Would the real Jerry Hall please smile?I was royally annoyed to see a 20 year old Jerry Hall gracing the cover of the Daily Mail’s Weekend Supplement last weekend (July 31st). There’s nothing wrong with looking 20 years old…if you’re 20 years old. What kicks the bucket is a 54 year old woman masquerading as a young whippet, with 30 odd years airbrushed clean off her face (and neck). What gives? Nothing, apparently. No lines, wrinkles, crows feet, blemishes, age spots or jowl movements. This wasn’t Jerry Hall but the epitome of an ironed-out media deception. Rubbing in the salt was the headline “Look at what you’ve lost, Mick!” The Daily Mail should be kicked in both shins.
The truth is, we age. It’s painful. It wobbles. It can be ugly, but only if we continue to view age as a disease. This radical pursuit of new-age youth is a dangerous cult. If Jerry Hall were politics, this would be the Watergate Scandal.
An organisation called Girlguiding hit the news with their petition, calling on the Prime Minister to “introduce compulsory labelling so people can tell the difference between airbrushed and natural images.” It’ll be interesting to see the dirt kicked up over this storm, where people will stand and what guidelines are drawn up. How much airbrushing is acceptable before it warrants a warning label? If Vogue decide to oust a spot from Kiera Knightly’s precious porcelain skin, is this considered deceptive? The line, I feel, will become a shifty little minx that cannot be pinned down.
The answer is surely along the lines of “if you can’t improve it in reality, don’t deceive us.” And the same goes for ‘worsening’ celebrities in order to make more dollars. Adding spots, dark circles and graying the skin to make public figures appear as though they’re on the brink of breaking down is just as screwed up.
The truth is, we age. It’s painful. It wobbles. It can be ugly, but only if we continue to view age as a disease. This radical pursuit of new-age youth is a dangerous cult. If Jerry Hall were politics, this would be the Watergate Scandal.
An organisation called Girlguiding hit the news with their petition, calling on the Prime Minister to “introduce compulsory labelling so people can tell the difference between airbrushed and natural images.” It’ll be interesting to see the dirt kicked up over this storm, where people will stand and what guidelines are drawn up. How much airbrushing is acceptable before it warrants a warning label? If Vogue decide to oust a spot from Kiera Knightly’s precious porcelain skin, is this considered deceptive? The line, I feel, will become a shifty little minx that cannot be pinned down.
The answer is surely along the lines of “if you can’t improve it in reality, don’t deceive us.” And the same goes for ‘worsening’ celebrities in order to make more dollars. Adding spots, dark circles and graying the skin to make public figures appear as though they’re on the brink of breaking down is just as screwed up.
If there’s going to be a label, lets make sure it works both ways.
Signing out....
Dog x
No comments:
Post a Comment