Gatsby, Facebook, and the Facade of Friends

           Facebook is a social network that was first invented by a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg. Since Facebook was launched in 2004, the social-networking site has become the new fashion and obsession for teenagers. Users can create a profile with photos, share personal interests and information, and communicate with hundreds of “friends.” Facebook was only meant to be used as a student directory among Harvard students, but since Mark Zuckerberg expanded the social network site to other parts of the world, people have been using Facebook in order to create the identity that fits with society´s standards of fashion and social status. Facebook has also become a performance of popularity because people add an immense number of “friends” without even knowing the people they are adding. Similarly, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows in The Great Gatsby how Gatsby puts on a performance of popularity by throwing big parties with a large number of people, but without sharing any connection with them. In addition, Facebook users create identities the same way Gatsby creates an identity in which he is amazingly wealthy in order to gain society´s approval and to impress the woman he “loves.”

Facebook is a site in which people are able to have hundreds of friends, but in reality just a few of those contacts are truly called friends. Some Facebook users´ purpose in having a great number of contacts is so that people who visit their profile will think they are popular. Researchers at Western Illinois University studied Facebook habits of some students, and discovered a “socially disruptive” element of narcissism – exhibitionism. The study states that exhibitionism includes “self-absorption, vanity, superiority, and exhibitionistic tendencies and people who score high on this aspect of narcissism need to be constantly at the centre of attention. They often say shocking things and inappropriately self-disclose because they cannot stand to be ignored or waste a chance of self-promotion.” Another popular application on Facebook is the possibility of creating “Events.” This application allows people to invite hundreds of friends to important events or parties. The people who receive an invitation on Facebook tend to invite even more friends of their own without consulting the host. Hundreds of people end up attending these parties without caring if they know the host or not.  The same happens in “The Great Gatsby”. Gatsby is known for throwing big and luxurious parties in which people “[come] without [meeting] Gatsby at all, come for the party with simplicity of heart that is its own ticket of admission” (41). Thousands of people attend Gatsby´s parties but he is not really connected to his guests. Gatsby is usually seen “standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving eyes” (50). The fact that he is staring at people with “approving eyes” is a signal that, like on Facebook, he is satisfied to see how popular his party is, without realizing that in reality, he is alone and empty inside. Also, the lack of attendance at Gatsby´s funeral in the end of the book is an example of how his popularity was a performance because he was always surrounded by hundreds of people but none of them came to the funeral. The only people interested in his death were newspaper men and photographers. If Gatsby were a Facebook user, the news of his death would appear on the “News Feed” and all of his “friends” would post comments offering condolences but none of them would attend his funeral.

            Facebook has also become the new way in which people can create an identity. People construct identities based on how they wish to be seen by others. Facebook users select with extreme care a profile picture and upload fashionable photos because they feel like their image has to look “cool” or pretty all the time in order to get the approval from the Facebook society. Users´ way of measuring other peoples´ approval is by getting “Likes.” Thanks to the need for “likes” to appear more popular, Facebook users create new identities through pictures. It is common among young girls to upload sexy pictures in order to get “likes” from popular and cute guys. Also, other people upload photos in which they appear to be wealthy in order to have a sense of belonging to a certain social status. In an effort to be popular, people post photos and personal information to represent their ideal selves instead of showing their true personality or identity.

 A young woman in a New York Times article said,

“When I choose my profile picture, I want people to ‘Like,’ it,” ... In fact, she and her friends are keenly aware of how to goose the numbers. “You get more ‘Likes’ if it’s a model shot and not a goofy picture with your friends,” she explained.

              


                 Also, Facebook has brought a modern way of dating in which you can even post what your relationship status is. People are able to see each others´ interests and personal information so that they can search for their “perfect match.” It is common among some girls and boys to use the chat application to flirt and talk to people that they barely know in order to start a possible romantic relationship. The fact that some young people date online leads again to a performance of their identities, image, and interests because they are always trying to get the other person to like them back. Also, the relationship status is really important for users because posting a relationship status makes a relationship official. Young people are obsessed with announcing they are in a relationship because they want people to “like it” and they want to get approving comments from all of their “friends.” It is their way of showing they have succeeded in finding their perfect match. Gatsby parallels a Facebook user because he recreates his world and his identity in order to obtain the American Dream of being wealthy and possessing the woman of his dreams. When Gatsby first met Daisy, before becoming a powerful and successful man, Gatsby started dreaming about possessing this wealthy woman, and as a result, he “[took] Daisy under false pretenses. He let her believe that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities, he had no comfortable family standing behind him and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world” (149).  Since Gatsby is obsessed with possessing “the golden girl,” he is forced to leave his poor past behind in order to construct the identity of a glorious and wealthy man that would impress Daisy. Similar to the fact that Facebook allows people change their user name, Gatsby changes his legal name James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, “so he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent” (98). However, Gatsby´s love towards Daisy is just an idea because having a relationship with Daisy represents the last piece of his success; his goal is to get society to see them as the golden couple. In an effort to get the “likes” of other people, Gatsby creates a really powerful character because he believes that luxuries, popularity, and the possession of a woman determine his success and “happiness.”

