Americans spend an estimated $13 to 14 billion a year on Botox. Forbes publishes an annual list of the best-paid celebrities under 30. And on the current list of the top 10 best selling songs on iTunes, only one artist is over the age of 30 (that would be rapper/producer Jay-Z, coming in at the ancient age of 39). So what’s driving this American obsession with youth in the entertainment industry? Since when does experience constitute success less than age?
In the coming weeks, I hope to explore the roots behind western fascination with youth, with a particular emphasis on how this obsession impacts the entertainment industry. I hope to explore when and where the youth obsession started (if you can target that at all) as well as the overall trends of the fascination (i.e. have there been historical times when the media has become more focused on young individuals, or when young performers seem to thrive?)
I first became interested in the topic of American reverence of youth while reading a book on evolutionary psychology. In their book, Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, authors Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa challenge the assumption that the media perpetuates our need to feel young, and instead assert that it’s our very biology as humans that has hardwired us toward this inclination. After reading countless articles blaming the media for people’s need to feel young and sexy, I started wondering which it was- nature or nurture? I hope to explore more on this topic during the course of my research.
Posts
This is a fascinating topic. Personally, I have always wondered if the media deserves all the blame for our youth-obsessed culture. After all, the primary job of the media is to make a profit, so obviously youth and the pursuit of it sell. I hope that you delve deeply into the evolutionary aspect of this argument. Intuitively, it seems to make sense that people have an innate desire to be and feel young. After all, those are generally the healthiest years of one's life. But why then do other cultures (specifically, several Asian cultures) seem not to be as youth-obsessed? Anyway, I truly look forward to following your research!
ReplyDeleteThe evolutionary angle here is intriguing. I wonder what the response has been (in both scientific literature and pop culture) to miller and kanazawa's book. It seems that the media must play a role, but their argument is such that media itself could be a mere evolutionary byproduct driving the biological drive for youthfulness. Blame the genes for Brittany and Botox! But where do we go from there? It's hard to mount a campaign against evolution. Well, not that hard, but you know what I mean. While your topic will get more narrow as you continue to discover more about it, this seems like a nicely focused start. The key will be to hone in on the conversation that has emerged around the book you cite--and the debate in general--to see if there's room for a distinct argumentative angle of your own.
ReplyDelete