This post is actually from an assignment I did in November 2009 for my high school Media class. Re-discovering it in my GoogleDrive I enjoyed the unique perspective written as a dressing-room mirror. Worth sharing again.
Mirror Mirror
I am your reflection. You know; the mirror in a department store? I show people only the truth and they take it many different ways. I would like you to hear about my day and listen to what women are saying. Media influences many aspects of females’ thoughts, and you may be surprised at the way everyone describes themselves.
So I start off each day around nine in the morning. I am in the formalwear section looking over glamorous dresses towards the shoe and makeup departments. One of the store employees will come and clean me every morning. Apparently I must be shining and sparkling so that people can clearly see, and will want to buy the clothes they have on. That is just one of the subtle marketing plans average consumers would never think about.
I watch all the clothing racks around me get straightened and then come ten o’clock our store opens. The first shoppers of the day in my department approach. “Oh my gosh look at my hair!” is what the girl complains when she glances towards me seeing herself. She proceeds to give an earful to her mom about how it’s so humid making her blowout frizzy. I watch them digging through the racks of homecoming dresses and wonder to myself why the girl is upset. Her hair is long and a beautiful auburn color. I do not see a strand out of place, making me sad that she cannot see how pretty her hair is naturally, not compared to the new airbrushed issue of Cosmo in her bag.
An hour later those two leave for lunch and a single lady comes in. She grabs a shirt and starts heading toward the checkout. She is about to pass me, but suddenly stops to quick fix her shiny ponytail. She smoothes her hair, murmurs something about her wrinkles, and continues to go pay. Wrinkles?! Are you kidding me? is what I was thinking as her size four legs shimmied away. This woman was barely thirty-five years old. There was not a single visible line of age on her face.
Now, let me tell you- all the bright lights in the store wear me out. I get hot under them, and sick of hearing all the negative comments. Sometime around two in the afternoon a college girl strolled over with a lip-gloss sample. It looked to me like the makeup counter was pretty full so she came to get more space. As she was coming near I heard the salesperson yell, “You can get that lip-gloss for free if you buy the revolutionary new pore-less bronzer- guaranteed to make you flawless!” The girl shrugged and faced me to test the lip-gloss. “This looks hot,” she said, then leaned in closer. “Oh gosh my pores are huge! There goes my vacation money,” she said and walked back to the makeup counter. While she was obviously going to purchase the new, hyped up, pore-less bronzer, I could not help but feel sorry yet again for her. No matter how many times I see it happen each day, it is frustrating that girls do not embrace their beauty, but give in and lose self confidence.
It was getting later and the after-work shoppers were arriving. The dress department surrounding me was full, and I also noticed the shoe department was crowded. A girl headed over to me, the unoccupied mirror, to look at the boots she was trying on. I am guessing she was around five-foot-nine and the boots were at least four inches. She was turning different angles admiring herself and the boots when a good-looking young man came in. A little sigh of pleasure came out of her gaping mouth, but then it was quickly followed up by a sigh. She grumbled about always being the tall one and the difficulties of not getting guys. I looked back and the man was slightly shorter than her. She took off the height adding boots and left. Apparently she feels that in today’s society it is not cool to be tall. She thinks that girls should be smaller than guys. It was horrible how her happiness faded away at the time of trying to impress a guy.
It was nearing eight o’clock and the store was emptying out even though it was open another hour. Shoppers were heading home to rest before work and school the next day. An hour later everyone was gone and the lights were dimmed. I reflected the recently vacuumed floor and straightened racks, and waited for a new day filled with self esteem issues.
CITY GIRL HANNA 