ipl-logo

Pretty Hurts Analysis Essay

857 Words4 Pages

The song “Pretty Hurts” was written by Beyonce Knowles. Known for her empowering anthems, she effectively connects with an audience of women with her gut wrenching ballads and unifying messages. She began her career in the girl group, Destiny’s Child, and embarked on a solo career in 2003. Since then, she has proved to be one of most famous and influential female singers of all time. In the song “Pretty Hurts” by Beyonce Knowles the speaker, a young woman who is dealing with body image issues, illustrates the idea that societal beauty standards are unattainable and harmful for young women. However, the speaker feels that women can overcome the pressure to adhere to these standards and be happy with their bodies. This message is directed toward other young women who, like her, are also affected by these detrimental beauty standards. The video for “Pretty Hurts” starts off with a tentative …show more content…

Are you happy with yourself?” By repeating this question, the speaker is asking her audience to seriously question their own happiness and if it was falsely cultivated through society’s measures. At that moment of the music video, Beyonce is shown with no makeup, accenting her innate beauty, and she smiles at her reflection. In the last moments of the song, softly sings “Yes”, confirming that she has learned to love herself, the way she naturally is. This sums up and executes the speaker’s main message- that young, impressionable girls should appreciate the beauty they were born with. On the surface, the song “Pretty Hurts” is about a pageant girl who comes to terms with her insecurities and learns to accept her natural beauty; however, when one looks deeper, the audience understands that the speaker is criticizing society’s beauty standards and its effect on young women. This message is shown through the author’s use of various rhetorical devices including diction, metaphors and

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Toddlers In Tiaras By Skip Hollandsworth

    758 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the article “Toddlers in Tiaras” by Skip Hollandsworth the author uses many ways to get the reader to know the rhetorical situation and also how his argument is structured. The analyzation of exigency in the article is what happens in the world of pageants and how it negatively affects young girls. Telling girls that you have to look and be a certain way instead of yourself. The purpose of this article is to inform you that young girls are being exploited as women. The girls are being overexposed and hypersexualized because of the pageantry.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Life With Daughters Watching The Miss American Pageant

    547 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Gerald Early’s essay “Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America pageant,” Early talks about his experience of watching Miss America pageants with his family. The issue explored in his essay is the way black culture in society is affected by America’s standard of beauty and the difficulties black women experiences when trying to find one’s identity because of this. Early believes that America’s standard of beauty is white, the look that is most praised in the beauty pageants. He uses rhetorical strategies such as allusion, ethical persuasion, and emotional persuasion to emphasize that America's standard of beauty has an effect on black women.

    Read More

  • Carnal Acts Nancy Mairs Analysis

    867 Words  | 4 Pages

    By using logos in her essay’s, Mairs is able to further describe the effects of standards have on women, including herself by stating in her quote, she’s spent most of her life suffering from not meeting the standards set for her. The use of short and long sentences in her essays help the rhythmic flow describe what it’s really feel like to fall short of standards people have set for

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Cover Girl

    776 Words  | 4 Pages

    It has long been known that there is a stereotype of vanity and superficiality attached to celebrities, both in Hollywood and on Broadway. This vanity is often associated with society’s notion that being beautiful is a make it or break it deal. Unfortunately, this requirement holds much stronger for women, especially in the 1940s and 1950s when a woman’s value was determined primarily on her appearance. The 1944 film Cover Girl discusses at great length these gender roles, as well as status, and even gender roles within status. This film is produced and released at a time where we see gender roles start to shift and change, and feminist thoughts first begin to develop.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Beyonce

    1120 Words  | 5 Pages

    Pretty Hurts. Sia Furler, 2013. CD. Beyoncé Knowles released Pretty Hurts in 2013. The song is about a beauty pageant that Beyoncé is competing as Miss Third Ward.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Pageants Parlors And Pretty Women By Blaine Roberts

    1103 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since the dawn of humanity, women have been trying to achieve their personal idea of what beauty is. In the book “Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty Women”, one sees the author, Blaine Roberts, show the racial division between white women and black women as their idea of what beauty appeared as was completely opposite. Women of different color, size, attitude, mindset, and dreams all concurred that beauty was an important aspect for the Civil Rights movement. Roberts’ thesis, black and white perceptions of beauty both played a crucial role during the civil rights movement while the road that led them there was life changing, is depicted throughout her book. While things like the Jim Crow laws tried to put a gate on specific groups voicing their

    Read More

  • Black Women In The 1950's

    735 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ideal of a women magazine model are full of photos with women who are typically white and very thin. Many women will agree that they may feel pressured to dress or look a certain way because of the way the models look. The media can make women feel insecure about themselves and have low self-esteem. The messages in the media says that women will always need to make an adjustment to fit the “ideal” look. Since, the media portrays such images and make women feel like beauty is important women need to make sure they love themselves.

