This weeks text “Pandora’s Camera” explored the topic of photo manipulation whilst addressing the morality of it, using examples such as Keira Knightley in ‘King Arthur’ and a Chanel perfume advertisement. The author explains that, in both promotional adverts, her chest is made relatively larger. He then goes onto say that this type of ‘retouching’ is ‘kind of like a default post-production process’.
In the ‘lies and falsehoods’ chapter of the book, the author makes a good point that there isn’t any need for the extreme manipulation of celebrities bodies because generally not many people care. “Should viewers of King Arthur who felt cheated by Keira Knightley’s flat chest in the film have protested? Did anyone walk out of the cinema in pique before the end? As far as i know, the producers received no complaints.” i completely agree with this statement because as an audience who sees the effects of photoshop and airbrushing so persistently throughout all forms of media, we tend to assume that everything has been manipulated. Therefore we are less shocked when we see an alternate or ‘real’ version of what has been initially shown to us.
I enjoyed reading this piece because it is interesting how we have become so desensitised to the use of photoshop and it has become the norm within the media in today’s society.
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