  
Gatsby´s actions parallel those of Hollywood´s version of Mark Zuckerberg. The success and wealth of Gatsby and Mark do not come in a natural way because both committed some kind of crime to obtain it. While Gatsby committed the crime of bootlegging to start his new identity as a wealthy man, Mark stole the idea of Facebook from two other students in order to become famous and a billionaire. Similar to the fact that Gatsby dreams of possessing Daisy, Mark also is obsessed with getting his girlfriend´s love back, but in reality, they see these women as prizes. Even though Gatsby creates a really powerful and successful character, he is empty inside because his popularity is false and Daisy does not love him back. In a similar way to Gatsby, Mark also becomes famous and rich and as a result, he obtains thousands of “friends” on Facebook. Even though Mark is extremely popular on Facebook, he ends up empty and alone because he does not have any real friends. Aaron Sorkin depicts in the movie“The Social Network” how Mark Zuckerberg is a stand-in for all the other users. The same way Mark uses Facebook to perform an identity and popularity, Facebook users follow his example by creating ideal selves. Aaron Sorkin illustrates through this movie that even though Facebook´s goal is to be connected to people, users can end up having a lack of connection to real people.

Succesful man but alone in the end.

Childish Gambino and John Guare: A Stab at Breaking Modern Day Stereotypes

John Guare, in his play Six Degrees of Separation, emphasizes the racial issues that have lasted beyond the Civil Rights movement. Similarly, actor, writer, and rapper Donald Glover, known as Childish Gambino, attempts to redefine common black stereotypes and highlight the racial problems black people still face in this Post-Civil Rights era through his unconventional and possibly revolutionary music. The picture above properly depicts Gambino as a black rapper who breaks the barrier between race and a certain clothing style. Gambino makes the same statement through his music: black people shouldn't be limited to certain realms. Despite the fact that black people now have equal rights, society still promotes wrongful stereotypes and sections black people into certain groups. Guare and Gambino both preach the problems of these societal ideals through their works.

John Guare

Nowadays society is obligated to "accept" black people. America's despicable past has forced white people to treat black people equally in order to not seem racist. However Guare and Gambino both show how blacks are still not treated equal. Dr. Fine from Six Degrees of Separation originally accepts and even admires Paul, yet when Fine believes that this black man has broken into his home he screams "this fucking black kid crack addict came into my office lying-" (Guare 66). Once the seal of trust was broken, Paul stopped being the preppy, wanna-be white kid and became the stereotypical low-life crack addict to Dr. Fine. Thus, Guare argues that if one gives a white man a single reason to think poorly of a black person, in this society the white man will take that opportunity.  Guare's pointing out of Post Civil Rights racism is mirrored in Gambino's music. In his song "Hold You Down," Childish tells us that

This one kid said somethin' that was really bad;
He said I wasn't really black because I had a dad.

and thus exemplifies the white view of real black people as family-less savages, and how in a situation like Gambino's, the man isn't even considered "black." Both Guare and Childish use the "white" black person as an example of how modern day racism works. Society will accept black people as long as they disenfranchise black culture and "act white."

 "Hold You Down" - Childish Gambino

The parents in Six Degrees of Separation are overjoyed to tell each other of their new black friend; they even seem to brag to over their acceptance. However through the Dr. Fine "crack addict" scene, Guare proves that acting not-racist is much different than being not-racist, which is also the argument Gambino makes in "Hold You Down." Gambino states that "you're not not racist cause The Wire's in your Netflix queue" to make the argument that watching shows about black culture doesn't mean that you truly value, understand, and accept all black people. In other words, pretending to be accepting doesn't make someone a good person, just as the Upper East Side residents' facade of acceptance doesn't make them the liberal-minded equality preachers they claim to be.

"The Wire" on HBO

Upper East Side Manhattan home

Through his style and music, Gambino attempts to break the black rapper/gangster stereotype and tries to revolutionize black rap as we know it. His stylistic and lyrical differences from your typical rapper like Tupac or Dr. Dre are obvious; while he often talks about sex, he rarely mentions drugs and never mentions crime or violence. He also has real instruments accompanying his music, and real musicians accompanying him when he performs live, instead of just a DJ and speakers. Gambino often writes about the problems he faces as a different black rapper. In his song "You Know Me," he claims that the hood thugs tell him to "stick to the right business and stop making rap music for these white kidses," showing that the black, gangster rap-lovers think he's appealing too much towards the prep-school white kids. The feeling is reciprocated from the opposite side however, and he makes that apparent in his song "That Power":

Staying on my me shit, but hated on by both sides
I’m just a kid who blowing up with my father’s name
And every black "you're not black enough"
Is a white "you're all the same"

Being half-black and half-white, Childish claims that he is "hated on by both sides" ; thus, he states that just as there are many blacks who think he isn't gangster and hood enough to rap, there are just as many white people who say that he isn't white enough to be a respectable musician. The difficulties of this middle zone that Gambino mentions are also exemplified in Six Degrees of Separation. While Guare doesn't give the readers any information of Paul's past in the play, the author does emphasize Paul's need for acceptance and "everlasting friendship," likely driven by the fact that he's a gay black man (99). It's not hard to fit into a well knitted, strictly defined group. However Paul doesn't fit into any group as a gay, black con-man. He's more of a freely drawn, "wild and vivid" Kandinsky painting rather than a "geometric somber" one (3). The point being, Paul, like Childish Gambino, struggles to fit in, and through this, Guare, like Childish Gambino, argues that society should be more accepting and freely drawn rather than restricting people into certain social categories.

