TWO

Day two and it's the beach today!

It wasn't as fun as yesterday, mostly because my look today was sort of frumpier than yesterday's one, and I suppose in the presence of the beautifully tanned bodies exhibited in barely-there clothing, it isn't difficult to feel frumpy.

I noticed something curious about the reactions of the different sexes of my age group. While girls express mainly shock, amusement or disgust, boys have only two: total apathy (I think this might be because I don't look like enough of a girl for them to pay me any attention) or curious interest (I think this is because I'm just something different and they don't have to imagine dressing like me).

What was different about today was that I actually spoke to people directly about what they thought of me, which was rather fun.

1) "Evil" was an adjective used three times by seperate people.

2) Two thirteen-year-old boys thought I looked very cool, and commented that I look like I'm "going to a rock concert, you know, like, heavy metal".

3) A little girl in a pink dress refused to speak to me, hiding behind her mother even after I tried to coax her out.

4) Someone said I looked "freaky" and "belong in Hallowene". The same person said he's often seen "goth-looking" people come out of a club near Davenport, and reccomended I go there, rather than the beach.
5) "It's very different. It looks cool, but... I wouldn't dress like that".

ONE

                     

   

                                                                                          
Today was my first official day in my alternative gear, my attempt at punk, and it's been the most fun I've had in a long time. The responses were varied, but mostly amusing.
Accompanied by a friend and my camera, I exhibited my appearance at Gateway, a popular shopping centre in Durban.
1) A little black boy with a big bald head and huge eyes stood in the passage for about 2 minutes to stare at me until his mother pulled him away.

2) A woman pulled her hand-bag closer to her body as I walked past.
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3) A tentative up and down look and finally an approving smile from an alternative-looking boy.

4) Various giggles from various primped-up tweenies and 'fashonistas'.

5) "That girl has holes in her stockings!" from a concerned old lady.

6) "Woah!" from a random preppy couple.

7) I think almost everyone who saw me today at least gave me a second of their attention. Eventually I started pulling faces at them.

8) I asked a little girl I know if she liked my peircings and she said "No, they didn't look nice. I like you when you look normal. Not when you have peircings and things in your face". Harsh, but refreshingly honest.

Ice cream time is all the time

Oh, and we got stopped by the mall popo! I was stopped and questioned by no less than three "mall cops", asking why I was taking videos in the centre. However, I do believe they might have been slightly less aggressive if I looked more acceptable. This is a permit I had to go all the way to the secret management floor to get.

Beauty and Conformity

So I just found this little jewel on http://9gag.com and it called out "Weakley... Weakley... Share me... I'm relevant...". So I had to share this, you see.

So what am I actually doing?

Preliminary alternative prototype

An issue that's affected me a lot personally since the realisation of my identity is the issue of conformity, not just applied to beauty, but to every aspect of a teenager's life. Music, school work, literature, general behaviour, I find myself in the frame of mind rather than the forced behavioural pattern of nonconformity.

So after thinking about what I actually want to do for my final art project, I decided, with inspiration from my friends, school, and other places, to film a documentary delving into the mindset of beauty only being a form of conformity.
In Layman's terms, it's the idea that I find prevelant among teenage girls that you have to look like everyone else in order to look beautiful.

So this is the line-up:

1) I've filmed some interviews with people whose opinions I find interesting, intelligent or relevant to this project

2) This week I am in process of dressing and changing my appearance to be as socially divergant and alternative as possible. While in this process, I will be filming people's reactions and conducting a series of 'vox pops' (word-on-the-street interviews)

3) The following week I will be dressing and changing my appearance to the opposite - conformist beauty applicable to my age and social group to the extreme. I will be following embarassing trends and trying to 'fit in with the people'. I will also film reactions at this time.

4) Finally, all these components will be combined into the final product of a video documentary.

Wish me luck!

Interview with Neith Moore

I recently interviewed my Art teacher, Neith Moore, which produced such gems as

"Try not emphasize the cuteness of the child. You know, she looks like little Annie therefore she is much more successful than the other child who looks like a hatchling girafffe."

and

"So if you go to your matric dance in black clunky boots and black organza looking like something out of the Addams family, that's amusing. I find that amusing. I don't think teenagers find that amusing though..."

Heavy Boots

These amazing boots belonged to my dad, who was in the air force. These are (for want of a better word) his "show" boots. The real deal. The ones you polish to death because if you don't you'll get kicked in the face by your commanding officer. Or something. 

They aren't very comfortable, but they do make you feel like you could kick someone's face in, if you wanted to. They're also rather heavy. Cold War Kids would have been proud.

The Opposite End of the Spectrum

While personally and, I suppose, for the purpose of this project, I find the appearances of people like Thelma Malna (http://lookbook.nu/user/31846-Thelma-M/looks), Lua P (http://lookbook.nu/user/18883-Lua-P/looks), and Masha Sedgwick (http://lookbook.nu/user/60494-Masha-S/looks) more interesting than a beauty stereotype, I suppose I would also have to offer the opposite end of the spectrum. It seems only right. 

             

 

So after perusing LOOKBOOK a little, the website of a popular South African clothing store, Mr Price, and a popular South African teen girl magazine, Saltwater Girl, I came up with this collection of photos. Don't ask me to say anything about them except "it's for research" and "these kinds of things are alien to me".