Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The Perfect Woman


I was recently watching a commercial on TV, when guess who i saw grace the screens of Americal television? It was none other than the World's Most Beautiful Woman Aishwarya Rai, featuring in the L-oreal hair care product. She spoke with an American accent, though it was dubbed and she looks as smashing as always.

After a few days, i forgot about the whole thing. But, today, as i was reading an article on Woman's Roles and Images projected on media, this opened up a blog topic.
Mass Media advertising both here in the US and in India is always an artificial, dreamy world where no woman who looks ugly, obese, poor, or for that matter an average normal working woman who has kids, cleans, cooks and runs the family is ever portrayed truly.
All these so-called models and media women are used as a "tool" based on their gender to sell a product off the shelf. It is either the trim model showing off her good figure for an athletic equipment or a pale complexioned face for a fairness beauty cream.
Do these stuffed dolls ever portray a true picture of the everyday woman in real world?
Most of these commercials are taken from a male viewer's perspective, such as a man rescuing a woman who is suffering or a man who is stronger than a woman and so on.
Also, there are lots of real life women out there who feel constant pressure by being compared against these kind of paper-thin models who talk about beauty tips and creams, shampoos, diet regimen etc. One must remember that these women are standards for movie actresses and super models, not for an average looking woman.
It is a known fact that marketing will always involve showing off beautiful woman on their advts. as we all want to see some pretty images, but these characters need to be a true and practical representation of the common women.
Further, every woman has different appearance needs- a traditional homemaker who stays home and raises a family will have a different view on her appearance than a high flying top notch career woman who meets clients on a daily basis.
Finally, just want to end up quoting the article's conclusion that Women are still seeking answers to Freud's question- "What does a woman want"?
My take on that would be that All women irrespective of their nationality want to be loved, respected for their opinions and treated with dignity both at home and at work.

12 comments:

Viji said...

Mitr- Excellent post!
It’s a highly biased world... for the first impression, "aal padhi aadai padhi" holds good. Though the average man expects a woman to dress up, women most often deck themselves up mainly because they like to! It's not always about men, you know :)

In the fantasy world of marketing, the more the ad gets noticed, the more successful it is. It taps the common man/woman's wishful thinking and exploits their urge to constantly improvise upon themselves. I absolutely fail to comprehend why everybody wants to be someone else.
I agree with your take.

mitr_bayarea said...

Viji-

Thanks for your comment.I did forget to mention that women like to dress up just because they enjoy doing that.But many times, the underlying idea is to get a man to notice that and compliment her.


On a different note, thanks for mentioning the Maharajapuram Santhanam Pancharatna krithis CD, will have it sent from India. MS is one of my favorite musicians.

Me too said...

True! With beauty pageants and modelling getting all the more attention these days, it is the kids who get carried away.

Viji said...

This is out of context. Anyway, check out the 6th one from the top! :)

http://anytamil.com/carnatic.php?vs=p

mitr_bayarea said...

me too:

I can believe that kids can get carried away watching these.

viji:

Thanks, thanks, thanks...that was helpful.

Unknown said...

aish photo understand.. who is the other woman whose photo is in the post ?

mitr_bayarea said...

Sundar-

Raz answered you. The other lady is just another next door woman from google indian woman images taken to show the difference between a common lady and Ash.

Raz-


Maybe we want it that way to some extent, but it would be helpful to portray some day to day realities and also not use women as display objects.

My comment to your blog has been posted.

mitr_bayarea said...

raz-

welcome. Sure, you can add me to your blog.

Ram C said...

AGree with you on the marketing tricks of Biz community. They want to attract the mass - with some attractive feature. So, here models are being used...

This is something similar to showing a powerful hero demolishing a strong villain's fort single handedly. I believe, the mass wants to see someone doing many things which they may not be able to do physically.

If you look into the ads, they lure both men & women - eventhough the ideas may be conceived or forced by the male dominant society. It is like inviting people to the fantasy world.

But sometimes, I know some men expect more from the women just because of these pretty models. They don't care what is expected out of them.. that is the something which happens in front of our eyes, every now andthen.

mitr_bayarea said...

Ram-

Indeed, the advt. world is more like a fantasy and sets a stage of high expectations for the women folks. Again, it depends on how much you get influenced by these gimmicks stuff.

smiley said...

Thanks for visiting my site. You are absolutely right in saying women need love and respect.

mitr_bayarea said...

smiley-

Welcome. Glad that most women feel that way too:)