Mauricio experiences self-hatred bodily. He is afraid that his waggy tail will not be accepted by women. He thinks that it will decrease his manhood. Hal tries to
convince him that what women are really seeking is men’s money that is believed to be possessed by Mauricio who has good salary. He convinces Mauricio that it
does not really matter what men look like as long as they are successful in their jobs. It is an irony that he always forces women to be perfect physically whereas
he himself has such an uncommon thing the tail. The tail makes him fear of having a true relationship with women so that he always creates a reason to dump
women as what he did to Lindy.
4. Tony Robbins
While Hal, Mauricio, and Rosemary represent as the victims of the shallow conception of women’s beauty, Tony Robbins is a good guy who is not
blinded by the cultural construction of beauty ideal. He understands well that the beauty ideals are often manipulated by media for certain economic, political,
social aims. His awareness of that construction saves him from judging people on surfaces only. Tony says that inner beauty is worthier than outer beauty. He has
his own belief that women’s beauty is on good deeds and a pure heart. Tony Robbins believes that women’s charm is not only located in their physics. He
perceives people as what they really are since he believes that beauty is in everyone. He performs symbolic commentary on the brainwashing of media
toward society which is conditioned to look for the superficial beauty when he says: Dont you think youve been brainwashed? Everything you know about
beauty is programmed. TV, magazines, movies. They’re all telling you what’s beautiful and what isn’t.
A. 4. 1 A. 4. 2
Picture A. 4. 1 – 2 employ a low angle. Angle refers to how far to the side and how highlow the camera placement in relation to the subject. Tony Robbins is
shot from a low angle which make a subject look big, aggressive, dominant, or victorious Douglass, 1996: 165. This low angle creates the towering figure of
Tony Robbins. It gives him a strong and determined presence over Mauricio who look small, subdued and defeated. Tony looks superior because the one who is
telling Tony Robbins is more superior than the one who is told to Mauricio. This set leaves an impression that Tony Robbins is better than Mauricio due to his
unshallow thought about women’s beauty. Further, it produces a symbolic meaning that Tony is not only telling Mauricio about the propaganda of media
about beauty. He is also telling the spectators about it as Mauricio is blocking the camera to represent the spectators. He represents a protest against the social
system that equates `beauty with the wrong things. Tony Robbins says at one point that people are all conditioned to look for the superficial beauty by TV,
advertising, media etc. Katherine Brower in her article “Beauty Trends in the
Media and How This Affects the Audience”says that all types of media, including print, television, and film, have the ability to influence the audiences attitudes and
perceptions about the world http:.uweb.ucsb.edu~kbrow01essays.htm. These attitudes and perceptions include those held about beauty. Advertisements,
television shows, and movies rely on beauty standards to reach the largest audience possible when marketing products and programming. Although the
creators of these forms of media are trying to appeal to as many people as they can, these beauty ideals create a very specific and largely unrealistic form of
beauty that much of the population of the world will never be able to conform to. Unfortunately, beauty tends to become the focus in films and other forms of
media and the audience accepts this premise that beauty is more important than other characteristics of a person such as intelligence. In turn, beauty becomes a
focus in everyday life as well. The narrow concept of beauty ideals at any given time throughout the history of media becomes the basis of social norms in a large
part of a society that makes up the medias audience. Audiences are bombarded with images of men and women that personify the stereotypical form of beauty.
Viewers are also shown commercials and advertisements for the products needed to uphold generally unattainable beauty standards by movies and television. The
message is that many figures are depicted in the media - perfectly built bodies, no acne or blemish of any kind so that it influences many people to look for a mate
of these qualities because society has brainwashed them into thinking this is a beauty.
B. American stereotypes of women’s beauty as reflected within Shallow Hal
