note: curve of shoulders/ back eliminated; arm made more slender; subcutaneous fat on back above waist removed; waistline slimmed and back stretched; collarbone tendons' shadowing removed - these details have the effect of giving the model an *effortless* lightness and a lift that's nearly impossible to attain (you can see it's not easily possible because of the strains, such as curved shoulder/back and flexed tendons around collarbone showing in the original).
In the face, the photoshopped version achieves a similar effect of effortlessness - which is pernicious, insofar as no one can really achieve it effortlessly, yet you (if you're female) might think there's something wrong with you (or men might think you're haggard or a shrew) if you don't have that aura of floating on air. To whit: all indications of physically straining to hold the pose are erased, the face is turned into a smooth mask; the lines/pouches under the eyes indicate the effort involved in smiling so brightly, so they're erased; the lines running from nose to mouth corners, which indicate similar strain, are also erased; the face is lightened, which suggests there's no added blood pumping through the system to keep all this going - it's just easy/ effortless - and so the woman is literally drained of vital signifiers, imbued instead by an ethereal, angelic perfection ...that is anything but effortless or easy to achieve, much less maintain.
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Public Stiky Notes
In the face, the photoshopped version achieves a similar effect of effortlessness - which is pernicious, insofar as no one can really achieve it effortlessly, yet you (if you're female) might think there's something wrong with you (or men might think you're haggard or a shrew) if you don't have that aura of floating on air. To whit: all indications of physically straining to hold the pose are erased, the face is turned into a smooth mask; the lines/pouches under the eyes indicate the effort involved in smiling so brightly, so they're erased; the lines running from nose to mouth corners, which indicate similar strain, are also erased; the face is lightened, which suggests there's no added blood pumping through the system to keep all this going - it's just easy/ effortless - and so the woman is literally drained of vital signifiers, imbued instead by an ethereal, angelic perfection ...that is anything but effortless or easy to achieve, much less maintain.
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