Race, Representation and the Beauty Myth

I am going to expand on Janice’s previous entry on light-skinned actors because it’s something that has been bothering me. I was watching some Jerry Springer type show yesterday on Univision and it became evident that the race issue isn’t only present in telenovelas; it is apparent on nearly every program on the Spanish language television stations in the United States. While watching Univision, I started to become angry. Do the light-skinned anchors on the news programs and the light-skinned hosts on the Jerry Springer inspired shows represent the audience that watches them? I don’t believe they do. Of course this is not only the case with the Spanish language channels. We see this false representation every day in our society. We see the ideal image of what we should look like and what we should aspire to look like. The beauty myth is present all the time, and it is nearly impossible to escape. I see the beauty myth as a serious problem, and while it does indeed affect both boys and girls, I believe it becomes most detrimental to girls. From a young age, we see unrealistic portrayals of women and we are told that this is what we should aspire to look like. But this issue is being addressed. Chris Rock’s new movie, Good Hair, addresses this very important issue facing black women and girls. And I think that if commentators like us continue to scrutinize and examine the representation in telenovelas, awareness will hopefully be generated and the young Latina girls watching their favorite telenovelas will understand that these light-skinned actors do not constitute the only definition of beauty.