I was driving in my car today and someone on the radio mentioned a Best Dressed List (with Harry Potter’s Emma Watson on it) and a Worst Dressed List (with Lady GaGa on it). I was suddenly so insulted. Why are we putting women on lists like these? These women are professional, working women. They are trying to have careers doing what they enjoy, and part of that career involves being front and center in public all the time. But just because they are constantly photographed does not give anyone the right to consider them dehumanized bodies that can be constantly criticized and insulted.
Think of a night like the Oscars. This is a huge night for the movie industry. Whatever else you might think of the Oscars, it is supposed to be a night of celebration and honor. This is a night for the work of filmmakers to be appreciated, praised and honored. Filmmakers put a lot of work into their films; many films occupy the entire lives of filmmakers for months or years. The Oscars is a night about work and art.
But what is it really about? According to the media, when it comes to the women of the industry, it’s about the dress. It’s about looking glamorous. It’s about which woman is playing up the Cinderella story the best. It’s about a critique of bodies. I looked up the Best Dressed List for this year's Oscars. The four best-dressed women were written to be “the real winners” of this year. According to this website, a real winner is a well-dressed woman. The winners of awards for their work, for their art, are somehow less important than the women who managed to show up on the red carpet looking wonderfully feminine and beautiful. Could this be any more demeaning and insulting to these women?
I was even more insulted by the write-up given to Jennifer Lawrence, the actress who has received much praise for her performance in Winter’s Bone. “Not a lot of people were familiar with blonde bombshell Jennifer Lawrence before she showed up to the red carpet at the Oscars wearing a sexy red Calvin Klein gown. It’s safe to say Oscar nominee got the attention of a lot of men and is now a household name. Congrats Jennifer, all it took was a sexy red gown!” This site makes it sound like the only reason people know that Jennifer exists is because she looked great at the ceremony. Nothing about the performance that landed her that Oscar nomination. Nothing about the film in which she performed.
It’s time for people in our society to stop accepting this kind of treatment of women. As long as we don’t say anything, as long as we don’t complain, as long as we just take it for granted as the way things are, we are complicit. We are a part of this culture unless we speak out against it.
At the top of this best-dressed page is the statement, “Award shows may come and go, but the fashion is forever!” First of all, I just have to laugh at the stupidity of this sentence. Fashion is just as, if not more, fleeting as award shows. At least the night’s winners will see their awards from time to time; the dresses will disappear and never be worn again. But underneath this statement, again, is the message that the way these woman look is more important, and more lasting, than the work they do.
No comments:
Post a Comment