People As We Know It: Commodification in the Land of the Beautiful

April 2002

In the 90s and 2000s, People became the magazine we all know and love (to hate).

On it covers, there are the beautiful people, and usually more than one of them. People uses multiple frames, candid pictures, and collage effects to portray an overwhelming power of Hollywood and the famous in America. Sometimes, a picture can be recycled two or three times to the point where a star's image (or at least, People's take on it) is branded into our subconscious.

Perhaps the most memorable pictures that show up on the covers of People Magazine are the Oscar photos. They tell the story we're used to by now. This is American beauty at its height. Stars gather in their pretty dresses and bright smiles to pose for the camera and make a lasting impression on their audience. So when you get on the cover (which are almost always women), you have the opportunity to control your image in a way that every starlet wants to be seen. Images of refined elegance, stunning beauty, and genuine emotion pervade the pages of People's Oscar issues in a way that goes right back to that very first issue: the celebrity for sale as well the hearts of the women they touch.

















April 1997

1970's women's freedom!

In the mid to late 60’s women realized that now they had the qualifications for proper jobs , but they were not being treated the same way. The 70’s were about “ equal pay for equal work” and women often attacked their bosses and fellow employers for sex discrimination. The early 70s was when the hippie period was at its prime, which represented equal rights for women and men, and women’s sexual and mental liberation. Many books were being published about the importance of women’s rights, another words the feminist movement became prominent in this decade. Different publications made a larger audience aware of the unequal treatment of women in the workforce. This was also the decade when the congress adopted the Equal Rights Amendment, which meant women had a right to an abortion and it was a private issue between the patient and the doctor. This was the most important decade for women’s suffrage and women had made a huge jump in finally being seen on an equal plane as men and having the same opportunities. Of course sex discrimination still existed and is even present today. Even advertising took hold of this new female freedom by selling products, which appealed to women wanting to demonstrate their independence. Cigarette companies would show images of women from the turn of the century getting arrested for smoking. They would use this to demonstrate how now women could perform this stereotypical masculine act and thus be as free as a man.

Seventeen magazine covers were filled with headlines about getting involved and contributing to society as free and active members. This cover presents an image of a girl who for the first time appears to be a bit younger then past images, and she is standing in a confident way. Her stance is empowering to see, much like the “Rosie The Riveter” image. Her stance doesn’t represent a meek subservient women anymore. The headlines are about jobs, how to volunteer with an organization concerning the environment, and other ways to save one’s money. It seems as though these women once again have full control of their lives, and these headlines demonstrate this. She is also wearing something that was quite different then prior eras , almost like a native american/ cowboy look. This can be seen much like punk today, a counter hegemonic behavior. The female will not be told what to wear she will dress, how ever she please even if it is different then everyone else. This cover reads “ New Beauty, Breakthrough CHANGE!”. Change is exactly what occurred and this was reflected in the fashion and even the makeup. Young girls wanted makeup and clothing to reflect their freedom. Once again the image isn’t about a scene representing a lifestyle, but a perfect looking girl posing for the camera. She has the unattainable beauty and thin physique, which we have all adopted as the perfect look. The importance of this cover is totally about the use of the girl’s looks to cause girls to idealize her not for her position in society, but more for her appearance. Therefore this paradox existed between representing female freedom and a whole new set of problems for young girls, as more and more teen magazine covers appeared just like this one.

http://www.seventeen.com/fun-stuff/special/65th-anniversary-cover-archive

http://www.enotes.com/1970-lifestyles-social-trends-american-decades/womens-liberation

1960's independence= changing fashion=shallow headlines

During the 1960’s, women’s roles started to change again as many women became upset with their oppressive lifestyles. They realized the suburban housewife image was not the route to happiness. Women wanted to leave the house and work . Divorce rates increased during the end of the 1950’s and throughout the 1960s , because of the way women were being oppressed causing them to feel isolated. Since women often got married at a very young age some went back to school.

