Uncovering Deeper Meaning in Andre Dubus’ “The Fat Girl” In the critical period of forming her identity, Louise battles with her obesity. Criticism from her family and friends cause her to question her body image and consequently, her self worth. Louise is not the only adolescent to struggle with her appearance; with his depiction of her transformation, Andre Dubus addresses those whose view of themselves is marred by society. After years of her weight and emotions fluctuating, Louise realizes a deeper change. Through Louise’s journey, Dubus communicates that the power to change oneself emanates from one’s self control and ability to surpass societal pressure.
Adolf Hitler was without a doubt the most notoriously ruthless, yet successful leader in history. Due to his mission of absolute absurdity towards those who did not fit his ideal image of perfection. The 2004 cinema classic of Mean Girls portrays Regina George, the icon of the plastics, as controlling, deceiving, and most importantly powerful. Do these certain characteristics bring anyone particular to mind? Similar to Hitler, Regina George was remarkably, well-known for having complete authority to ruin an individual’s life.
The Stage of Adolescence High school is a critical stage in the development of humans, more specifically, adolescence. The movie Mean Girls sets the scene for this specific life stage by portraying a character and the effects that she goes through during it (Waters, 2004). Regina George is an average high school mean girl who faces troubles that result entirely from this stage of development. Using Erikson’s psychosocial theory, Skinner’s operant conditioning theory, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, and Bandura’s social cognitive theory, the stage of adolescence can be portrayed through the life of Regina George.
This constant fixation on physical perfection has created unreasonable beauty standards for women, ones we cannot possibly achieve on our own. Such standards permeate all forms of popular media, particularly fashion magazines and advertisements. Women are bombarded with the notion that we must be thin in order to be desirable. These images project an
Moreover, Body Image, Media and Eating Disorders states that 30% of children are dissatisfied with their body image due to being overweight and 15% are dealing with obesity (Derene & Beresin, 2006). This demonstrates that the number of children watching television and the number of overweight, obese children are involving their selves more into the media rather than more crucial events. Correspondingly, the average model is 23% thinner compared to 25 years ago (Ravelli & Webber, 2012). Today’s media has an impacting effect on how women should appeal themselves to others in society. This guides them to behave a certain way and not truly be themselves.
Tiara being content without food simply for the sake of being “super skinny” illustrates how women, especially in beauty pageants, are brain washed into believing that they have to be skinny to be beautiful or wanted. Bray criticizes the stereotype of beauty and weight placed on women and young
The “Mean Girls” thoroughly analyzed social development. From Regina George’s physical and emotional dominance to Cady’s cognitive growth navigating high school, and the rollercoaster of emotions shown throughout the movie within everyone’s friendships and betrayals, this movie shows how high school complexities can get the best of clicks. This movie showed me how I relate back to when I was in high school to how everyone’s brains work, bodies, and how everyone gets worked up trying to fit into the world of high
Logos creates a sense of urgency in the reader’s head that they need to monitor their child’s behavior. One of the credible sources Hanes uses is from a University of Central Florida poll, which found that, “50 percent of 3-6 year old girls worry they’re fat” (*). Hanes argues this statistic could be stemmed from the Disney Princesses image. The princesses have a particular shape and size that has created a standard for body image. The author uses these facts to show her audience that if parents continue to allow their children to view these images, their child will desire to be just like the Disney Princesses.
Introduction The film, Mean Girls, a 2004 American teen comedy, focuses on female high school social “cliques” and their effects. In doing so, the movie brings up various topics of sociological relevance, with connections to two of the main topics discussed in the first semester of this course. This film’s characters and world tie into modern socialization and gender issues, giving sociologists a satirical in-depth view of the social hierarchy present in today’s youth—particularly concentrated in young female teenagers. The movie addresses gender stereotypes, socialization and assimilation into a complex high school environment, self-fulfilling prophecy, and various other concepts important to the development of a social self for teens in the
With the constant fear of ridicule and discrimination, we still try and define ourselves, though we are always under the society’s scope. Marge Piercy, in her poem “Barbie Doll”, gives us a look at the influence of our surroundings and how something as innocent as a doll can trigger these insecurities. Our strive for acceptance and “perfection” can cause major emotional damage on anyone who identifies as a woman. Young girls look at these depictions of “perfect” bodies, such as a barbie doll for example, and compare themselves. In the poem “Barbie Doll”, Piercy talks about a young girl who she described as “...healthy, tested and intelligent...” (247) but, she was picked on by peers who said she had “a great big nose and fat legs.”
Michel is exemplary of a character that is misogynistic, ignorant and insecure. This is illustrated through the film’s opening sequence. For instance, after hotwiring the engine of the car, we see Michel refusing to ride along with his female accomplice, he then comments on two women hitchhikers as “being ugly,” and finally he refers to a female driver as “cowardice”, while simultaneously proclaiming women as being incompetent at driving. All of these instances exemplify Michel’s anxiousness in the rise of women’s independence in society. This is illustrated through the characterization of Michael.
The short story by Andre Dubus follows Louise from age nine up until the time she becomes a mother. It gives insight to the damage that can be done when loved ones force negative body images on young children. Louise’s mother starts her on a self-destructive path, which Louise will never overcome and continually affects her life. This is reinforced by the similar opinions of her relatives and friends who make her feel that she will only be truly loved if she is thin. The prevalent theme of Dubus’ “The Fat Girl” is the destructive way society views food addiction and how it adversely affects women.
“I’m so fat, why can’t I be skinny just like her!” “How does she get the perfect body, while I’m stuck with all of this fat!” These statements are common among teenage girls of today’s society. Social media of today shows unreal pictures of photoshopped models and the “perfect life”. This leads to discontent of young women with their body and lives.
In today’s modern culture, almost all forms of popular media play a significant role in bombarding young people, particularly young females, with what happens to be society’s idea of the “ideal body”. This ideal is displayed all throughout different media platforms such as magazine adds, television and social media – the idea of feminine beauty being strictly a flawless thin model. The images the media displays send a distinct message that in order to be beautiful you must look a certain way. This ideal creates and puts pressure on the young female population viewing these images to attempt and be obsessed with obtaining this “ideal body”. In the process of doing so this unrealistic image causes body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence
In the poem, When The Fat Girl Gets Skinny, by Blythe Baird, the poet addresses the issue of social ideology and how these trends affect young women. Told in a first perspective point of view, the poet supports her theme by describing how teenagers are being affected, establishing a social conflict of false need to achieve trends by identifying motifs for teenager’s actions, incorporating the use of life experiences from the past to the present tense and finalizing with a shift to highlight positivity in change of habit. Baird’s purpose is to illustrate a major conflict among young women who are being affected by social idolization of being skinny. She creates a mood of hopeful in order to inspire young teenagers who are currently harming