"That Power"                          "You Know Me"

As mentioned before, Gambino revolutionizes rap by breaking the stereotype of the gangster rapper and by defying the racially exclusive groups. In his song "My Girls" from the mixtape I Am Just A Rapper, he raps

And niggas waiting on me, we didn't have a voice;
you used to have to act street and now you've got a choice.

in proof that he appeals to the black kids who would rather not associate with the thug lifestyle and would rather fit into a different, "whiter" group. Gambino asserts that he has given black people all over the nation "a choice" to be who they want to be. In his song "Both Hands," he even calls himself "a nigga off the chain" who "Abraham Lincoln'd" black culture by liberating the black kids who don't necessarily want to act thug. In the same sense that Paul liberates himself by, despite having no relation to white Upper East-Manhattaners, entering these people's lives on a personal level.

"My Girls"                          "Both Hands"

Childish Gambino and John Guare use their respective mediums to make an argument on racial issues in this Post Civil Rights era, and they both make similar arguments. In order to overcome these racial problems, one has to break the barriers that cause these problems. Gambino attempts to destroy the stereotypes of there only being white hipsters and of there only being thug black rappers. Through his play, Guare argues that people must overcome their unintentional but still racist mindsets and overcome the paralysis that holds them into their societal groups.

The black hipster Childish Gambino

Why I Hate the SAT: A Modern Look at a System of Racial and Socioeconomic Oppression from Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

So I took an SAT over the weekend. And it reminded me how much I despise that test.

The SAT was first invented by a man named Carl Brigham, a psychologist from Princeton University, in the early 1920’s and first administered to high school students in 1926. At first, the SAT was used to test students for scholarships to attend Ivy League schools, like Harvard and Princeton, but, in the late 1940’s, it became a universal test that many colleges and universities required their prospective students to take. This institution is obviously still in effect now. Though the SAT was meant to create an educational establishment of equal opportunity, the exam has long been criticized for cultural and class bias, creating a system in which the rich and the white secure all the benefits and the poor and the nonwhite are suppressed still, the same system that victimizes Pecola and the rest of the African-American community in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

The SAT is clearly a very important test for high-schoolers around the country and therefore, a lot of time and effort is put into obtaining the highest score possible. However, it wasn’t initially supposed to be that way. John Bryant Conant, the man who started the SAT scholarship program in the 1930’s, had a vision for a classless and democratic society that would be run by those who were the most talented and intelligent, as determined by Brigham’s test. This “meritocracy” would be a “natural aristocracy,” a system which would allow anyone, whether they be a poor immigrant from the Midwest or a rich white kid from the East Coast, to rise up in the educational and therefore socioeconomic system of the United States. His idea was pretty much the epitome of the American Dream, shiny and hopeful like the ideal lifestyle Morrison uses to preface her own novel: “Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy” (1). These expectations of achieving the American Dream are instilled in children at a very young age as they are literally educated in societal norms by reading Dick & Jane readers, promising not only a standard of living, but happiness.

The white picket fence

Yale University

Unfortunately for Conant, his vision did not turn out that way he had hoped because nowadays, the SAT has become a sort of obsession for high-schoolers and their parents, dominating most of the students’ junior years in a way that’s anything but natural. Various SAT study books, group sessions, vocabulary flashcards, and private tutors and coaches have materialized in the past decade or so, with parents handing their money out and these companies raking in the dough. The race to get a perfect 2400 has become one the fiercest, most ridiculous, competitions in the entire country, with some kids taking the SAT 6,7, maybe even 10 times. People wholeheartedly believe that their SAT score is a ticket to the rest of their life. Somewhere along the way, the American Dream changed from the white picket fence to acing a standardized test. The idyllic, yet somewhat naïve idea of Conant’s has been warped and twisted into a system of nonsense, the way the that the Dick & Jane reader is when Morrison picks it apart by removing the grammar, revealing that the idea of the perfect American Dream is actually utter gibberish when it is not carefully planned out and constructed. But the people in this country are still under the influence of this system, especially since the most affluent colleges in the country, namely those of the Ivy League, require high test scores to even consider admittance. The Ivy’s themselves have a long history associated with wealth, whiteness, social elitism, and an administration that keeps the powerful in power. This is the same system Claudia tries to understand when she deconstructs her white doll, trying to figure out why adults say, “this is beautiful, and if you are on this day ‘worthy,’ you may have it” (21). Just as the “whiteness” is meant to be desired in Claudia’s time, an Ivy League education is meant to be desired in ours.

There’s a famous question used specifically to criticize the SAT test itself for class bias. In the 90’s, there used to be analogy problems, comparisons between two objects or ideas, and the one in question asked which pair of words would best match the relationship between “runner” and “marathon.” It turns out the correct answer was “oarsman” and “regatta,” words that carry the same sort of connotation as say, the word “yacht.” Someone from an upper-class background who has experience with such ritzy sports would easily manage to answer the question, but a lower-class student would probably never have been exposed to a sporting event consisting of a series of boat races. In fact, it was later determined that while 53% of white students managed to answer the question correctly, only 22% black students could, highlighting a deeply disappointing disparity between opportunities for white and black students, even in the post-Civil Rights era. As Williams articulates in his poem “The Yachts,” the poor are “bodies thrown recklessly in the way…their cries rising/ in waves still as the skillful yachts pass over.”

