Monday, May 14, 2012

It's not easy being green. And huge.

This is the cover of a men's fitness magazine currently on newsstands:

And this is the typical cover of one of many women's fitness magazines that are on newsstands every single week:

Now, granted there are far, far more of the women's magazines, all telling you how you need to aspire to look like the model on the cover, while not-so-subtly implying that if you don't look that way after following the "12 simple steps" inside, it's your fault because you're somehow deficient. And that's a lot of pressure which is inherently unrealistic and unfair. But the point is the woman on that cover exists in the world that we actually live in. She may be airbrushed and photoshopped and may subsist on a diet of steamed carrot shavings and pictures of celery because it's her job, meaning how she pays bills and makes a living, to look that way...but out there somewhere, she walks the earth like the rest of us. Unlike The Hulk, who is a comic book character who only "lives" as computer generated imagery in movies and video games. Honestly, I don't see how the article in the men's magazine can say anything besides "The Hulk isn't real. Go see 'The Avengers', now playing in theatres everywhere!". I bet it doesn't say that though. The cover hints at a "real-life routine" that will make you look like a creature that doesn't exist in real life. 
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that's bullshit and that we men have it pretty damn rough.
I should probably shut up now. 

No comments: