Physical appearances play a large role in current day society and is apparent in many aspects of life. In the two short stories “Something to Hitch Meat to” (Hopkinson) and “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” (Tiptree), physical appearance proved to be a large factor of success and the main point discussed in both stories. The authors of these short stories accurately predicted the emphasis that current day society has put on physical attractiveness due to technological advancements. Science fiction short stories are not far off from the current day relationship that society has regarding physical appearance and attractiveness. Technology advancements have greatly influenced how people in a society view others and as it has continued to grow, a new
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One of the short stories that highlights the importance of physical appearance was “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” by James Tiptree in 1973. In 1973, the importance of physical appearance was not as highly emphasized as we see it in modern day society. The short story was set into the future about a time that was obsessed with television advertisement, which the author, Tiptree, accurately predicted in her work. The protagonist in this short story was an outcast to her society because she was not physically attractive and did not come close to filling any of the cultural ideals. P. Burke was left feeling unloved by others and by herself, which is why she attempts to take her own life at the beginning of the story; “’Public suicide’s a felony’… ‘I’m sorry’” (Tiptree, 204). Even when P. Burke is in such a dark place that she attempts suicide, we see her apologizing for her actions to a complete stranger. “I have a job for someone like you” (Tiptree, 205). This job took advantage of a girl who had no desire to live or self-respect because of how society has made her feel about her physical appearance. The company knew that they could risk putting her into an illegal position because they could easily disregard her feelings. P. Burke was living through a robotic girl, Delphi, about her age, but significantly more attractive. Delphi became an …show more content…
The protagonist in this story, Artho, is a porn photo editor. Artho describes the type of work he does and how he edits the images of the graphic porn, which are already very unrealistic images. He is in charge of making the women appear to have larger breasts as well as perfecting the skin tone and muscle size of the men. Artho would edit the photos to depict unrealistic sexual acts because these images would be more appealing and entertaining to their audience, causing more people to pay for them. Artho views people very differently because of this job. He no longer sees the physical attraction to other people because he knows how much editing goes into images as well as people in real life who attempt to obtain the unrealistic ideals seen in the images. He sees nothing beyond skin and bones; “people just look really weird” (Hopkinson, 539). Everyone is the same; we all have meat and bones. This story was written in 2001, meaning that the author has likely seen some of the effects technology has caused. The majority of images posted online nowadays have had digital editing to them to make the person look more physically attractive. “‘I don’t like them [images] so much. I like people to look more real’” (Hopkinson, 542). Every picture we come across is a lie and this is how Artho describes his job. He is creating unrealistic
One of the short stories that highlights the importance of physical appearance was “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” by James Tiptree in 1973. In 1973, the importance of physical appearance was not as highly emphasized as we see it in modern day society. The short story was set into the future about a time that was obsessed with television advertisement, which the author, Tiptree, accurately predicted in her work. The protagonist in this short story was an outcast to her society because she was not physically attractive and did not come close to filling any of the cultural ideals. P. Burke was left feeling unloved by others and by herself, which is why she attempts to take her own life at the beginning of the story; “’Public suicide’s a felony’… ‘I’m sorry’” (Tiptree, 204). Even when P. Burke is in such a dark place that she attempts suicide, we see her apologizing for her actions to a complete stranger. “I have a job for someone like you” (Tiptree, 205). This job took advantage of a girl who had no desire to live or self-respect because of how society has made her feel about her physical appearance. The company knew that they could risk putting her into an illegal position because they could easily disregard her feelings. P. Burke was living through a robotic girl, Delphi, about her age, but significantly more attractive. Delphi became an …show more content…
The protagonist in this story, Artho, is a porn photo editor. Artho describes the type of work he does and how he edits the images of the graphic porn, which are already very unrealistic images. He is in charge of making the women appear to have larger breasts as well as perfecting the skin tone and muscle size of the men. Artho would edit the photos to depict unrealistic sexual acts because these images would be more appealing and entertaining to their audience, causing more people to pay for them. Artho views people very differently because of this job. He no longer sees the physical attraction to other people because he knows how much editing goes into images as well as people in real life who attempt to obtain the unrealistic ideals seen in the images. He sees nothing beyond skin and bones; “people just look really weird” (Hopkinson, 539). Everyone is the same; we all have meat and bones. This story was written in 2001, meaning that the author has likely seen some of the effects technology has caused. The majority of images posted online nowadays have had digital editing to them to make the person look more physically attractive. “‘I don’t like them [images] so much. I like people to look more real’” (Hopkinson, 542). Every picture we come across is a lie and this is how Artho describes his job. He is creating unrealistic