Painted Babies and Fashion Wears Thin
...cludes various different peoples points of view, however, these people are psychologists and health experts who all have a negative opinion on the demand for skinny, unhealthy looking models. Another technique used is the use of visuals. As Painted Babies is a documentary, it obviously relies much more on the visual side, than voice overs etc. Many strong visuals are seen throughout the documentary, such as the children performing in ridiculous, over-the-top suggestive cabaret costumes. “Fashion Wears Thin” also includes many strong visuals that have been selected by the author to position the reader to accept her point of view. One such visual was a photograph of model Jenny Hayman, who looks decidedly too thin, and most people will see that she is so skinny she borders on being unattractive. Both texts have very catchy titles which help to grab readers and viewers attention. The titles of Painted Babies and “Fashion Wears Thin” do not give the reader or viewer a clear understanding of what they are about, and hopefully leave them somewhat curious, resulting in them wanting to be watched or read. Both Painted Babies and “Fashion Wears Thin” are very descriptive. Painted Babies constantly shows the parents of the protagonists Asia and Brook discussing excessively the outfits their daughters wear in the parades. When you see Asia’s Mum and Dad, in deep conversation about the fact that Asia needs a new cape with a new clasp on it, the viewer is forced to see it as bordering on the ridiculous. “Fashion Wears Thin”, is constantly using very emotive language when describing what in-demand models look like, the author states that the “sharp hip bones, knobbly knees and hollow cheek bones look more shocking than striking”. As both texts present particular points of view they must thus reach a conclusion. “Fashion Wears Thin” concludes that although todays models are looking too thin and unhealthy, they are not to blame, but the industry is because their “appalling eating and lifestyle habits are due to their hectic schedules. Painted Babies, as the title suggests is obviously very against child beauty pageants. This point of view is emphasised when the documentary finishes with Asia, having lost the beauty pageant the documentary focuses on, looking very tired and washed out, wearily rehearsing for her next pageant. As feature articles use layout as a positioning technique, documentaries, or the other hand use camera angles. An example of this is when Asia is in her car singing along to th...