The best writing published these days appears in The New Yorker. In the current issue, there's a book review on the subject of beauty pageants that contains exceptionally smart, entertaining prose. Link here.
The subject is ripe for examination because pageants reflect a society's culture. You see this in how the Miss America competition emerged in 1921, later changed and then changed again. Contrasting the event with Miss U.S.A., its tawdry cousin, enlightens even further.
Tidbits from the review:
- "Pageants, commingling ideology and entertainment, offered something extra—the French-braided forces of patriarchy, capitalism, and racism."
- "At its peak, in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, Miss America attracted more than two-thirds of the country’s television viewers. The annual telecast, culminating with Bert Parks, the m.c., crooning “There She Is,” amounted to a minor late-summer holiday, a reunion of the intact but dysfunctional American family. Boys learned how to watch girls, and girls learned how to watch boys watching girls."
- "Miss America still commands attention, rivalling perhaps only major-league baseball in outsized nostalgia-based influence."
What are your thoughts on beauty pageants? Did you ever participate in one?
I've never participated in them. Maybe we don't have them here so I don't really have an opinion on them as I have no knowledge about what they entail etc!
ReplyDeleteI've never participated in one, however I feel like if someone wants to participate then they should be able to do what they want.
ReplyDeleteI remember a girl I went to school with participated in Miss Victoria back in the 80s, but you seldom see any kind of pageants here. I vaguely recall watching Miss America on TV as a kid. I wonder if it's had its day, though?
ReplyDeleteI believe you're right. Pageants had cultural currency back in the 1950s and '60s; less later on and, now, are virtually extinct as a cultural event.
DeleteI always thought we knew more Beautiful Women than who would Win many of those Pageants. I liked watching Miss Universe as a Kid but only to see the Beautiful Parade of Culture represented from across the World. My Mom used to get so pissed that Miss Wales would always be Redhead or Blonde, which is not your typical Welsh Beauty at all...most Welsh from her Homeland are Exotic looking and Gorgeously so. I recall seeing many Cultures do that, as they kind of elevated the illusion that Whiter looking Women were preferable... lighter skin, lighter Eyes, lighter Hair... it was Sad that so many didn't embrace the diversity of Beauty more. I have discussed this with my Cambodian DIL, in her Culture having the rounder Eyes and lighter Skin was elevated and the darker more Exotic Girls like her were made to feel less attractive and desirable... and she's a stunningly Beautiful Woman that embodies her Culture and the Attractiveness that lasts even with Aging. I do not like Pageants as an Adult, I particularly don't like Child Pageants where they Tart Up Small Girls, I cringe to think what it attracts. We are a Society that is stuck on the Visuals and Perfection tho', aren't we?
ReplyDeleteGreat comment; thank you. I agree that the cultural choice to favor certain types of beauty is distorting and wrong, as is the attempt to sexualize young girls in pageants of very early age.
DeleteI’ve never participated in one, but know a few bloggers who do. It’s not really my cup of tea but far be it for me to tell people what to do. I have tuned in a few times and found them engaging!
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, having grown up in the deep south, i never experienced these, even second hand. I remember watching Miss Congeniality and the Westminster dog show growing up, but the pageant circuit was completely off my little nerd radar.
ReplyDeleteI find it abstractly fascinating in the same way I chewed through Selling Sunset or Indian Matchmaker. It's a culture not my own and uniquely fascinating that something so strange (maybe poor word choice) exists on a scale so big and complex that people make their dreams on it.
Personally, I never understood what is peoples fascination with beauty pageants.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, us girls used to play and pretend we were in miss world competition but once grown up it wouldn't occur to any of us to really apply for beauty competition of any kind. I think these things are still popular in some countries but not in Europe it seems.
ReplyDeleteI love commercial signs. Two attributes that especially appeal to me are indicia of aging and unusual fonts. I never expected to see both in one sign.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I walked the sad streets of Amityville. An old sign called out to me. Not only does the sign show age and odd font but the font is fun BECAUSE it's old -- the original standard font warped over time from exposure to outdoor weather and curled into interesting lettering. Cool!
Here's also a second sign (seen last month in South Jersey). What's remarkable is the content which leads me to ask -- is there anything Seymour doesn't do?!