While women understood the value of bringing up their children, housework wasn’t something that was rewarding. They had been taught that housekeeping and making the husband and kids happy was the most important thing they could do, but this was not enough for them. The media continued to try and uphold this same suburban, housewife image through the end of the 1950s and early 60s . The media started criticizing women who wanted to do more then housekeeping and child bearing. As one article said” They should use [their minds’ in every conceivable way.. so long as their primary focus of interest and activity is the home” and that “if they are truly feminine women, with truly feminine attitudes, they will.. accept their wifely functions with good humor and pleasure”(encyclopedia). The media tried to make it seem as though these women became a threat to their family and the well being of the entire country.

The media was attempting to promote the ideology that the US government wanted during this time. In the book “Practices of Looking” it states: “ Dependence on markets and government support makes it difficult if not impossible for media corporations to play the role of watchdog when it comes to reporting issues that involve potential infringements upon rights and freedoms by those who determine the financial stability of the corporation”(255). The media, including Seventeen magazine, is mainly owned by powerful men who are also connected to government officials who did not want to see a change in roles after life had finally returned to what they saw as normal and perhaps steady.

While this may have been, the case the demands of family life including domestic work and the man’s work all created stress that had to be dealt with in order to stop the family lives from continuing to fall apart. Men and women accepted changing roles in society. Since women stayed at home doing domestic work from cooking to mowing the grass, her jobs included some more commonly masculine tasks. Men sometimes drove the kids to school or bought groceries. The line between male and female jobs began to blur. While women and girls began to be taken seriously in school and girls were able to see a future that went beyond simply getting married and having kids, they faced more problems entering the work force. The cover of these magazines in the 1960s usually mentioned something about jobs or college, like how to make money in the summer or articles about picking the right college. Although it seemed as though these covers began to digress in terms of the female images they promoted.

In the 1960s women started to gain some more freedom , and the fashion changed along with this. As women no longer had to appear as perfect statues, taking care of the home and looking good for her husband, clothing demonstrated this new freedom and independence women started to gain. This meant shorter and tighter dresses, which meant thinner models. This perpetuated young girls to think more about their weight and appearance . More headlines started to appear on the magazine cover , most of them concerning weight, clothing, and guys.

It seemed as though the digression of this magazine began and instead of promoting active citizens and treating girls as and intelligent demographic the covers seemed to encourage girls to solely think about their appearance and how to get a guy. Girls started to look up to the women on the covers, because of the way they looked rather then their contributions to society.

Although there were exceptions and the magazine still held to their original purpose, but more and more it began to change. This cover happens to be one of the more positive covers for young girls. More headlines exist on the cover , but many of them are about ways to participate in society whether by going to college or voting . The cover still retains its artistic side by using a photo, which is beautiful and stands out as a piece of artwork. It is not just an airbrushed portrait of some model or actress. Although it no longer presents women in a scene that reflects a lifestyle, it is just a photograph of a girl dressed well and looking pretty. The one headline that’s says “Help! I hate my nose” is an example of what a lot of the covers began to look like in the 60s, while still incorporating the freedom women started to obtain. We may take advantage of voting at 18 or going to college, but these were very hot topics at a time when women were finally being encouraged to move ahead in society through education, work, and their political voice.

Fashionable Foundations and the Feel Good/Feel Bad Story

Although People may be a gossip magazine, it has not lost its roots in fashion and what fashion can say about the people who use it.

On June 20, 1977, People published an article following the story of Roy Halston Frowick aka Halston, fashion designer to the stars. He is depicted with Liza Minnelli and Elisabeth Taylor as a man on top of his game and of the beauty industry. No scandalous comments for the man that was making some of America's starlets into fashion icons.

















Halston 1977

Yet 13 years later, an almost identical picture shows up in an April 1990 edition with an entirely different spin. It is a shocking transformation: People will do an in depth story on the fall of Halston from fashion genius to... AIDS victim.

