Author's Note:
This project asked us to present the same argument from our re-purposed piece to the same audience. The catch was that it had to be through a different medium in order to allow us the chance to try writing in a new way--a way that extends beyond what we have been asked to do thus far across our various writing classes. My re-mediation is based off of the open letter I wrote about my experience of being bullied for my skin tone. In my letter I talk about the consequences of beauty standards and how they have shaped our opinions of what is considered "beautiful." My initial idea for project two was to interview girls about personal issues they've had in regards to this topic and compile their answers into a video edit. Instead I decided to take a real magazine cover and remix it to create what I imagine to be the "ideal" magazine cover. I chose the cover of a Cosmopolitan issue, because of its beauty related content and its similarity in audience to my open letter. While I kept the formatting the same for the most part, I focused on changing the headings and subheadings to reflect what I wish women would focus on versus what the media industry primes us to focus on. Adobe illustrator was my weapon of choice, which was very challenging considering my poor track record with technology. It sometimes took me hours to figure out the simplest thing, but I hope I have achieved an acceptable imitation.
Below are three models I used to gain inspiration:
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Cosmopolitan cover featuring Kourtney Kardashian
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Seventeen cover featuring Taylor Momsen
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Marie Claire cover featuring Blake Lively
The original cover is on the left and my cover remix is on the right. Scroll to the bottom of the page to learn more about my choices and motivations!
ORIGINAL
MY CREATION
Being fair skinned was once considered beautiful, because it signified wealth. Now tan is the new fair and everyone seems to be set on getting there no matter the stakes. We are the way we are though and having one thing be considered the pinnacle of beauty is dangerous and unrealistic.
We've all been judged at one point in time for how we look, how we dress, and what we have. Sharing these experiences is the first step to moving past them so that we can focus on accepting others for their differences, because differences are what make us unique.
I changed this to say "Empowering Things Every Woman Needs To Do" versus the original, "Summer Beauty and Style Buys" because I wanted to take the emphasis off of physical beauty and direct it toward empowering ourselves and each other.
The original focuses on having a "fit" body, which isn't a bad thing. In fact, exercising is great; however most magazines emphasize the "hotness" aspect of being fit instead of the healthy aspect. I don't see many covers that focus on being smart.
The original focuses on fake tanning and the products endorsed by Cosmopolitan to achieve a realistic summer tan. This has been a trend in the last few years that disappoints me as a reader and as a woman. Here I put the emphasis on skin protection instead of tanning to try and shift our focus to the bigger picture.
I chose Gloria Steinem as the cover model, because I feel that her position as a feminist in addition to being a social and political activist more strongly represents and supports my message. Her pose is one of power contrary to the over sexualized covers you see today.