The girls want to be the women they see on TV and constantly compare themselves to beauty queens. She and her sisters struggle to be what they are not, Americans. For Alvarez, her Hispanic culture becomes a stumbling block to inclusion in the American society. Both authors show how American is continuously battered by false cultural images and the need to change their looks. The diverse non-American cultures make the two families socially unacceptable once they arrive in the USA. While “Eye Of The Beholder” details on how a Korean girl struggles to conform to American ideal of beauty, “I Want To Be Miss America” talks of Dominican siblings trying to embrace the American beauty standards and cultural changes. Meanwhile, Suh could see a varied burst of inspiration of beauty from the “… priestesses of beauty in their sacred smocks…” and photographic icons on the commercial beauty products in Neiman Marcus store.īoth Julia and Suh discuss the struggles and events surrounding cultural change between immigrant pre-teens and teenagers in middleclass America. Dumb and ex-cute, that’s what I would grow up to be,” (p.95). The sister bragged about her algebra prowess that Julia will not be able to match up. Though Julia was always voted the cutest of her siblings, her elder sister always reminded her that her looks will not age well. In fact, they had an aggressive beauty contest between the four sisters. Her family had a ritual of picking out beauty. Julia states, ‘my sisters and I had plenty of commentary on all the contestants’. Her mum opted for ones with personality/ manners while her dad considered endowed women as pretty. Julia’s family had divergent views on the beauty standards. ![]() Some chose cross-eyed smiles while others chose women with chipmunk cheeks. The criteria for choosing the beauty contestants were democratic. The media influences to everyone differently and people are able to perceive beauty at different levels. ![]() The media seems to speak to everyone in a twisted way. No one told these two women that they must be white, or fit a certain look to fit in the media standards spoke to them subtly. She observes that most women were of white descent and if there was an ‘outlier Hispanic’, she would always look white but have a Hispanic name.īy looking around at the icons, models, and famous brands on the products in the store, Suh knew she was outright ugly. ![]() Alvarez makes this point clear with the pageant women. With frequently interaction with media, one may feel ugly or not beautiful without being told. Is there a standard of beauty? Is there a need for one? Interestingly, it’s the media that projects beauty ideals to an individual. The two author’s experiences seem to ask the question, how others, the media and we affect perceived beauty. The media over relies on beautiful and enviable actors to appear on movie screens. They draw inspiration from TV, magazines, beauty products, beauty pageant and movie actors. Both Julia and Grace look up to the media’s definition of pretty. The media portrays ideal women are those that have perfect makeup, sex appeal and ‘hot bodies’. In the two stories, media objectifies women and holds them at high standards, which are at times difficult to meet.
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