Becoming the Stereotype

It's finally over with, sadly and happily enough. I hope you enjoy it.


Please keep in mind that I am not a professional film maker, and this is my first attempt at anything like this. There will be flaws and there will be parts that can be better, but this is a result of passion and weeks of hard work, so please don't be too harsh on me. I know I have a long way to go. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmIoDWLySCk

The Conclusion is that there is no Conclusion

I guess you could say this project started with a pair of boots. 

One day in Grade 9 I put my dad's old air force boots on for fun and then I pretty much never took them off. They became somewhat of a novelty.

People have borrowed them to look "alternative", to look cool, and to look like what society apparently doesn't find beautiful or feminine. Countless people in my art class have drawn them, some refusing to believe me when I say I actually wear them, and when I bring them to school, my teachers ask me if it's for drama class. 

People started saying things. "You can't wear boots like that with a pretty dress!" "I love your outfit, all you need now are a nice pair of pretty pumps." "You look like a mine-worker!". 

The second thing that inspired me to do this project was a comment made by someone I know. We were watching TV when a tattooed girl came on screen. "She could be so pretty! It's just the tattoos that ruin it...". And that got me thinking. 

The offending specimen

Danielle Colby-Cushman from American Pickers

I guess I don't really know what I think beauty is. All I know is that no-one should be considered any less beautiful because of dressing to please themselves. I don't believe the girl who decides to wear Doc Martens should be any less beautiful than the girl who wears heels, and I don't believe that looking different equals looking ugly. 

Someone said to me, during this project, that "having holes in your face and wearing creepy clothes is not beautiful. it has nothing to do with society's beliefs; it's not beautiful because it's unnatural. even little babies, who haven't had time to be shaped by society, cringe at the sight of people who wear creepy make-up and have a gazillion holes in their faces. they cringe (or cry) because those people look scary - not because they don't fit in with society" http://beautyandconformity.blogspot.com/p/contact-maybe.html. I was pleased that I got at least one negative comment. It gave me an idea what the worst people would be thinking. 

Do you think alternative people are unnatural? How is dying your hair purple any more unnatural than dying your hair blonde? How is piercing your face any more unnatural than piercing your ears or your belly-button? Babies are born with the inherent ability to tell what is natural and unnatural? No. If a baby were brought up in a home where everyone had "a gazillion holes in their faces", it would think nothing of their appearances. Don't be silly. 

I guess, though, that there are always going to be people who think like that. There isn't any answer really, and there isn't really a conclusion either.

As long as there are people, there will always be conformity, and as long as there is conformity, there will always be a clearly defined "IS" and a clearly defined "ISN'T". So as long as there are people that are and people that are not, there will always be "beautiful" and there will always be "ugly". 

That is all.

CD Cover

So I've just finished designing the cover of a little booklet-type thing I'll be making to present the disc my documentary is on to my art teacher, but it's after much grunting and shakings of the head. Enjoy.

SIX (or, Yeah, my Deep Etching Sucks)

So the final day of this experiment is finally over - I'm excited to be back to my normal self. I went to church last night looking like this, which spark a perfect set of reactions.

As soon as I walked in I was greeted with a chorus of "You look so pretty!"s, and "Oh my gosh!"s. My friends from church don't know me, or nonconformity, as well as my school and other various location friends, so they were a perfect tester group for reactions, because they could judge my appearance without linking it to my character.

1) A well-meaning generic-aged woman told me "You look glamorous tonight!" and when I began explaining it was for art and that it wasn't permanent she nodded enthusiastically and drowned my words with a few "Lovely! You look lovely!"s.

2) A friend of mine said that although I was wearing a lot of make-up, it looked very pretty, and that I should do it more often.

3) Someone else said they prefer this girly look on me that my usual look, and definitely preferred it to my look last week.

4) When asked what my person thought about my look, he replied, "It's not that I don't like the girly-girl, but I'd rather have the Courtney girl". Which is nice, but also irrelevant.

Now it's time to kick back and get this documentary done. This won't be my last post, though, so stay tuned (that sounded terribly cliche, didn't it?).

FIVE

It's almost the end of this tiring week, and I spent my second to last day at yet another semi-cultured location - the I <3 Market. It is a lovely place, but it seems to have evolved into one very large ridiculously expensive vintage clothing store. I saw a pair of brothel creepers I would've sold my soul for, but they too were ridiculously expensive.

Again, I recieved somewhat strange and resentful looks from the cultured crowd. Another interesting observation: alternative males pay little to no attention to mainstream girls, which is expected but still a little irritating.

I can't wait to get out of these fussy clothes. And to feel my face again once all this dreaded foundation is eradicated.

Uninteresting Musings

I have noticed something, while undertaking this project... It is an opinion I haven't quite solidified in my head, but I'll try to explain it in pieces.

In the beginning, while I was planning everything out in my head, I had expected this week to be incredibly painful. It has been painful, it has been embarassing, and it has been tiring, but it hasn't been anything as bad as what I had imagined.

Today, I'm afraid I cheated a bit. After going to those second hand shops and that art exhibition, I came home, put on a vintage dress, and went to a braai. On the way there, I stopped off at a shop to buy meat and other assorted condiments, and I of course passed the paths of a number of people, many of them young girls.

Suddenly the difference between them and I was so much more obvious to me than it had been this week, or even last week, and I suddenly realized a flaw in my plan.

Appearances are things, essentially. Your changeable, malleable, perennial appearance, like the clothes and make-up you wear, how you do your hair, whether you choose to tan or not, are peices of a mask (I know that sounds melodramatic, but bear with me) you put together, and this is the face you choose to show to the outside world. Yes, it is something you can change, and it is something you can turn on and off, but it is also a part of you, and your identity that is linked to you, even if only slightly.

The reason I felt the difference so much more strongly tonight rather than on any of the other days of my experiment was because tonight, I was wearing my identity, and that highlighted all the more strongly theirs. In my various disguises, I have felt disconnected from my appearance. It's a sign board held away from my body, only for the benefit of society to see, nothing I've worn has really felt like a part of me.

Until tonight.

Maybe people's reactions have been what they have been because they are wearing their identities. Maybe it's a good thing I've been wearing disguises and not my identity. I think if I had been wearing my identity, and asking people what they thought of me like that, I wouldn't have survived the judgements I've been getting.

It's just a make-shift thought.

Make of it what you will.

FOUR

I'm getting used to this, I guess. It doesn't make it any less strange when I go to
cultured, artsy places like The Factory Cafe at Colombo Fine Beverages Co. for a photographic art exhibition and some amazing coffee. I also went to a second-hand clothing, bookshop and White Elephant store, where I found the most amazing vintage dresses and a few beautiful cups and saucers.

Going to alternative places dressed mainstream feels worse than going to mainstream places dressed alternative. I believe your appearance can be something of a billboard that broadcasts to people your interests or beliefs. Not always, but the potential's there. I've noticed alternative people make use of that quite often. So of course, being in a place where I would like to use my appearance to broadcast my alternative interests to people who hopefully share those interests, it was embarassing to broadcast, instead, conformity and a love for the mainstream. Or perhaps not something that extreme, but I do think I looked a bit boring, and being in a place full of people who look interesting, it made me feel lame.
I'll say this because I've been on the other side of the prejudice, but alternative people seem to either express interest or dislike for people who look like I do this week. (These are the comments I've imagined in my head) "What are you doing at an art exhibition? Mainstream girls can't be interested in art." "Why are you buying a vintage dress? It's not like you'd ever wear it."

For anyone interested, Colombo Fine Beverages Co. is on Gale Street and is one of the most amazing coffee places you will ever come across. Try them. I dare you.