Dalia Avalos

Sociology 1
9-22-15
Project 1: Video Analysis
The video I chose for this project is called Dove Real Beauty Sketches| Youre more
beautiful than you think. I was having a hard time choosing a video for this class, but then I
decided to choose a video that hits home. As a woman who struggles with low self-esteem from
time to time, this video is a good pick. The video starts off with women talking about what they
would like to change about themselves. One of the women wished she had rosy cheeks and
another woman said that her crows feet are coming in therefore she feels bad when someone
tells her that she looks tired. The video progresses to the women walking into a room with a man
with his back facing them. It turns out that he is an experienced forensic artist who is going to
draw them without seeing them. He asks the women to describe themselves to him. The women
had a hard time describing themselves to him. When the forensic artist was done drawing their
sketches that the women self-described, they walked out of the room. After, the groups of women
were told to talk and mingle with strangers. The strangers then walked into the room and it was
their turn to describe the women they just talked to to the forensic artist. The strangers
descriptions were completely different to the description the women were saying about
themselves. Lastly, the women were told to compare the two sketches that the forensic artist
sketched. The women noticed that the sketch that they described to the artist was completely
different than the one the strangers described. The first sketches looked dull and sad as opposed
to the second sketches that looked happy and full of life. This video shows the distorted views a
lot of women have concerning their looks and self-image. Society has always had its own views
of beauty that arent realistic. A lot of women do not embrace their unique beauty and dont
realize that they are more beautiful than they think.

Sociologist August Comte was considered to be the first sociologist. His theory of
positivism states that human behavior and how the way society is structured should only be
researched or observed by using the scientific method. I believe that Comte would want to do
more research regarding the topic that the Dove video represents. His theory of positivism does
state that data should be based on empirical studies. Therefore, Comte would conduct studies
based on observing how society goes about perceiving beauty standards and beliefs. He would
use the scientific method to collect data on women of different ages and backgrounds.
Karl Marx is closely identified with the conflict theory. His book called The
Communist Manifesto describes what the conflict theory does to people in society. The conflict
theory states that people in society compete for resources such as material things, political power,
and money. People with more money and power tend to have more than those who are less
fortunate. This creates inequality within the people in society. I believe that Marx would point
out the big companies and corporations that make millions of dollars a year promoting their
beauty standards, products and views. Marx would not agree with the fact that these companies
are making a lot of money while taking advantage of women who follow them and buy their
products. Women nowadays are persuaded to look a certain way. It is a win lose situation
because companies just gain and grow in power while lowering womens self-esteem in the long
run. Women lose because their view about the way they are supposed to look like is distorted
with unrealistic standards.
Emile Durkheim is one of the founders of sociology. Durkheims structural functional
theory states that the people in society are the ones that make up a society. However, Durkheim
states that fashions, morals, values, laws, and religious beliefs make up and govern a society.
Durkheims theory also states that modern societies are interdependent. For example, unlike

older societies modern societies contain a number of people who perform distinct everyday jobs
and activities. This means that we rely on others to get the job done. Durkheim would interpret
this as these big companies and corporations rely on women to buy their products and to fall in
their scheme. Indeed, women go ahead and consume these products to feel better about them.
Society has brainwashed them with a paradigm full of unrealistic beauty expectations.
This video that I chose for this project is mostly related with the conflict theory paradigm.
As mentioned before, big companies and corporations make a great amount of money each year
with women as their target market. Whether its the latest skin corrector or diet supplement,
companies persuade women to consume such products on a daily basis claiming that they will
improve their appearance. Modeling agencies make money and the models are required to stay at
an unhealthy weight to walk the runway. Magazines frequently feature big name celebrities and
women buy these magazines. Women with self- esteem problems will immediately start to
compare themselves to what they see in the magazines. We tend to forget that Photoshop is used
to create flawless skin and hair as seen in magazines. Of course society doesnt tell us that.
Companies just focus on making money and earning even more power by putting women down
at the same time. Various companies or modeling agencies have been called out for having too
skinny models work for them. These models are in danger for suffering eating disorders such as
anorexia and bulimia. Recently, the curvy hashtag on Instagram was removed by the famous app/
website because it was being used inappropriately but body image advocates protested against it,
A big conflict in society today is that women and even men are being told to look a certain way
instead of being told to embrace their uniqueness and their own definition of beauty.