a moment of disbelief

Today in media and pop culture we watched this video.



When the professor asked the class what the overall message of the video was, the entire room was silent. I myself take at least a few seconds to pluck up the courage to say something in the void of silence in front of my classmates, so as I was preparing to tell him what I thought, someone else spoke up. He said that the video was about consumption.

The professor looked at him incredulously. I looked at him in complete and utter disbelief. Did people really not see the message of this video? Or did he just feel the need to say something because he was on the spot? The professor asked him to elaborate and he said that the presence of magazines in the video showed that America was obsessed with consumption.

Yes, that is a problem in America, but ultimately NOT what this video is about. Some other people said it was about how beauty has a price. To an extent, but what we see in this video is that AMERICA HAS CREATED AN UNREALISTIC AND UNATTAINABLE VISAGE OF BEAUTY. The video portrays the truths of girls who are obsessed with weight and image and the pressures that lead them to drastic ends such as eating disorders. After a couple more shout outs about eating disorders I finally said really loudly, "IT'S ABOUT AN UNATTAINABLE IMAGE!" I was just amazed that more people didn't say the same thing.

I hang out with a lot of really intelligent people who are constantly discussing current events and controversial topics (which sometimes goes over my head, to be honest), so it was surprising to be in a classroom full of people who didn't seem to get to the heart of a video depicting an incredibly important and heartbreaking topic. The class went on to further my disbelief when we learned the statistic that less then 10% of the US population reads books. Instead, they opt for TV. Apparently most Americans spend less than 15 minutes outside each day and spend an average of 7 hours in front of the TV each day.

It is my goal to NEVER be like this. I might be pretty damn obsessed with the internet (case in point, this blog) and Netflix, but thank God I don't have cable TV because I can at least pull myself away from the internet and internet TV to go outside for more than 15 minutes a day.

Today has also made me realize that I am a smart cookie, despite not knowing what my friends are talking about sometimes when they discuss politics. I am knowledgeable and I do have an opinion that is important and deserves to be shared. It took an entire class's silence to remind me of that.