Perhaps most conspicuously, the whole “test prep” notion has become insane. Other than the multiple $30 test prep workbook that students are encouraged to buy and use (College Board’s Study Guide, The Princeton Review, Barron’s, Kaplan Review, just to name a few), there are online courses, and The Princeton Review holds SAT “small group instruction” starting at $1,500 and private tutoring starting at $2,700 - just ridiculously large amounts of money. There are very few free training opportunities, available online, so a student must have Internet access to retrieve them in the first place. And despite the College Board’s continued objection to the accusation that the SAT is “coachable” (SATmyths), wealthier families, the people who have access to these expensive service, have been shown to do better on the SAT year after year, and it’s not hard to conclude that the money has something to do with it. The SAT is now like a test that can be bought, obliterating the idea of meritocracy, and reinstating the aristocracy. And anyone who has the money or the opportunities will spend it on these amenities, trying to gain a sense of security, even if it means furthering the socioeconomic gap between the test scores of the poor and the rich. If Geraldine were living in this decade, she would definitely buy her son Junior all the test help he could get to further detach him from the racial stereotypes he would experience as a black boy taking the SAT. In The Bluest Eye, Geraldine represents the group of black girls with opportunity who go out of their way to change themselves in order to pass as white. Parallel to spending thousands of dollars on test prep, “they wash themselves with orange-colored Lifebuoy soap, dust themselves with cashmere bouquet talc, clean their teeth with salt on a piece of rag, soften their skin with Jergen’s lotion. They smell like wood, newspapers, and vanilla. They straighten their hair with Dixie Peach, and part it on the side. At night they curl it in paper from brown bags, tie a print scarf around their heads, and sleep with their hands folded across their stomachs” (82). Geraldine puts in a great deal of meticulous effort and money to gain security in a society where whiteness is safer than blackness. But Geraldine is not the villain here, because Morrison is critiquing a binary system of racial identification that victimizes these women into choosing on side or another. Although not taking advantage of the overpriced test preparation could show that one is taking a stand against the system, it is safer to take the advantage if it is available. 

So not only is the SAT inherently corrupt, but the resulting scores also often have harmful effects on the students who take them, because students tend to define their academic ability based on this single definition of what is “intelligent.”  Likewise, the members of the Breedlove family are convinced they are “aggressively ugly” due to the fact that their physical features do not coincide with the likes of Shirley Temple, who would apparently score a 2400 on the “scale of absolute beauty” in Morrison’s novel, in which a white face, blond hair, and blue eyes are the perfect score (122, 50). In their eyes, the “low irregular hairlines…keen but crooked noses, with insolent nostrils…high cheekbones, their ears turned forward” and “shapely lips,” when compared with the norms of beauty present in “every billboard, every movie, every glance,” are akin to scoring a 1277 (the average score for African-American SAT-takers in 2010) when a high-pressure society is telling students across the country that anything lower than a 1500 means that they aren’t good enough for college, that they are below average (39). 

It is from this “conviction,” in many senses, that elitism is propagated in direct contradiction with the egalitarian meritocracy that Conant imagined when he was working on integrating the SAT into education system of the United States. The conviction that a perfect SAT score is the ticket to the American Dream and the fact that this dream is far easier to achieve for those with resources help foster the idea that those people are inherently more intelligent than everyone else, especially when compared to the worst of the worst. In fact, when juxtaposed with Pecola, Claudia says, “we were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we has a sense of humor. Her inarticulateness made us believe we were eloquent. Her poverty kept us generous. Even her waking dreams we used--to silence our own nightmares. And she let us, and thereby deserved our contempt. We honed our egos on her, padded our characters with her frailty, and yawned in the fantasy of our strength” (205). However, in regards to the SAT, this superiority came at a time when Civil Rights had asserted themselves, and many people had fought for the idea that “black is beautiful,” that blacks were just as qualified in all aspects of life. So the College Board went a step forward in asserting racial superiority, in a way that was much more subtle and indirect: affirmative action. This highly controversial idea was introduced to universities in the late 1970’s and the idea was basically to consider race as a factor in the admissions process in order to benefit a minority group by “saving them seats” in the universities, even if there were not enough highly qualified candidates to fill all those seats. Though there are practical benefits to this practice – giving minorities, specifically African-Americans and Hispanics, a better chance of gaining a higher education – the problem with this system is on a more ideological level. Affirmative action is basically telling minorities, ”You are ugly people” that need our help to get anywhere in life (39). And in response, “’Yes,’ they had said. ‘You are right.’ And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it.” The racial self-loathing aided by affirmative action only strengthens the system of oppression that keeps minorities and the lower class in their place, as the wealthy and white ahead, with an ever-widening gap between them.

