Michael Zarrillo
English 1100
Professor Young
5 November 2014
Essay 3
Honestly Beautiful
Can beauty be honest? This is the question that I asked myself after watching Cameron Russell’s TED talk. Cameron Russell argues in her TED talk that beauty can be honest but, modeling agencies take the honest beauty away from the models. I agree with Cameron Russell that beauty can be honest. In her TED talk, Russell also talks about constructed beauty and how her beauty is constructed by designers, makeup artists, and computers. Constructed beauty is taking honest beauty and altering that beauty to make it more appealing. I feel that there is honest beauty out there and that not all beauty is not constructed. . Since there is constructed beauty in the world, there is also honest beauty. Beauty can be honest and I agree with Cameron Russell that honest beauty is natural features that is not altered.
In Cameron Russell’s TED talk she talks about how ever since she started modeling, photographers have been taking her honest beauty and altering it. She shows a picture in the talk of her modeling when she was 13 years old and the picture makes her look like she is 22. She hates that the agencies she works for takes her honest beauty and using computers to enhance her looks. Russell shows a series of her modeling photos and explains, “…these pictures, are not pictures of me. They are constructions, and they are constructions by a group of professionals” (Russell). Russell admits that the modeling agencies take her honest beauty and “constructs” it into something else. They construct her into something that she is not. Russell then states, “That’s not me” (Russell). Russell believes that since the designers alter her honest beauty, those pictures are not her. Russell wants to let the audience know who she really is and that she does not want to be known by her constructed pictures. Russell wants to be known to everyone by her honest beauty. I agree with Russell that she has honest beauty and that beauty can be honest. However, the modeling agencies have been altering her honest beauty throughout her whole life.
Beauty can be honest and Russell is a perfect example of honest beauty. Russell states in her TED talk “The real way that I became a model is I won a genetic lottery” (Russell). This means that Russell received beautiful genes and was born with honest beauty. Now that she is in the modeling industry, her image of honest beauty has been tainted. Everyone knows Russell by her constructed beauty that they see in magazines and commercials. Behind all of that construction, Russell still has her honest beauty. Honest beauty means that there is nothing that is altering someone’s natural features. Things like makeup and photoshop are ways that honest beauty turns into constructed beauty. When a girl wakes up in the morning without makeup on, that is her honest beauty because there is nothing that is altering or enhancing the way that they look. Some people want to construct their beauty to make them look more appealing to the opposite sex, or just in general. On the other hand, some people don’t want their beauty to be constructed, they want their honest beauty to show. Russell is an example of someone that wants their honest beauty to show.
Honest beauty is something that cannot be tampered with. Once honest beauty is tampered with, that makes it constructed beauty. Honest beauty is real and Russell tries to convince girls not to be models because it messes with who you are. Russell does not want other girls to have their honest beauty covered up by the constructions of the modeling industry. At least for Russell, she wants to be known by her honest beauty and not by what a computer can make her look like. Russell states “I am insecure. And I’m insecure because I have to think about what I look like every day” (Russell). Russell is saying that she has to worry about her honest beauty all the time and make sure that she keeps her best figure. Her body needs to be in shape for when she models, but the rest of her is constructed by makeup and computers. Russell know that she is beautiful without all of the “constructions” that the industry performs. Russell also encourages people to show their honest beauty and not to construct it. Honest beauty cannot be anything that is altered, enhanced, or otherwise changed to make the natural features of something look better.
As I have previously stated, beauty can be honest. Honest beauty is beauty that is not altered in any way. It is a person or items natural features that is not changed to make it look different. Cameron Russell explains how her natural beauty is overshadowed by constructed beauty that the modeling agency uses on her. Russell wishes that she could be known for her natural beauty and not her constructed beauty. Russell explains the ways that her beauty has been constructed by showing many pictures of herself without any makeup or enhancements, and other pictures of her in magazines where her honest beauty is tainted by computers and designers. Russell wants people to show their honest beauty and not let their beauty be constructed and enhanced by people. Everyone has honest beauty and they honest beauty is their natural features that have not been altered in any way shape or form. Beauty can be honest and everyone and everything has their own form of honest beauty. They just have to show themselves they are honestly beautiful and they don't need to be constructed.
Works Cited
Russell, Cameron. “Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I’m a model.” ted.com. TED, Oct. 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
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