The new Megan Fox.

 Shia Labouf talks Megan Fox.

The new transformers movie is going to come out this summer, but this time the lead female role and love interest will no longer be played by the beloved by men Megan Fox.  This time around, director Michael Bay has chosen Victoria's secret model Rosie Hunington-Whitely-a tall blond-as Megan Fox's replacement.  This New York Times article features an interview with Shia Labouf about the departure of Megan Fox from the third Transformers installment, and he speaks of Fox's insecurities of being put in the spotlight essentially through one film series and subsequently being perceived as the sexiest woman in America.  He talks about how she was uncomfortable with Michael Bay's demands for the role, which didn't involve a lot of lines, but rather sexy poses and a lot plain old "looking hot."  This article perfectly ties into the idea of the male gaze and the fetishistic perception of an ideal woman being portrayed through a camera lens.  Since Fox no longer felt comfortable doing the same thing for three films in a row, he ended up hiring an alternate that happens to be a Victoria Secret model; obviously sexy poses are what she does for a living so this acting job would not be much of an insecurity issue for her.  It is fascinating to see how directors will use woman in order to make money, because for example, this is Rosie's first acting job.  It proves that the image of a woman's body is the ideal way of making profit of a big Hollywood Blockbuster in America.

Gilded Butterfly

“We will all laugh at gilded butterflies…” is a quote from Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear (Act V, Scene III). “Gilded” refers to something of little worth that has been coated to appear of higher quality, and in Shakespeare’s case, he uses the term “gilded butterflies” to refer to the people of society who change themselves in order to fit the “ideal image” that society has projected for itself. Ironically, Shakespeare’s quote can be found tattooed on the back shoulder of a well-known Hollywood celebrity and sex icon – Meghan Fox. In reference to her tattoo, Megan said her tattoo reminds her “…to not get too caught up in Hollywood because people will end up laughing at you.”

Fox is a prime example of a person who has transformed herself from a woman to a product, using her body and sexual appeal to acquire publicity, similar to the majority of Hollywood actors (both male and female). Her tattoo is ironic and hypocritical, presenting a message completely different from the message that her body language and attitude present. In addition, Megan got plastic surgery on her breasts, nose, cheeks, eyebrows, and lips – gilded butterfly much? (See my picture for before and after photos.)

Why do celebrities, men and women, feel the need to do this? They create an artificial image by changing their bodies, and on top of that, photographers use photoshop and airbrushes to gloss the images and make them as superficial as possible. Nevertheless, we as consumers still give in to these looks! We want to look exactly like the false images in the magazines and in commercials, even though we are fully aware that the models do not look like that naturally. The cycle will continue unless we begin to remove the makeup, the photoshopping, the airbrushing, and the surgeries.