Research Paper on "Fashion Color Contact Lens"

Research Paper 9 pages (2792 words) Sources: 9

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Fashion-Color Contact Lens

Beauty for sale

Globalization has made it possible for a multitude of cultures to interact and influence each-other, with the Western World having an increasing influence on the Eastern community and vice-versa. Asians have gradually come to be more and more appreciative in regard to Western culture, reaching a phase where they go through great efforts to amplify their physical beauty by adopting occidental looks. As a result of the fact that their dark facial features did not assist them in being properly recognized for their potential by society as a whole, numerous Asian individuals have changed their appearance by using color contact lenses and skin whiteners.

The fact that Hollywood apparently had nothing against portraying actors that had Caucasian as well as Asian characteristics in lead roles during the early 1990s virtually fueled international audiences in seeing individuals with Eurasian facial features in a positive light. Moreover, the general public gradually started to associate the whole Asian continent with people of Eurasian descent. As a response to the fact that people came to put across a more enthusiastic attitude in regard to individuals with Eurasian facial feature in comparison to the attention that was given to them, Asians that had conventional Oriental looks felt that it was essential for them to change their appearance in order to experience success. Whereas mixed blood did not previously seem important in selling image, this characteristic came to be one of the main elements making the difference between a renowned individual in the entertainment industry and one that had little to no chances to succeed. Eyes, hair, and skin modifications stand as a top priority for an aspiring Asian artist, as it is virtually impossible to succeed in the entertainment industry without following a recipe that guarantees triumph. Consumerism is primarily responsible for this tendency, as it virtually dictates fashion and goes as far as having certain individuals reinvent themselves for the sole purpose of being more affable to the masses (Beech).

Although it is perfectly normal for people to feel attracted to items coming from a variety of cultures, it is less ordinary for individuals to want to shape their facial appearance in accordance to the trends. It is one thing to wear an Italian suit with Japanese shoes and it is another when someone tries to change their eye-color or even the shape of their eyes as a result of wanting to appear Eurasian. Globalization is one of the main influencing factors in having Asians want to look more like their European counterparts. Western influences arrived in Japan through a series of means, with the most noteworthy being related to the entertainment industry (Beech).

Japan is typically recognized for its ability to maintain tradition, given that most Japanese consider their cultural values to have played an essential role in shaping their personality and practically everything about themselves. However, as a result of the country's determination to reinvent itself in the last few decades, matters have changed significantly. This is owed partly to its leaders desire to detach themselves from events happening in the first half of the twentieth century and partly to the fact that the country had to present the rest of the world with marketable image. Hence, Japan became a country renowned for its therapeutic remedies, the wonderful scenery available there, and the fact that it is one of the most technologically advanced states in the world. Contemporary society perceives Japan as being formed from a mixture of both Occidental and Oriental elements. The Japanese are impressive through the indiscrimination that they put across, as they manage to live in a community that preserves a series of traditional features and concomitantly welcomes innovative and debatable influences with no hesitation whatsoever (Mostow 224).

In spite of the fact that they also relate to some of the golden years of the Japanese Empire, certain Japanese art exhibitions (such as Nihon Bi Saihakken: Furi Mukeba Japanesku that took place in the early 1990s in the Mitukoshi Department Store in Tokyo) apparently have a tendency to focus on more recent matters. These respective issues deal with the importance that White culture has had in shaping present-day Japan. "The new era has brought about attention to a new generation, in fact a "new Japanese," "who have been raised in an environment where the fact that Euro-American culture has been brought into everyday life is an extremely normal (futsu) thing." (Mostow 225). Despite many Japanese prefer to believe that it is characteristic for them to experience foreign traditions, conditions have become critical in the recent decades. In order to break away from tradition, the Japanese have gotten actively engaged in producing, supporting, and honoring popular culture. They discovered its potential and the fact that it provided them with the opportunity to express themselves without caring about stereotypes. It was in the recent decades that the Japanese started the mass-production of popular culture, with this happening mainly as a result of the fact that people in Japan expressed an increasing need for consuming the concept. People are normally accustomed to ignoring the effect that popular culture has on them, claiming that they filter the information they receive and that they avoid negative information. However, given the magnitude and the efficiency with which popular culture manages to influence individuals, it is extremely difficult for one to identify when the data that he or she comes across is meant to persuade them in favoring matters that they would normally not (Aoyagi, 144).

The general public and young individuals in particular fall victim to the negative information that they see in the media. These people are in most cases unable to differentiate between right and wrong because negative information is cleverly concealed into information that seems perfectly innocent. Inheriting popular culture from the Western world, the Japanese adapted it to their customs and generated several concepts that slowly but surely came to represent their country. Pop idols have been especially renowned in Japan in the recent years and numerous young people grew to be determined to become idols themselves. In order to do so, most were prepared to do anything, even if this meant that they would have to change their personality, go against their traditional values, or actually modifying their physical appearance. Aspiring to be a pop idol basically means that one has to abandon their cultural values in order to embrace a Western-like approach regarding image. The respective pop idol candidate would then have to do everything in his or her power to try and look as Euro-American as possible, given that Euro-American image is saleable. Considering that these individuals literally become idols for many other people, it is only safe to assume that the masses come to form an unreal image of the ideal person. "In friendship grounded in consumer culture, adolescents constitute the market-driven aspects of coming of age that continue to feed the trend industry. It is to this end that idols and their manufacturing industry employ cultural strategies that can create marketable adolescent personalities." (Aoyagi, 146). As an attempt to reduce the public's understanding of what is actually going on in regard to the pop idol industry, people in charge of it present several Japanese traditional concepts that point toward the belief that there is nothing harmful about what this whole affair. Pop idol supporters are normally only interest in profits, as they are practically do not care about what happens to the masses as a result of the fact that more and more people abandon conventionality in favor of building their lives around an ideal image that does not even exist in the first place. Considering that teenagers are vulnerable to negative information, their agitation can be easily channeled toward pop idols and in regard to how their lives would experience a change to the better if they were to adopt the same behavior they see in their favorite stars. Disappointment is even greater when most adolescents discover that they are more likely to experience distress as a result of wanting to be like their idols. Matters escalate as young people come to follow one of the most frequently encountered customs in the world of teenager stars -- the one influencing them in opposing almost everything related to the adult culture. The world of pop idols is less cute than it appears and those involved in the industry actually have to go through stressing moments in order to prove that they are worthy of doing this job. Many individuals experience traumatic events as a result of concentrating too much with the purpose of appealing to the audience and to managers in search of new talents (Aoyagi, 151).

Popular culture does not only affect individuals who appreciate it, as it also influences society as a whole, with those who are against it being among the groups most predisposed to be negatively affected. If a person dislikes something that he or she comes across on a daily basis, the respective individual… READ MORE

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