Beauty standards made by Pakistani media
- Hafsa Sajjad 25090093
- Dec 12, 2021
- 2 min read
In Pakistani media, we have seen the pressure of matching the beauty standards to become a leading star. But are these beauty standards even realistic? The prominent leading actors and actresses are of fair skin which clearly enforce fair skin as a standard of beauty. There are a few actors/actresses and models who are of darker skin but how prominent they are and how often they are seen on television screens itself answers the question of what is beauty according to our media. Amna Ilyas who is an actress and model with a darker skin tone, shares her story in an interview about how many brands ask the makeup artists to light her skin tone for the shoots. How TV show directors also put emphasis on the fair skin tone of the actresses. In the recent years of Pakistani media, we did not see any darker skin toned actor or actresses in a leading role. The fairness creams advertisements also play a very crucial role in this race to acquire these beauty standards. These days a TV show, “Parizad”, is getting a lot of attention and appreciation from the audience. The show is based on breaking the stereotype of this beauty standard. The leading hero of the show is of darker skin tone. The show is very beautifully written by Hashim Nadeem and amazingly presented which clearly portrays the struggles of an average looking man in this society. TV shows like “Parizad” are just a beginning towards the breaking of stereotypes such as baseless and unrealistic beauty standards. It is a great beginning and highly appreciated by the audience too. But there is still a very long way to go.
This complex does not only exist in the entertainment industry but it has taken it's roots from how our audience depicts "gora" as beautiful. Dusky tone celebrities still gets comments on Instagram handles where they are called "kaali" and "badsoorat". It's almost 2022 and it's high time we start educating our people about the difference of being pretty and fair skinned. I was whatching an interview where girls were asked if they will marry guys like parizaad where they answered that his type of boys are rare with precious personalities but they will not get married to a person like him. Perfectly explains the mindset of our society
Yes! There is still a very long way to go.
Sharing my views upon the most commonly known stereotypic mindsets, I believe that we are far far away from accepting the beauty of nature the way it is. In Asia the skin tone is solely considered important at times of commenting upon one’s personality, one being of darker or towards darker tone is simply taken out of the list of being beautiful. The mentality is kind of taking turns but only in upper levels of society. Moving out in a local makeup shop, you can only see the face foundations that tend to lighten the skin tone whereas the top leading brands if seen offers a range for all skin…
I don't think so Parizad is a play to put an effort to break the stereotype towards dark skin tone rather the play provides a way out for dark skin tone men to find alternate ways to become influential and powerful. In fact, I don't even beleive the skin tone has anything to do with the play except providing a starting point for the play. The rest of the play revolves around how people starts to value you when you become RICH and POWERFUL. They haven't yet accepted his darker skin tone, people still see it as a disability or a flaw. They just have something more important to look at in Parizad and that is his growing wealth and…
Another major theme of the beauty standards in the idea of the ideal body. almost exclusively, all the women that we see on our media are shown to be skinny, fitting into a particular size. This is also particularly harmful as not all body types can achieve that figure. So people who do not fall with the thin (pun intended) line presented as ideal are made to feel as if their bodies are not natural or normal due to the lack of representation,
Women in movies, dramas, and films have very unrealistic beauty and body standards. It helps in attracting viewers and fills the cash registers of the directors and producers. These directors and producers are also responsible for the mental damage women, and girls have endured due to the photoshop-level beauty standards. Our minds have been programmed to perceive straight hair as "attractive," which has also caused women with curly hair to try to fit into that frame. We should embrace our innate beauty and have the liberty to exercise our rights without any external discrimination. Everyone is beautiful, and they should not be judged for how they look but for who they are.