There’s another video out there depicting the extremes to which Photoshop can be taken. This time, it’s the music video for artist Boggie’s song Nouveau Parfum, and it’s not promoting exactly as simple a message as it may seem.
BOGGIE – NOUVEAU PARFUM (official music video) from THE SOUP on Vimeo.
During the music video, performed in French, everything about the subject, Boggie, is changed. Her eye color, hair color, amount of makeup, hairstyle have all been altered. You name it, it’s different.
The most poignant part of the video is right before the end when a newly edited Boggie shares a split screen with her own before image. The difference is staggering and frankly a little unsettling.
Her before image shows a pretty, natural-looking young woman. The after image is an idealized version of what someone thinks women should look like. Ultimately though, underneath the editing, she’s still the same.
And that’s the entire point of the video and the song. According to the website musicinsideu.com, the meaning of the song is, “They can’t change me. They can change my image, but I’m more than image. No matter how much perfume, no matter what type of image you try to put on, in the end you’re always yourself. But can you learn to be yourself?”
It’s a great message for a song coming from a young artist. She’s not necessarily against the idea of changing her image or her image being altered, because she’s sure in self-identity. It’s a take on the whole photo retouching/body image debate that we don’t hear often.
Nouveau Parfum also poses interesting questions: Do you associate your worth with your image? Is your identity tied to your image, or are you able to be yourself without considering your looks?
The takeaway from the video is ultimately a message of being comfortable with yourself, no matter how your image is changed, or how people expect you to change. You are yourself, no matter what you look like on the outside, so embrace who you are and just keep doing you!
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10 Ways the Media is Messing with Our Minds and Bodies
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