We live in a visual age where cameras (both still and video) are constantly trying to capture our image and show it to as many other people as possible. We even do this to ourselves now that most of us have cameras in our phones and are joining the “in crowd” by taking “selfies” and posting them on the internet by way of social networks.
We Get To See Others
This visual aspect of our daily lives also covers the newspapers and magazines that we read; along with the TV and movies that we watch. Today, we lump all this together under the title of media and we are constantly exposed to it. Very rarely for most of us in Lakeview (or elsewhere); are we, ourselves, the subject of media receiving our “15 minutes of fame” but we are bombarded with images of celebrities of all persuasions and, in most cases, they are presenting a smiling face to the world. Their smiles may well have been that expertly crafted and highly cosmetic but, nevertheless, many of us come to accept these smiles as society’s “norm” to which we should all comply.
The Mechanics Of A Smile
Basically, we use the muscles at either side of our mouths to change the shape of our lips and, to a lesser extent, our cheeks. Do this one way and it becomes either a grimace or a frown; but, by applying a more upward movement, we form a grin. In the right circumstances, grinning is a perfectly acceptable social expression.
However, it is far removed from those brilliants smiles flashed across the faces of news readers and the like. To be in that league requires a parting of the lips to be included. This, of course, exposes your teeth for all to see. For even more impact, a technique known as the “Duchenne smile” can be used; whereby one contracts the muscles at the corners of the eyes along with the smile at the mouth. Do all this and you should be smiling as well as any media personality.
Is It Really That Easy?
For most of us, the mechanics are simple to perform but the results can often leave much more to be desired. The biggest problem can be the appearance of our exposed teeth. To fit the media image, our teeth have to be perfectly shaped and pure white in color.
