There are all types of women in the world, all beautiful and all have talents. This means they should be shown equally right? Sadly that is not the case. A woman’s talents can rise above and beyond, but in most cases it is her beauty that pushes her into being a star. A women is often famous for her looks instead of her talents which results in a woman's talent being overlooked or a women not being famous at all despite any talents she might hold. Marilyn Monroe, is a perfect example of this because not only she is absolutely stunning but she has a lot of talents that no one seems to even care about. Another example is Scarlett Johansson, or you might know her as Black Widow from the popular Marvel movie, “The Avengers”. Scarlett is constantly being sexualized on and off the screen with her acting talent hiding in the shadows. Furthermore, Cleopatra ruled Ancient Egypt and is very powerful and strong, yet pictures of her being sexualized flood the internet and her in her powerful state is rare to lay eyes upon.
To begin, I’d like to narrow in on Marilyn Monroe and explain further as to why she is a perfect example of a women’s talents being overlooked by beauty. If you google Marilyn Monroe the first sentence you will rest your eyes on is this, “Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer, who became a major sex symbol” (Wikipedia). No mention of her talents is mentioned, because to the media, they do not matter when you are a sex symbol. In the image’s of her on the right, taken by Bert Stern she is in black and white with a layer of a fishnet type fabric resting upon her skin. Marilyn being underneath a fabric demonstrates how her talents are underneath her beauty. The fabric covering her has holes in it to display how her talent is easily visible but yet overlooked. The overall image has a sad, dark tone to it because of the photo being black and white. In the one photo on the left, she has a small smile on her dark lips but to me she does not look the littlest bit happy. The picture being black and white has caused me to see this sadness and pain because there is no colour, which generally represents happiness, in this photo. Overall, Marilyn Monroe is beautiful and her talents are extraordinary, but fame only knocks on her door if there is beauty and sex behind it causing her talents to take a back seat.
Secondly, Scarlett Johansson has looks that are absolutely breath taking, and that is all you ever hear about her. In each one of her interviews she is asked what underwear she was wearing in her skin tight, sexy suit, during the Avengers movie and if she was wearing underwear at all. No interviewer cares in the slightest about how talented she is and neither does the media. The photo on the left is not a photo you would often see of Scarlett Johansson. She is in an interview and despite wearing a high shirt with little to no skin showing she still gets asked questions all about sex. This picture of her demonstrates how she has talent and she wants people to see that rather than see her as the sexiest women in the world, the title she has won twice. There is a black background in order to have the focus all on her and also to mirror the idea of people seeing nothing past her and all of her beauty. Another textual element is how unhappy and disappointed she looks. It represents how she feels when she knows she is mostly famous for her looks, not her incredible talent. To conclude, Scarlett Johansson is a women mostly famous for her beauty instead of her talent and this causes her to get majorly looked over.
Thirdly, Cleopatra ruled Ancient Egypt along with her family and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis. Isis is known to be the goddess of health, marriage, and wisdom. But yet, as you can see in the painting on the right, she is very sexualized. In the painting, there is a blue background and the colour blue is often linked to the feeling of sadness. Cleopatra in general does not look happy, but sad to be seen this way when she has so much strength and talent. In this painting she seems weak, defenseless and only useful in bed. The colour white often shows innocence, purity and weakness. Cleopatra was none of those but yet she is put in this colour and put on a bed to be inviting. Her body is the center of the painting because that is the center of attention and where the eyes fall to regardless of what else is in the photo. Her talent for ruling and her strength gets painted over and turned into a nothing more than a beautiful women. She is mostly famous for her sharp and sexy look, her strength turned sexualized and all is the price of being famous.
Lastly, Maya Angelou is a name you have probably never heard of. Looking at the painting on the left that comes as no surprise. Maya Angelou is an amazingly talented poet and a big inspiration to all women and men. The painting is filled of colour and life, this demonstrates how much she has to offer through her talent and her wisdom. There is no sexual arousal, there is nothing in this painting that shows her beauty is only on the outside. The explosion of colours coating her skin reflects all the beauty she has inside, not only the outside. Angelou died last year and I went her whole life without even knowing who she is because the media likes to make those that can be seen as a sex symbol famous. She is one of the many women the media looks over because talent always gets pushed behind beauty. I find this women beautiful in every single way possible but in the land of being famous, only those that are sexualized are worth making an appearance. In this painting her African culture shines through with each paint stroke creating the unique clothing and accessories those with an African culture are often seen in. Her culture being in this painting with her displays even further that there is so much more to her than just her beauty. She has talents, she has a culture, all of this shown in a non sexualized image. A sexualized image is often the price to pay for being famous, and seeing how she does not have that she is being overlooked.In conclusion, Marilyn Monroe, Scarlett Johansson, Cleopatra, and Maya Angelou are all beautiful and talented women. Monroe and Johansson famous for being sexualized. Cleopatra became famous way back when for being the ruler and is now only famous and around when put in a sexual scene. Maya Angelou is not sexualized and not famous but holds just as much talent, if not more than some of these ladies. Each of these photos and paintings bring us a step further to the message of a women often being famous for her looks instead of her talents, which results in the woman’s talents being looked over, or not being famous at all.
Works Cited
“Avengers.” Contact Music. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 June 2015. <http://www.contactmusic.com/scarlett-johansson/video/scarlett-johansson-and-mark-ruffalo-avengers-age-of-ultron-video-interview>.
Jazzart, Bruni. “Still I Rise.” Creative Talanoa. N.p., 25 May 2012. Web. 6 June 2015. <http://creativetalanoa.com/tag/maya-angelou/>.
Stern, Bert. “Hidden.” Marilyn Monroe. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 June 2015. <https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/marilyn-monroe>.
Vepkhvadze, Bruno. “Egyptian Queen Cleopatra.” Canadian Contemporary Art. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 6 June 2015. <http://www.artmajeur.com/en/artist/vepkhvadze/collection/bruno-vepkhvadze/1149961/artwork/cleopatra/7103326>.
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