Now all that being said, it seems that we all still have to spend 5 hours on typically gorgeous Saturday mornings sitting in classrooms taking this assessment of our skills that will somewhat define us, whether we like it  or not. It doesn't matter if we completely disagree with the way this test gauges intelligence, we're still caught in the system. And as high schoolers in a society that judges merit based on college degrees that ironically are only obtainable by taking the SAT, there isn't much we can do about it. So for those of you that still have some SAT's or ACT's or AP's or any standardized tests to take, here's a funny video wishing you luck while cleverly pointing out the institution's flaws. (Notice how the Asian boy is wearing a Harvard sweatshirt while singing this - perpetrating stereotypes anyone?):

Chinese beauty standard is problematic: modern echo of Torni Morrison's the Bluest Eye

  

     Different time period has different definition of beauty in different country. Those standards of beauty always convey the code of generation and feature of the society. In western country, in America, for example, people think blonde, fit and energetic girls with blue or green eyes are the most attractive and charming. That is to say Americans are pursing the beauty of natural figure and healthy lifestyle, while still holding the ideal of superiority of caucasian. During 1960s, Toni Morrison has her most famous book the Bluest Eye published, and doubtfully critiques the properness of beauty standard, which people racially appreciate whites and despise blacks. Toni Morrison argues that public ideal of beauty results in bias and hatred, which seriously hurts the victim, specifically black girl Pecola in the book, who does not  and could never fit into the pool of beauty. Harm due to the problematic standard of beauty is not a unique American case, but has its counterpart in China. Nowadays, the ideal of beauty is problematic in China because women, under the pressure of code of beauty, have no freedom simply to be themselves, but hopelessly try to reach the standard by harming their health and restraining their individual personalities.

  Chinese girls always give people the stereotypes of impression of small, skinny, shy, mysterious and meek. Many people are curious that what is actually the standard of beauty of chinese women. Let’s look 400 years back to Qing Dynasty, which the ideal of beauty during that time period still profoundly affects the current age. Daiyu Lin, one of the main character in A Dream of Red Mansions, which is one of the four most famous books in chinese history and is written by Xueqin Cao in Qing Dynasty, is regarded as one of the most beautiful women in China and still the lover in dream of most chinese guys.  Daiyu Lin is attractive because of her morbid beauty, as Xueqin Cao depicts her:

Her two arched eyebrows, thick as clustered smoke, bore a certain not very pronounced frowning wrinkle. She had a pair of eyes, which possessed a cheerful, and yet one would say, a sad expression, overflowing with sentiment. Her dace showed the prints of sorrow stamped on her two dimpled cheeks. She was beautiful, but her whole frame was the prey of a hereditary disease. The tears in her eyes glistened like small specks. Her balmy breath was so gentle. She was as demure as a lovely flower reflected in the water. Her gait resembled a frail willow, agitated by the wind. Her heart, compared with that of Bi Gan, had one more aperture of intelligence; while her ailment exceeded(in intensity) by three degrees the ailment of XiZi (Chapter3).

Flower Burial- Daiyu

Besides her facial appearance, it is worth to mention that Daiyu Lin is a rally talented poet and writer. One of the most famous scenes in the book is when Daiyu Lin collects the wilting and dead flowers and buries them on the hill, while she sings," Here I am fain these flowers to inter, but humankind will laugh me as a fool; who knows who will, in years to come, commit me to my grave! In a twinkle springtime draws to an end, and maidens was in age. Flowers fade and maiden die; and of either naught any more is known”(Chapter 27). People could not help loving  Daiyu because of her romantic and poetic temperament. Since Daiyu has won so many hearts, women start to imitate her, especially her appearance and behavior, which apparently are the easiest two to learn and copy among all her attractive qualities. Thats how the ideal of beauty spreads out and still functions in today’s society in China.  

                                                                       Flower Burial

      In general, these are three qualities that a chinese beauty has to have: skinny figure, white skin, and big eyes. First of all, a true beauty must be thin. Now I do not mean size 3 or size 4, but I mean very, very thin, more of a size 0 or smaller, which is more a childlike size. Tender, small boned and soft are the ideal of the beautiful figure. The goal of “skinniness” is not only limited in body figure, but also includes long and thin figures, oval and small face, straight and muscleless legs and arms, and thin feet. “ As thin as a willow leaf”,“ as light as smoke”, and “soft, skinny and fragile” are the description of chinese beauty. The second requirement would be white skin, the whiter the better, like china. It is understandable that why Chinese, even Asians, prefer lighter skin. One theory is that a lighter complexion is associated with wealth and higher social status. Those with a better education could stay out of the sun while those from lower social classes, like laborers and farmers, would have had to work outside during the daytime hear. Otherwise, pale skin looks healthier and more flawless than skin that’s tan. Chinese would get age spots and over time their skin will began to wrinkle and sag from too much exposure to the sun. Sun damaged skin is very unattractive. Here are some description of skin in chinese literature: “snowy skin”, “ice skin jade bone”,” pale and soft without any redness”, and “as pale and icy as the moon”. Last but not least, big and bright eyes with a double-fold or crease in the eye lids are the feature of chinese beauty. Chinese guys would describe their lover in dream having “bright and cutesy big eyes, and each glance is like flowing water in autumn, which grab your soul”.

Morbid Beauty

White, Big eyes, and Thin

 


















    Like Toni Morrison cirques American beauty standard during 1960s in her book the Bluest Eye, the ideal of beauty in China is problematic and not healthy because it won’t allow women to be themselves, and brings them incredible social pressure.

