“The photographs that serve as the centerpiece of style are shot under carefully planned conditions. Photographers follow the detailed instructions of an art director. The photograph is then passed on to the touch-up artist who will remove 'a few stray strands of hair, smooth...a wrinkle, slim a model's leg,' or do whatever else is necessary to create the effect of immaculate conception.”
The Anthropometry of Barbie, p. 298 (Jacqueline Urla and Alan C. Swedlund, 1995)
"...In short, the majority of women presented to us in the media as having desirable feminine bodies were, like Barbie, well on their way to qualifying for anorexia nervosa."
The video shown above is an alarming example of all of the extra work that goes into a photograph of a 'model'. Acting as a standard or example for all who view her, the actual photograph of this woman looks nothing like her in real life. What is "natural," or unmodified, becomes insufficient, and must be improved to create a normalized ideal. As if the added makeup and lighting is not enough to create the desired image, the producers then go on to photoshop the picture into a figure very much unlike the original. Suddenly, the foundation makeup advertised on the final billboard is apparently not only supposed to make your skin look smoother -- it also lengthens your neck, increases the size of your eyes and lips, and provides a constant wind to make your hair blow beautifully wherever you go.
A similar story is told by the contrasting images of Faith Hill for the cover of an issue of Redbook magazine. Her original shot and the "cover approved" shot are drastically different, with hypercritical corrections on almost every part of her body (even parts that were not originally there -- her added right arm). Ironically, the cover story about Faith and Tim promises to tell "What's normal about them (and what's not!)," keying in on the consumers' desires to fit in with their favorite celebrities. From the contrasting versions of these shots, I think it is clear what Redbook considers normal or not about Faith's appearance. Renewed into a frail, unaged being, a false representation of Faith is expected to pass as a real one, and thus she, despite existing at a healthy weight, perpetuates the media's representation of the ideal woman being underweight.
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