Glamour doesn’t just happen, people don’t wake up in the morning glamorous.
Virginia PostrelRead
In a media culture, we not only judge strangers by how they look but by the images of how they look. So we want attractive pictures of our heroes and repulsive images of our enemies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights how media influences our perceptions of people based on their appearances.
Virginia Postrel's quote points out the significant role that visual imagery plays in shaping our judgments about others in a media-saturated culture. It suggests that we are inclined to favor visually appealing representations of those we admire while simultaneously highlighting unattractive images of those we consider adversaries. This phenomenon reflects broader societal attitudes towards beauty and vilification, influencing public perception and emotional responses.
Themes
MediaPerceptionAppearanceJudgmentCulture
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about social media influence, this quote can illustrate how online platforms shape our views.
More from Virginia Postrel
All quotes →With its fluctuating forms and needless decoration, fashion epitomizes the supposedly unproductive waste that inspired 20th-century technocrats to dream of central planning. It exists for no good reason. But that's practically a definition of art.
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A world of few choices, whether in jeans or mates, is a world in which individual differences become sources of alienation, unhappiness, even self-loathing. If no jeans fit, you'll feel uncomfortable or inferior. If no housing developments reflect your taste for unique architecture, you'll write screeds against philistine mass culture.
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Most of us cluster somewhere in the middle of most statistical distributions. But there are lots of bell curves, and pretty much everyone is on a tail of at least one of them. We may collect strange memorabilia or read esoteric books, hold unusual religious beliefs or wear odd-sized shoes, suffer rare diseases or enjoy obscure movies.
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'Frankenstein' did not invent the fear of science; the novel found its audience because it dramatized anxieties that already existed. Although popular entertainment can, over the long run, shape public perceptions, it becomes popular in the first place only if it addresses preexisting hopes, fears, and fascinations.
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Religion, art, and science flourish best in a free society. True, freedom does not afford much opportunity for grand gestures. It has little room for martyrs. But life is not supposed to be about dying well. It is about living well.
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