The Oscars and Body Image

While I was watching the Oscars on Sunday night with my family and family friends, there was one specific thing that stuck out to me. Many times, when a celebrity walked up to the stage, someone in the room would comment about the way they look (almost always their weight). For example, when Catherine Zeta Jones was performing a song from the musical "Chicago”, someone commented, "she's put on some weight." I have never really been interested in celebrities' lives, so I was surprised at how one could keep track of the slight changes in the actresses' weights. Besides, even people are really into celebrities, what is it they are paying attention to? It made me wonder what really makes people love the celebrities they do. Many of my friends have said that they like certain actors or actresses because they are pretty or cute. I think this intense focus on appearances of famous people influences the way we believe people "should" look. When all the attention is put on how much people weigh or how young they look (among other things), it takes away from the original point of the Oscars, which is to award actors and actresses for their great performances. This is not to say that celebrities should not want to look nice for the event, but I think the viewers need to remember that actors and actresses are human --they gain weight and get wrinkles too.

Catherine Zeta Jones performing "All That Jazz" from Chicago

Anne Hathaway