    Read More

  • Why Thinking You Re Ugly Is Bad For You Analysis

    841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Meaghan Ramsey's TED Talk "Why thinking you're ugly is bad for you" is a powerful speech about low body confidence. Ramsey talks about how society's pressure to be perfect is one of the main reason for young girls' (and boys') low body confidence and how these feelings of low esteem can impact their lives and futures. I chose to analyze this speech because I have experienced low body confidence and I have felt those feelings of low self-esteem. In Meaghan Ramsey's speech "Why thinking you're ugly is bad for you", she discusses how low body confidence is undermining academic achievement, damaging health, and limiting the economic potential of today's youth who are growing up in a world of social media. Ramsey has a strong start to her speech, using a photo and a story about her niece to gain the attention of the audience.

    Read More

  • Demi Lovato: A Modern Tragic Hero

    1261 Words  | 6 Pages

    When, the harsh words Lovato received overthrew the love that was there, she became swept up in the whirlwind. Therefore, her tragic flaw that ultimately leads to her suffering is her lack of self confidence when faced with opposing forces. For the modern tragic hero, the downfall occurs when her situation with bullies spiteful words started to build up inside of her until she finally can not take it anymore. For instance, Demi’s tyrants would call her “fat”, she believed them, and would soon after develop unhealthy eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, and so much more in the future. After Demi Lovato had done so much self harm, Lovato undergoes recognition, a shift from ignorance about her own

    Read More

  • Child Beauty Pageants Argumentative Essay

    1277 Words  | 6 Pages

    Child Beauty Pageants: Do Caked Faces Take the Cake? “Click, click, click.” The sound of a six year old prancing on stage in five inch stilettos, pounds of makeup on their once pretty, raw faces, and self tan packed on their skin. This is a scene from a child beauty pageant. These pageants encourage young girls to become someone they are not.

    Read More

  • Taylor Swift And Feminism

    1310 Words  | 6 Pages

    Taylor Swift wasn’t always the ‘feminist’ that she claims to be, before her ‘empowering’ award speeches and squads, the young icon said in an interview that she does not want to be called a feminist. Marketplace feminism, based on Zeisler’s book, We Were Feminists Once, is a form of “branding feminism as an identity that anyone can and could consume.” The boom of feminism in pop culture led Taylor Swift and many artists went with the ‘trend’ that is feminism. Yet, majority fail to discuss sensitive issues that the media might think will not go well the audiences.

    Read More

  • Gender In The Mirror Analysis

    1675 Words  | 7 Pages

    Feminist theorist Diana Meyers studied the agency of women in “Gender in the Mirror: Cultural Imagery and Women’s Agency.” Meyers theorizes that women gain their agency in two primary ways: beauty and narcissism. Meyers applies this theory to the twenty-first century and correlates the rise of cosmetic surgery and the beauty industry to women’s desperation for agency through appearing beautiful. Under this theory, women intermingle their existence with their agency and “unlike Narcissus, who believes he is in love with a beautiful, submerged Other, women are positioned to believe that they will perish if the image in the glass disappears” (Meyers 123). Then, through self-serving actions devoted to achieving beauty ideals, women unintentionally

    Read More

  • Women In Maggie Piercy's Expectations Of Women

    838 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the years, women have withstood sexist dilemmas enforced by men. They have been stereotyped and expected to be something fraudulent. Women as a group, have come a long way from the struggles and discrimination they have faced for many years. Men have adequately impacted the reputations of women. Women are demonstratively stereotyped as powerless, passive, and sacrificial humans due to the expectations they received in the past imposed by paternal society.

    Read More

  • The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping Analysis

    1148 Words  | 5 Pages

    Grace Nichols effectively utilises idiomatic language, word choice and various aesthetic features to show westerners the struggles which outsiders of society face. There have always been marginalised groups within society, and it can feel horrible to be in that position. Nichols has really struck a chord with this poem, as it really speaks out about what it’s like to be an outsider. She uses the fat black woman not fitting into the clothes as a metaphor for her not fitting into society; not just for her size, but for her race and colour as

    Read More

  • The Twilight Zone Episode Analysis

    734 Words  | 3 Pages

    Depending upon what society says is pretty is what everyone believes is beautiful, therefore, Ms. Tyler believes that she was not beautiful enough. (“The Eye of the

    Read More

More about Pretty Hurts Analysis Essay

Open Document