General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYou know, two things can be true at once...
1. The media does not cover missing women of color or older, less "conventionally attractive" women the way it covers young, white missing women. That's a fact. If you don't agree, you're living in a fantasy world. Not only that, it's a serious problem leading to more death and violence.
2. Although the media will sometimes deign to cover a story about a missing woman, such as Gabby Petito because it considers the story to be appealing to a mass audience and hence a "money maker", the coverage is abysmal. It's nothing but "eye candy" video and breathless commentary repeated over and over. NO discussion of the epidemic of violence that women of all races, ages, and classes are subject to every day at the hands of their significant other. It's almost like that is a forbidden topic. This is also dangerous and leads to more violence and death.
Both #1 and #2 are true, and both need to change now!
Sympthsical
(8,936 posts)It has to do with fairy tales.
Fairy tales often tap into primal fears. And one of the staples of the genre is that a young woman is just prancing along, "Tra la!" So young and sweet and innocent. Then some previously unsuspected darkness comes for her. There are wolves in those woods. Or witches or demonic tricksters.
Then these stories come along where someone seems to fit that template. The darkness came for her. Somewhere in our subconscious, we remember the tales from our childhood, the fears that something will come.
The media are all about playing into fear and anxiety, even if you don't understand on the surface why you're reacting with fear and anxiety.
So we get these stories that tap in, and people start watching. If there isn't a happy ending, we demand at least an ending, a complete narrative. It's the prospect of not knowing the ending that ramps the anxiety up. We need to find out. We need to kill the wolf. It gives us peace of mind.
Like I said, my theory is half-baked. Just something percolating in my noggin whenever stories like this come up. I think it's why people find true crime fascinating (I do, too). It hits a lot of our primal anxieties.
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)Sneederbunk
(14,208 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Even if they are missing and turn up dead. Celebrities needn't be someone who has done something memorable or clever. Just being attractive appears to be enough, and if you're in the news for some reason, people adopt you as their celebrity of the day, in a good way or a bad way.
Then, once social media picks up on that newly-minted celebrity, the story feeds on itself and spreads even further.
Human nature, I guess.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)Many years ago I attended a taping of a now long-defunct game show and watching the producers comb through the applicants from the studio audience it was pretty obvious that they were passing by all but those of above average attractiveness. Shorter people were also skipped over. The "beautiful people" have always mattered more than us normal folks.