The Standard of Beauty and Complacency

As a result of this week, body image has been largely on my mind. I had an interesting conversation with my brother's friend about body image and more specifically what the world and media shows women and men what they need to look like to be considered beautiful or attractive. He presented the idea that he is against the movement of promoting people to feel happy with how their body is because it causes them to become complacent and lazy. He continued to explain that the high standard of beauty and how one's body is portrayed in the media is a good thing because it pushes people to work harder to obtain a healthier lifestyle.

While I believe that it is important to progress and always work to become a better person, I did not agree with my friend on what he had said. To me, this extreme standard of how a woman's body should look can be very inhibiting and even dangerous in some cases as girls especially struggle with different kinds of eating disorders or mental health problems. He felt that the idea to be comfortable with who you are promoted unhealthy living where people stop caring about how they look and eat excessive amounts of junk food. OF COURSE I BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD EAT HEALTHY. DUH. But I don't believe an extreme standard of being skinny or curvy in just the right spots promotes healthiness either. Of course it can. Just like promoting comfort with one's body type can promote healthy lifestyle choices as well. The standard does not need to be "eat whatever you want and be happy" nor "eat nothing and be happy" but instead "eat healthy and be happy with whatever you are given as a result of being healthy." That was a long sentence, but I hope readers understand what I'm trying to say.

Beauty is all around us and encompasses so many different aspects. I believe strongly that it comes from within and that we all have beauty within us. As Dr. Coyne said, "You are not your body." Those words are so true.

Halo

In class we talked about video games and that really got me thinking... My dad works for a company that manufactures a lot of different products for video games, such as controllers, and other devices. As a result, video games have played an interesting role in my life, especially having four brothers who have always been big fans of the virtual world. They would play the infamous Halo and have "Halo tournaments" with their friends until late hours in the night. I remember the thrill they would get from winning and beating each other.

One day I was reading an article from the Friend magazine and it was about a little boy who loved to play these types of video games as well. In the article he went on to explain that he felt the more time he spent playing these games the weaker his relationship with his sister was and he felt he was meaner to her. One day he decided to stop altogether and he wrote how there was more love between him and his sister. As a little girl, this greatly impacted me. Naturally, I felt that my brothers could be a bit mean, so I hid all of their violent video games in hopes that they would be nicer to me.... I was found out eventually but ever since that day, the effect of video games, especially violent ones, always intrigued me.

I think that media is incredibly influential. Video games can be good. They can teach and bring families closer while doing something fun together. On the contrary, they can also damage relationships and even hinder progression if it becomes too addictive. Like I've said in previous posts, it's all about the balance in my opinion. Use media for good in the ways it can be used, but do not let it overcome and push out the most important things in life.

Radio and Inspiration

Hopefully my title of this post isn't deceiving. I won't really be talking about the radio, but instead a film..... Anyway, I watched two movies in one night! The classic Robin Hood and then Radio, the movie. I loved both of them. But I was thinking particularly about Radio and how inspiring it is! Just like Remember the Titans, or more recently the Blind Side and McFarland. Movies like these in some ways restore the doubts I have about the influence of media. Often I feel that media can be so negative and have such a bad impact on people because it is so flooded with drugs, violence, sex, profanity, and so much more. However, as I was watching Radio, I remembered that media is good! I mean, yeah, it is bad too. But it is good! I felt inspired and uplifted after watching this movie and I was so happy. I loved the portrayal of the characters and the growth they all went through. It shows how much people can change under real life circumstances, rather than other movies. I think it is a healthier depiction of life, especially since a lot of them are based on true stories. I think that media can inspire and that we can use media to inspire others to be good and to change. The Church is a great example of using media to inspire. Mormon Messages, Bible Videos, church magazines, songs created for the youth, etc.... I think that as we focus on the good, and send messages that are truly good, uplift and inspire people to be better, then there could be a lot more people who are happy in this world.

MUSIC IS LOVELY

After our lesson on music in class I couldn't stop thinking about how much it is apart of my life! Music is all around us. Literally all around us, whether it be coming through our earbuds or the wind whistling past us. I think it is an incredibly strong influence on who we are, our moods, and reflects our personality. I don't know of many people who don't like music. I think it's just one of those things that people like no matter who they are... kinda like food. Everyone likes food. Maybe we don't all like the same kinds, but we all like it in some way.

I am always listening to music. I'm listening to music as I'm typing this out actually. Whatever I listen to either reflects my mood or influences my mood. Music has such an impact on our day. I was thinking about soundtracks in films. One time when I was around 11 or 12, I was sleeping over at my best friend's house and we decided to watch the first Harry Potter movie and a particularly scary part came up and my friend told me that if we plugged our ears to block out the music, it wouldn't be as scary. I tried it, and it was true! It was amazing to me how the absence of music made such a difference in the scene.

I think we all have a soundtrack to our life. I'm still adding and taking away songs from my playlist, but it's there. Music is powerful. It can make us feel happier, sadder, and even feel the comforting feeling of the Holy Spirit. I love music. For me, it is probably one of the more dominant forms of media that effects me. I just love it so much!

An Evening at Downton

This week I was particularly focused on the lovely world of Downton Abbey. I was thinking mostly about the contrast of media in their day versus media in 2016. They have newspapers, music, art, books, and all of those fun ways to experience media, but it is so different from the media we have now. Our lives are encompassed by what we see and hear on screens, billboards, through headphones, and on the radio. It is so much more prevalent! Their lives seem to have a bit more simplicity regarding those ideas. I often am in awe when I think about the great changes that media has gone through in the last hundred years. That always leads me to wonder what the effects of media will be in the future and how it will shape our lives in the next fifty years or so. We'll just have to see what happens :)

Hawaii 5-0

This week was busy! But I had time to watch one episode of Hawaii 5-0, so that made me happy. I was thinking about how this show portrays people who are in law enforcement or work for the government and how intense and exciting it seems. One thing I noticed in particular was how quickly the bad guys get taken out versus the good guys. In one scene, the main character was getting beat, heat, and abused relentlessly but he still had enough energy to escape and save himself. On the other hand, all of the bad guys were taken down with one punch. I was thinking about how that shows the audience that goodness is stronger than cruelty. I think it also displays what we feel is good in our culture and what kind of values we share. No one wants the antagonist to win and so the people who fight for our safety and well being possess stronger physical qualities. They always come out on top. I found that very interesting :)