It is interesting the way People reappropriates the positionality of a victim of this disease. Halston is immediately othered. The headline of the story reads, "Like Fitzgerald's Gatsby, He Was a Mysterious Midwesterner Who Shone Brightest at Night. Then the Parties Stopped". Returning to this idea of a quintessential Americanness (one of high modernism and inaccessibility), People once again proceeds to make the reader pity in light of his public scandal. They play up his glamorous lifestyle then show how certain lifestyle choices caused him to die tragically ill. Of course, Halston was 57 at the time of his death. The choice to picture him as he was emphasizes the significance of his demise and causes the female reader to identify with a gay male counterpart. You can see in Liza and Liz Taylor's body positions that they are looking up to him in admiration as we look down on him in shame.







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Halston 1990

It may be exploitative of People to talk about the death of a star, but you will notice that death and anticipation of death, especially from AIDS became a big a story in the 80s. With the murder ans assassination attempts on John Lennon and Ronald Reagan shocking alarming the nation, it was important for People to take up some of this conversation and place it in the laps of women across the US.

One way to do that was to hit them where it hurts: with another ideal image of American beauty.

Alison Gertz, a society girl from the Upper East Side, contracted HIV on her first sexual encounter and was given the opportunity (unlike many minority groups throughout New York and the world) to tell her story. Gertz had gotten the disease at age 16 from an older, bisexual man (two things you want to shelter your kids from) and been living for years with the disease before it fully manifested as AIDS in her immune system. The article harped on the fact that she was "an unlikely candidate" and that "no one is safe" to push their readers to identify with this beautiful woman and her struggle of victimization. She is, by definition, a victim in this depiction as if it was pure coincidence or happenstance that she would have ended up with the wrong man.

Perhaps it was because of her good up-bringing that Alison Gertz made it on the cover of People Magazine, but are these the only images of AIDS that women of the US can relate to? Gertz is notably healthy looking in her photos. She is young, rich, and beautiful, apparently on top of her disease. She never talks about the pain or the sickness. She only talks about how came to this sad place, a road that anyone can stumble on. So yes, People may have pushed some of the more open female minds to go out and get tested, but once they came back negative, did they gain any greater understanding of a disease that was ravishing the nation?

Sadly, Gertz died two years later from the effects of her disease. A movie was made in her honor, starring Molly Ringwald and targeted to pretty, young teens.

Allure Magazine 1999-2000

As Allure Magazine entered the new millennium, the covers became increasingly celebrity oriented. In March 1999 Angelina Jolie graced the “Special Issue Allure Goes Hollywood” followed by Heather Graham on the May 2000 issue that was titled “Special Nude Issue.” Over the course of a year, the magazine changed dramatically. On the Angelina cover “Oscar Hoopla: Dressing Gwyneth, Winona, Meg, Cameron,” “8 New Actresses Hit the Big Time,” “In Love With Audrey Hepburn: Rare Photos” and “Holy Moly It’s Angelina Jolie” are the major headlines. On May 2000 cover “Dare to Bare! 10 Pages on Looking Better Naked Plus: Some Celebrities Show Some Skin,” “Self-Tanner 101 A No-Sun, No-Streak Tan. No Kidding,” and “Before-and-After Lipo Pictures and Other Surgery Shockers” display just how far a beauty magazine has to go to maintain its relevance.

The March 1999 cover obviously relies on celebrity, both on the cover and on the information it promises inside. Not only is the magazine mentioning and featuring the cover celebrity but also references four other Hollywood celebrities. Additionally, the magazine addresses the fact that it has access to 8 new actresses who are becoming ‘big.’ Looking at the magazine in a modern historical context, this was also around the time when gossip magazines began to rampantly crop up. It seems as though beginning in the last year of the decade Allure found a way to sell their beauty angel through celebrity. Now its not about appearing as beautiful as you can be, but to appear as beautiful as celebrities, through Allure’s trademark tips, tricks, and secrets. Allure also draws on old Hollywood glamour, as referenced by Audrey Hepburn on the cover. However, there is no mention to beauty of any kind, but the magazine makes sure to highlight the idea of ‘rare photos’ to rival other magazines that have exclusive access to Hollywood.

From a visual standpoint, this is one of the first Allure covers to display an unambiguous background. It is clear that Angelina Jolie is standing on a beach. The introduction of an exotic locale is most likely a result of the pressure to compete with other leading magazines that always shoot in exotic location. In 2000, without a celebrity and a desirable backdrop, Allure’s niche in beauty reporting would be obsolete.