   Vast majority of Chinese women are extremely insecure about their physical appearance, and bear incredible social pressure to be extremely thin. Those who don’t meet nearly unattainable standards of beauty are reminded of it all the time- by parents, friends, teachers, and even commercial advertisements and magazines. Dee Xu, a famous compere and actress once said, a woman whose weight over 110 pounds has no future.On the internet, “lose weight” is always one of the most poplar topic. Girls stops eating for days to be skeletal. Many refuse to eat, or will not touch anything sweet, or claim to be on diet, because they feel or are told by their peers and family that they are too fat (even they are not). Girls go on diet for boys, and fear that if they become fat, boys won’t love them anymore. The process of controlling appetite is so depressive that slight anorexia is common among girls. Moreover, a girl with muscle is a bad thing. So girls are unwilling to participate in sports and P.E. class, in order to be more girlie instead of “athletic”. Under the pressure of improper beauty standard, women have no freedom to enjoy food, and enjoy being themselves.

Translation: " Am I really that fat?""Why he does not like me?" "There is no clothes to fit me."
"There is no future for a fat people.""Sorry, I like skinny girl.""No matter how nice you are, you are still a fatty with good heart.""Hey why you are still eating, you fatty." Girls use this picture to constrain their apetite.

        Cartoon: The Big Girl  "Will you still love me that same like before if I was a fatty."

If you really love me, you won't care if I am fat or not.

   On the contrary of western beauty standard, chinese girls purse light skin- as white as possible. Guys prefer skins smooth and as white as china. In order to be at the higher level of whiteness, girls and women keep them out of sun, keep themselves covered in the summer. The fact is that they would carry parasols with them during summer months. Some are even unwilling to go outside as if they are scared of sunshine. What’s more, some of them even use bleaches to light their skin, which causes all skin problems as they become older. The pursing of pale looking skin is problematic because it makes women scare of sunshine, and act ghostly in the shadow, which is really against human nature. 

White, Big eyes, Skinny

   The ideal of beauty in China is troublesome because it simply makes women feel unconfident about themselves. The first impression is made by the appearance. The judge of facial beauty determines if a guy would like you or not, or a girl would talk to you or not. Therefore, girls and women use makeup and even have plastic surgery to change their appearance in order to grant more people. Makeup and plastic surgery, although changes your facial appearance, would make you instantaneously hate your real identity. Social beauty standard, having big eyes for instance, gives those who has small eyes an invisible pressure, which results in self-deny and self-abased. According to the research, the top one plastic surgeries performed in China is double eyelid procedure, which makes the eyes appear larger. 

 















     Similarly, in the Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison argues that American beauty standard during 1950s-1960s is problematic because it racially regards whites as the absolute untouchable beauty, while despising African American’s ugliness due to their blackness. The beauty standard is indoctrinated and rooted in American’s childhood by reading Dick-Jane story book. As an African American, Pecola is taught to hate herself, while social pressure in form of either ignorance or outrage constructively destroying Pecola’s self-esteem and confidence.  The strong wind of racial bias over beauty standard blows out Pecola’s last self-assurance that she accepts to wear the “cloak of ugliness” without question and keeps “concealed, veiled, and eclipsed” under her mask of ugliness (39). Dealing with her ugliness by wanting to disappear, Pecola would rather not be seen than be seen as ugly. Society has set objective standards of beauty that Pecola does not fit in to, leaving her to be ashamed of her appearance and is unable to see her real beauty. Since she is so sure that physical beauty would win her love and care, Pecola dreams to have blue eyes. Racial self-loathing due to unattainable beauty standard results in self-betrayal. Ironically, Pecola’s dream comes true at the cost of her madness. Pecola has an imaginary friend, who she thinks is very jealous of her blue eyes, which apparently satisfies Pecola’s need for being admitted and recognized. However, Toni Morrison suggests that Pecola’s tragedy would not stop unless the reform of beauty standard because Pecola, although wearing blue eyes, has still not escaped her jealousy of what others possess. Pecola is so insecure about her appearance that she worries that someone else would have bluer eyes than she. The ideal of beauty is problematic that it isolated Pecola from outside world, blaming about her ugliness, and makes Pecola has no freedom to be herself.

     Under either unhealthy or unfair beauty standard, women are easy to get lost in their physical loss. To them, the real identity is distant and near. Problematic ideal of beauty leaves them everyday grief and everyday self-denying. However, women should open up and take courage to face themselves. Just as Daiyu Lin has said, "Flowers fade and maiden die", facial beauty is not gonna be lasting forever. So why no smile to the sunshine and be proud of the kind of person you have been.  Let the rift of light of confidence pierces through all bias and restraint so that the grief due to physical depression may stop accepting being acceptable. And eventually you would refuse to get lost in your “loss”.

Erykah Badu: Embracing the Messiness

Click on this and then Proceed.

The Bluest Eye represents Toni Morrison's critique of race relations that have shaped history. Written in the height of the 60's 'Black is Beautiful' movement, the book has a unique perspective of the Depression-era social norms that came to define black individuals. Morrison's aim to deconstruct racism and the social norms that restrain individuals, finding the "how" rather than the "why," parallels R&B artist Erykah Badu in her aim to break free of stereotypes. Erykah Badu's brave embrace of her individuality, her 'messiness,' sets the standard for a new black women that will leave behind the racial self-loathing Morrison emphasizes.

