Emphasis on Losing Weight

On the opposite side of the spectrum is the magazine’s tendency to bash stars for their low weight. It is one thing to notice someone has gotten unhealthily thin and another to attribute it to unreliable sources, be harshly critical and mold it to almost portray it as trendy to readers. Checking out this Life & Style Weekly cover, you can see how it makes a direct effort to point out Angelina Jolie’s “scary-skinny arms”. Yes, her arms do look very thin but how is it for certain that she is obsessed with dieting as the cover claims? Angelina is the main image on the cover, but multiple photos of other very thin stars are placed off to the side. In regards to the smaller image of Leanne Rymes how is it certain that she super thin because of man troubles? These are ideas we buy as consumers when we choose to agree with whatever bit of info a magazine feeds us. More so, these ideas are extra dangerous coming from a magazine such as Life & Style Weekly because you literally see an image and a claim, no more info, reasoning or validity.

Also, if the magazine wanted to make a big part of this issue that underweight stars are unhealthy, why does the cover even include the prominent, highlighted subtext that says, “Stars’ tricks for not feeling hungry”? It’s almost as if the magazine knows readers would like to know these tricks secretly for their own benefit, so the magazine in turn tries to disguise it as just a component of the cover story. It seems somewhat that the cover isn’t promoting the image of being unhealthily underweight, but at the same time it shows celebrities, such as Angelina Jolie whom people admire, at such low weights. It also has attention grabbing text such as the line about hunger-suppressing tricks stars use, which sounds as if the magazine recognizes people would probably actually like to be in one these extreme dieting tactics too. Linking it all back together now, why is society and the public so focused on weight loss, even to an unhealthy extent? Because media such as Life & Style Weekly publish magazine covers that critique all elements on females’ appearance, reestablishing a the pressure to be perfect and up to high standards. 

More examples of covers critiquing women's low weights: