For my research paper I want to write how people view their imperfections as something they need to fix, while others embrace that they are different. I am going to further go into the aspects with fashion and how people find it necessary to buy certain brand of clothes to fit into a stereotype such as prep, emo, scene, Gothic, jock, or skater, such as others wear whatever fits into their budget, what looks good and feel comfortable. Most people would say that they are a combination of these two, and don't care what people care about what they look like, but only a few actually do. My thesis statement is that people view their imperfections as something they need to fix, while other embrace that they are different. With this thesis I could go into different directions such as people having plastic surgery because they are not happy with a larger stomach, a crooked nose, or small breasts while people with the same problems, accept them and move on. Other directions could also be how people feel the need to listen to a certain band because it is on the radio and because everyone listens to it they will be accepts, such as others prefer listening to underground bands, so that they are unique. Instead of going into that direction I want to focus on fashion.
The sources I want to use are Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self by Alice Walker, which is pages 109-117 in MOA. This source goes into a story on how when she was a child she was seen as "the pretty one" up until her brother accidentally shot her in the eye with a BB gun when she was younger, and that cause her one eye to have scar tissue and a cataract. During the period that she had this, she wouldn't talk to many people, she saw herself as ugly, and no one would talk to her unless they were calling her names. She ended up getting this removed, which boosted her confidence. She was then able to get the boyfriend of her dreams, and leave high-school as valedictorian, most popular student, and queen.
A second source I want to use is I want to be Miss America by Julia Alvarez, on pages 52-58 in MOA. This source is a story about how Julia and her sisters moved to America from the Dominican Republic when she was ten and instantly felt the need to fit in. Her and her sisters looked at magazines, admired their classmates, and watched TV which is where they found out about the Miss America Contest. They saw how all the contestants lined up by state and most were white expect for a few light-skinned black girls. They also noticed that if there actually was a Hispanic girl, she looked American, and her last name was always mispronounced. Her and her sisters would always dress up and try hard to pretend that they were in a Miss America pageant, but in the long run never actually did. The last line in this, "There she is, Miss American, but even in my up-to-date, enlightened dreams, she never wears my face." is the perfect example on how even living in a different country and being obviously not like the others, she still sees herself as beautiful and accepts her differences.
The only problem I can already see is that both of these sources do not show the fashion aspect that I want to show. I didn't really see any sources in MOA that showed people accepting their imperfections and differences in fashion, but still these sources go well with my thesis.
I want to go into detail about each fashion stereotype, how they look, how they are compared and contrasted, and how people within those stereotypes are said to be by others. I want to show how certain stereotypes such as prep or jock and their stereotypes buy certain brands to fit in, while the others care less about others and mainly only associate with people like them.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- How is each stereotype judged based on their clothing?
- Why are they judged this way?
- Can a person fit under two stereotypes?
- Why do people like imperfections?
- Why do people dislike imperfections?
- What causes a person to care about how they look?
SEARCH TERMS
- Gothic stereotype
- prep stereotype
- jock stereotype
- skater stereotype
- emo stereotype
- scene stereotype
- imperfection
- acceptance
1 comment:
Wow, this is a good one, and one that could take many directions! Have fun!
Devil's advocate...maybe you could go in to more of the media aspect of it, like what makes girls feel this way? Or the money spent on this, people buying it literally and the money spent on advertising this. Or finding models who are happy with just they way they are.
Just maybe a way to add to 2000 words! You'll do great!
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