The "Queen of Neo-Soul," Erykah Badu incorporates R&B, rap, soul, jazz and funk into her music. She has worked with artists as diverse as The Flaming Lips, The Roots and Sergio Mendez, virtually creating a unique genre of music that is more than a way of making a living, but a passionate cultural protest. Erykah Badu's incorporation of funk in many of her songs, most significantly in her song "Funk you Up (Love of My Life Remix)" ft. Queen Latifah and Angie Stone, adds to her image of embracing individuality. Historically funk referred to body odor, but with the 60's Civil Rights movement it came to represent an acceptance and pride of blackness. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison uses the binary aspect of racism to contrast the Geraldines of the world, who are committed to changing themselves to fit white beauty standards and be secure, with the funky individuals, perhaps the Claudias who must learn to embrae their 'defects.' Geraldine has learned "how to get rid of the funkiness. The dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the funkiness of the wide range of human emotions" (83). It is this funk, the blackness and individuality, that Erykah Badu so admires in her music, even implicitly citing the original propagators of funk, Parliament Funkadelic, in this song. Singing

 Yeah, funk you up, we gon' funk you up
If you not ready, you better get yourself together               
We gon' funk you up, we gon' funk you up

Erykah Badu seems to call on P. Funk's line, "I want my funk uncut,... I wants to get funked up," emphasizing the impact the 'funk' had on history and racial identity.

In addition to her music, Erykah Badu physically embodies her protest against the accepted "scale of absolute beauty" (122). By leaving her hair natural, in an Afro, the singer rebels against the Geraldines of the world, the "they," Morrison writes about. These girls learn to restrain themselves physically to make themselves more white: "they hold their behind in for fear of a sway too free; when they wear lipstick, they never cover the entire mouth for fear of lips too thick, and they worry, worry, worry about the edges of their hair" (83). The Afro historically is one of the most powerful symbols of the Black is Beautiful movement, contrasting the straightening of hair that erases blackness and individual identity. Singing

This is how I look without makeup...
I got a little pot in my belly
So now a days my figure ain't so fly
My dress ain't cost nothin' but seven dollars
But I made it fly
And I'll tell ya why
But I'm clever when I bust a rhyme

Badu reinforces her idea of natural beauty - her body in all its biological glory. She even reinforces her pride in her talent for music, a talent that has come from years of hard work and love for music rather than a genetic gift.

Yet Erykah Badu goes farther than breaking the hair stereotype. The singer garnered attention and critique for her video "Window Seat," which portrays her walking along a crowded street in Dallas, stripping down to the nude until she is shot down. The powerful images, a two minute, one-take shot that earned her a fine and sixth months of probation, showcase how society punishes people for taking off their superficiality. The video cites indie duo Matt & Kim's video Lessons Learned, which also plays with physical beauty, one of the "most destructive ideas in the history of human thought" (122). By embracing herself in her most natural state, ignoring the idea of biological defects, Erykah Badu is even liberated on a sexual level. Geraldine, and by association the rest of the secure black girls playing white, sees sex as an obligation and restrains herself from enjoying it. Uncomfortable with nudity, Geraldine chooses to lift "the hem of her nightgown only to her navel," contrasting the freeing nudity Erykah Badu demonstrated in a crowded street. While the artist is not making her sexuality a point in the video, obviously not using her body to sell music, she is transcending the image of a woman as not just a sexual object but a confident individual. Erykah Badu ultimately has turned her 'defects', which biologically give her a unique appearance but environmentally have become another justification for social constructs of beauty and racism, into a protest.

"Window Seat" - Erykah Badu

Embracing individuality is a brave act, and has earned Erykah Badu plenty of criticism. In response to critiques of her hair, style, music and videos she writes:

"They who play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they don't understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel more comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow. They are us. This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual."

The "they" she refers to brings to mind the "they" Morrison uses in describing Geraldine. The power of the group leaves Geraldine with a (stereo)type she is content to fill, but with no voice. Assimilation gives security, but also immobility: "Their roots are deep, their stalks are firm, and only the top blossom nods in the wind" (82). This quote attacks the ease of assimilation, feeling "more comfortable" with the power in numbers. Erykah Badu's funky music, her dedication to natural beauty, and her desire for change help define her as an artist with a social conscience. She exemplifies the kind of change Toni Morrison expects from the black individual, paving the way for a new stereotype: the individual.

Plastic Surgery: A quest for a more "western look"

  

(In case you cannot watch the video, click here).

            In some of the Far East Asian countries, such as Korea and China, having plastic surgery is something that has become more common throughout the years. These plastic surgeries are done with the objective of westernizing one’s physical appearance, and thus becoming “beautiful”. The most common plastic surgeries performed in Asia consist of cutting a fold into the eyelid to create a double fold to widen the eyes.

            The following information is based on an article on the CNN website from March of 2011 (click here to see the article). The article talks about a young 12-year-old Korean girl who is getting a cosmetic eye-lid surgery. The little girl did not ask for the surgery - her mother did. She says, "I'm having her do it, because I think it'll help her. This is a society where you have to be pretty to get ahead. She's my only daughter." The little girl lacks confidence and feels self-conscious about her appearance. She says that “everyone points out her small eyes,” which makes her feel that she is not pretty. This surgery gives the little girl and her mom hope that her problem will be solved and her confidence will increase after obtaining more “western” eyes.

"I'm excited. I think I'll look better than I do now."

