Friday, October 14, 2005

Stick Figures

A friend of mine used to draw stick figures in various cartoon situations. They were funny. Part of the charm of stick figures is their very simplicity and the implicit acknowledgment that they are not intended to be representational of a real human body. Real human beings look silly with spindly arms and legs. Why then, do fashion magazines, television shows and movies foist pencil-thin models and actresses on us? It's epidemic.

I don't get it.

What got me thinking about this, was watching a clip of Angelina Jolie attending some award show and noticing that her arms lacked any traditional form at all. They looked like flesh-coloured hoses growing out of her torso. The Desperate Housewives gals look like that too. They all appear to be emulating the waif-like fashion model Twiggy from the 1960s.

Why do these women do that to themselves? It certainly can't be because they think men dream of wives and lovers who are one meal removed from expiration. The men I know, like a little meat on their women. I'm not talking about fat, mind you. I'm talking about curvy, natural, real. Women who, observed from any angle, regardless of what they are wearing, are clearly all woman. They aren't fat or overweight. They are normal. Many of today's actresses are anything but normal.

Who dictates this stuff? Do movie moguls tell the actresses to slim down until they disappear when they turn sideways? I wish the trend would end. I want to see natural women again. Natural real women.

I'm tired of stick figures.

Are you listening, Hollywood?

4 comments:

  1. It's the boomer mentality, Sieg.
    Eversince I was a kid, anyone ten years my elder was a "Weight Watcher", mocking any semblance of fat on anyone. This has given rise, as they got older and bitchier, to all the overweight propaganda, proposals to tax high-fat foods & soda pop, etc. This anorexic mentality has its Mecca in Hellyweird, where the pervs love bony girls and boys. Madison Ave. atleast has the sense to preserve masculine and feminine norms and shapes - for the most part - pushing junk at us.
    Take into account how most of those actors & bigshots live, and you might call them stink figures.

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  2. Well, I'm a real woman, but I happen to be a stick figure too. Not on purpose, mind you. But yes, I agree -- Hollywood needs to listen up!

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  3. Maybe I'm just jealous... I could certainly afford to lose a few lbs. myself.

    AGK, anyone who can spin a tale like you is already pretty special in my book.

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  4. i am a stick figure, but seriously someone needs to do something

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