I know it, I am no longer looking at the pictures. I am focused on the prices and where I can purchase them. So much of the reader's attention is on the prices alone, and how to look "trendy" rather than appreciating the designer's talent. Instead of being inspired to create my own style, I am upset that I cannot purchase the clothes.
In what ways can magazines similar to Teen Vogue be changed to reveal God's kingdom? How do magazines like Teen Vogue bring glory to God and how do they show our fallen empire? How can we read these magazines in a way that does not cause us to fall in the "system," but rather live apocalyptic? In what ways can we appreciate fashion and beauty without being consumed by it?
I'm glad you are able to see creativity and beauty in the mix when you're reading fashion magazines. We all, I think, recognize the problems in the fashion industry--the pressure to keep up with ever-changing trends, always needing to purchase the next greatest thing (buy, buy, buy!), and the focus on impossible-to-maintain body types--but we hardly ever notice the inherent creativity involved.
ReplyDeleteYour last discussion question seems to be a paraphrase of being "in the world but not of it."
I have to agree 110% with you Meghan!
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe how twisted the art of 'beauty' can become in magazines like Teen Vogue. It just professes once again the finitude of the human kind and how desperately we need to turn upside down the mindsets that the World around us has been feeding us. Its so hard to get out of this mindset that tells you to buy the next new fab clothing item to become beautiful. I also believe that the weight of beauty has just become something that is unreachable. Women are upset with their face, their color of their skin, their body shape, and their hair. We are not content and the world loves that! We are continually striving for beauty that will only make our pockets run empty with nothing but superficial beauty that is not beauty at all. What has this world come to...
But there is HOPE~!
We can overcome this mindset by encouraging woman and girls around us by seeking and proclaiming the true meaning of beauty, which is the beauty that is found when we all look into our broken lives and find the image of Christ in all of us. The gifts he has birthed into us needs to come out and proclaim victory over the distorted ways of this society. We need to start this today...now.