            The biggest plastic surgery clinic in Korea is a dozen stories tall and all its operating rooms are full every day. The head of the clinic says, "They always tell me they don't like their faces… They want to have some westernized, nice faces… they want to have faces like Americans.” Korean and Chinese people tend to have smaller eyes compared to the Caucasian people they see in the movies, magazines, or advertisements. Having plastic surgeries has become more and more common in these countries. Most of the models and celebrities have had plastic surgeries to have big eyes like westernized people, and nicer noses. This influences the people to do the same thing because they get the idea that to be beautiful it is necessary to have a little less Asian, but more westernized appearance. For these people, the definition of pretty is not the standard Asian face, but closer to a Caucasian face. They do not feel confortable with their characteristic Asian features like the big cheekbones or the small eyes; they want to have big bright eyes with slender facial bones.

            The dislike for their characteristic Asian features and the obsession with becoming more Caucasian and less Asian by having plastic surgeries is an example of racial self-hatred. Racial self-hatred is also shown in The Bluest Eye with the examples of Geraldine, Pauline, and the little girl Pecola. Like the Chinese and Korean people who want to be less Asian and be pretty, the African American people from The Bluest Eye want to become less black. Geraldine, for example, corresponds to this stereotype of women who are light-skinned and have education. These women have nice and clean houses, and live in quiet neighborhoods. They like to be clean, straighten their hair and when they wear lipstick they never cover the whole mouth for fear of lips to thick. This women fight everyday to not let their basic black characteristics show and thus to get rid of their blackness. These women choose to become less black and attempt to be whiter because of the influence of the white people on them. The magazines, movies, models, celebrities are the symbol of beauty for them. Geraldine and this type of women are similar to the case happening to the women in Korea and China. For them, beauty is the white face with Caucasian features. In both cases there is a desire to become physically Caucasian with the only purpose of finding beauty in themselves, and to feel confortable with their own appearance.

            Another example from The Bluest Eye is Pauline. Pauline is the mother of the young black girl Pecola. Pauline is also influenced by the society that surrounds her that white is the symbol of beauty, and that black is not pretty. When Pauline has her baby Pecola, she does not think she is pretty, she says, “But I knowed she was ugly. Head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly (126).” This idea that to be beautiful is necessary to have similar physical aspects as the Caucasian people affects both Pauline and the mother of the little Korean girl. The mother of the little Korean girl is the one who sends her to the plastic surgery clinic to get her cosmetic eye-lid surgery. She also says that this surgery will help her daughter to success in this society where you have to be pretty to get ahead. It can be implied from this statement that the mother of the Korean girl does not believe that her daughter’s Asian features are pretty on her. This attitude demonstrates a mentality that shows that it is necessary for an Asian to become less Asian and more Caucasian to have a better life. Pauline has a similar mentality. Due to the media and what surrounds her she is convinced that by being pretty the people will notice her and show affection to her: “The sad thing was that Pauline did not care for clothes and makeup. She merely wanted other women to cast favorable glances her way (118).” The relation between the mentality of the Korean mother and Pauline shows that, in these two different groups, beauty is the image of a western and/or Caucasian face, and it is beauty a requirement for success.

            Racial Self-hatred is also present in the young innocent black girl Pecola. Pecola wants to have blue eyes like all the white people she sees in the movies, magazines, candy wrappers, etc. She has several white idols like “Shirley Temple” or “Mary Jane”, which are white celebrities from that time. Again, this influence in the media persuades her to believe that white is beauty and white is good. The little Korean girl is also influenced by the media, and the models she sees in the movies, and magazines. There is a scene in the video from the article where the little Korean girl is told to choose between two Korean models the one that she thinks is prettier. One of the models had an eye-lid surgery, which made her eyes look rounder and bigger, and the other model had not had the surgery. The little girl chose the model with the bigger eyes.  This scene shows their low self-esteem and their racial self-hatred. This increases their desire to change their appearance, either having blue eyes, or bigger eyes.

            Pecola’s wish is to change the color of her eyes to a color that is considered pretty in the society. She believes that if her eyes where blue, then people will start noticing her, talking to her, respecting her and showing affection to her: “Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised… (45).” The Korean girl’s wish is also to change the shape of her eyes, to a size and shape that is considered beautiful in the society that surrounds her. She says that “everyone points out her small eyes”, and that is why she does not feel pretty. They both, Pecola and the Korean girl, feel a lack of confidence and low self-esteem, and they think that with a more Caucasian appearance they will obtain respect and love.

            At the end of the novel, Pecola “gets” blue eyes. Her imagination makes her believe that she finally got blue eyes and that now she is considered pretty by every body. This “blue eyes” changed her sight and the way she sees herself. She does not have dark eyes anymore like all the other African American people she knows. This change makes her confidence go up and makes her believe that now that she has blue eyes, the people will finally respect her more. The Korean girl also gets her surgery done. At the end of the article it is said that the Korean girl sent them pictures after the operation and that she feels so much more better with herself and more confident whenever she dances her ballet: “And when this 12-year-old stares at herself dancing in the studio, she no longer just sees her eyes. She sees a prettier girl.” Like Pecola, the Korean girl’s sight changed and now she sees a prettier girl; a girl who does not feel anymore that people point at her small eyes, but a girl that can now finally enjoy a better life.