Transformation Project

For the transformation project I remixed an image of a young girl using a hair straightener, found on the Amazon.co.uk website, to depict how this technology can become an addictive tool to artificially alter one’s appearance.  This advertisement stood out to me because it represents a common style of how women in our society are often portrayed, and the technology of the hair straightener in her hand further exemplifies stereotypes of ways one can look more feminine. Although the development of the hair straightener is not an inherently harmful technology, it has become a popular instrument for women to seek a certain manifestation.

To remix this image I chose to collage photos of other girls’ faces, all with a similar look onto the original girl’s reflection in the mirror.  This gives a sense that as the girl is looking into the mirror, she is seeking a new reflection, the appearance of other women.  Additionally I arranged the floating heads of these “dream women” coming out of each other to show how young girls often influence one another’s desire for sameness, which can lead to an epidemic of insecurity.  Latterell explains how “On the one hand is the perspective that technologies always improve our lives.  Particularly in American culture, ‘new’ is better than ‘old’” (579).  This new technology, the hair straightener could be viewed as an advancement, in that it successfully achieves certain style results, yet the decision to even create the technology of a hair straightener reflects a bias of our society’s views towards what can better one’s appearance.

-Ashley