For the May 2000 “Nude Issue,” the entire cover is based on many facets of nudity and how it is related to beauty. First, Allure makes sure the reader knows that she does not naturally look good naked, but there is hope because there are 10 pages devoted to teaching her how to look better. Also, the magazine promises to throw in some celebrities showing skin because as mentioned before Allure’s new tactic is to make readers not only want to be more beautiful but to emulate celebrities as well. In terms of self-tanning, the magazine asserts that one must be educated (self-tanner 101) before applying it. Moreover, the magazine also tells the reader that what they have been doing prior to reading the new issue is wrong. By 2000, Allure recognized the hazards of artificially tanning, so to be both streaky from the wrong lotion and tanned from tanning beds are mistakes that an uneducated person would make. The magazine also references plastic surgery and uses the term “shockers” when describing the ‘before and after.’ Allure cleverly does not distinguish what will be shocking. It could be the amazing, dramatic results, or it could be photos of life-threatening complications. The reader must purchase the magazine to find out. Also, the mere fact that liposuction or ‘lipo’ is mentioned on the cover speaks the idea that procedures that were once exclusively available to the rich and famous are now available to the public, and can be taken lightly as noted by the cutesy abbreviation, ‘lipo.’

Image for 1940s female blog entry

Allure Magazine 1998-1998

The covers from spring 1998 are very important because March was the first cover that shows the growing obsession with celebrities and their habits and love lives. Another prevalent aspect in these two issues is the magazine replacing the doctor.

Visually, there is a small banner in the top right corner of the March issue that reads “Special Issue: Celebrity Beauty.” There is also “Jennifer Aniston in the Fast Lane” with a quote from her interview “Seat Belts are a Good Idea,” and finally “Primping For the Oscars: The Stars, The Experts, Their Top Secrets.” Allure’s main objective in this issue is to give the reader an “inside” or exclusive look into the lives of celebrities, the reasons behind their beauty, and most importantly how you can do it yourself. Magazines need to generate sales, generating sales requires remaining fresh, new, and full of relevant and intriguing content. As other magazines veered toward celebrity obsession, Allure had to follow suit, in a beauty-related way. This translated into the line about the Oscars. The use of the word “primping” connotes much effort put into the appearances of celebrities before an event, which could be useful to the reader to look just as glamorous. Additionally, by mentioning the stars, experts and ‘top secrets,’ the magazine displays the idea that mastery of beauty techniques are revealed by those who work with celebrities. It also conveys the message that celebrities are naturally beautiful, but have access to secrets that make them appear that way. Sending this false message to readers that buying $20 lipstick or a face cream has the ability to turn a soccer mom from Wisconsin into Kate Winslet is deceptive, yet effective for selling the magazine. Moreover, unlike the past where the makeup tips and tricks coexisted with images of models on the cover, the tips and tricks are paired with a specific celebrity. In this instance, these tips and tricks vaguely suggest that using them will make the reader look like Jennifer Aniston.
The second theme in the March 1998 and April 1998 issues is replacing the knowledge of a doctor with the knowledge of a magazine editor, by both pointing out faults of the doctor, and offering magazine-provided solutions. This can be seen in “What your doctor never asks you” and “New! Allure Solves Your Beauty Problems.” Readers both want to find out what their doctor is doing wrong, and more importantly the suggestions that Allure will have to remedy this. As mentioned in previous posts this is extremely problematic. First these types of messages are the beginnings of a society full of hypochondriacs obsessed with self-diagnosing via Internet and other means. Additionally, what makes Allure a reputable authority when it comes to medicine? Beauty, maybe, but medicine? In terms of Allure solving beauty problems, this may be more up their alley but at the same time is also signifies that not only does Allure suggest and report beauty products and techniques, but it also can fix the problems that you have with beauty. Thinking about this claim, it actually doesn’t make sense. What constitutes a beauty problem? Allure knows that they don’t have to specify to sell their magazines they simply need to claim that they can solve a problem related to women’s low self-confidence in the beauty department and that will be enough to sell the magazine.