Different Angles of Pageantry

In the interview with Miss Universe she talks about how she views pageants and how she thinks they are changing a lot over time. Previous to watching this interview I viewed pageants differently. Seeing the show Todler's and Tiaras gave me a different view on pageantry than what Miss Universe had to say. The children in the show ranging from 1-10 years old were more often times than not bratty, stuck-up and priviledged. First of all, I think having a one year old in pageantry is a little insane. Also all the children cared about was winning the biggest title and would constantly brag about how pretty they were and would also boss around their parents asking for things 24/7. This show curved my view of pageantry into believing all of the people who participate in them are stuck-up and bossy. However the Miss Universe interview we watched showed me a different view of pageantry. She talked about how her experience of pageantry has given her a lot of confidence in herself. She also talks about how pageants have brought her many friendships she wouldn't have if she didn't do pageants. When she participates in pageants her attitude is as stated in the video "this is me and you can accept it or leave it." I really enjoyed this part of her interview because it shows how she isn't wrapped up in winning the big titles but is more concerned with showing people wjo she really is and being confident about her self image.  I really liked the interview because it showed me the other side to pageantry and that not all people are in it for the title but for the friendships and self confidence.

I also found the video with John Oliver to be very interesting. At the very beginning of the video he says "I am a fully clothed man standing in front of women in swim suits awaiting judgement." i found this line important because it highlights another side of pageantry that I haven't talked about yet. This side being how women are judged based on their appearance, which is a huge part of pageantry. Throughout the whole video John Oliver is basically making jokes about how women are judged on their looks and nothing else and it has been that way since the beginning of pageantry. A part of the videos i found super interesting was how they qualified girls for pageantry at the beginning. They would give points to women for things like construction of the head and limbs. This is a completely different view of pageantry from the Miss Universe interview. This video shows how women are tallied and marked for their image, meanwhile the interview talks about how pageantry gives women long lasting friendships and self confidence.

I honestly do not know how i feel about pageantry, however these videos and readings gave me many different points of view for pageantry as a whole.