The Image of Beauty - Representations of Female Beauty: With Reference to Contemporary Women’s Magazines in Hong Kong
Leung Yuet Mei Sharon (2000)
This research provides a critique of female beauty images as portrayed in contemporary women's magazines in Hong Kong. The research identifies the characteristics of female beauty as represented in women's magazines in Hong Kong. It investigates factors affecting them by testing the applicability of Western cultural theories whilst establishing a theoretical framework pertinent to the cultural context of Hong Kong. The research explores the interaction between images of beauty and the actual situation of Hong Kong women. A comparative approach is adopted for integrating different theories and concepts, within which ‘images of female beauty' are treated as the problem, women's magazines, the case, and the paradigm of ‘beauty', the central topic of study. The study results construct a theoretical framework relevant to Hong Kong, which establishes systematic theories on traditional Chinese female beauty. The thesis also makes observations on the new eclectic images of female beauty emerging in Hong Kong, which reflect the unique cultural representations as well as the new attributes embodied in the looks of everyday women.
