PERFECTION
According to Kenneth Burke, perfection is a desire people have as a result of hierarchies, and the "principle of perfection is central to the nature of language as motive. The mere desire to name something by its "proper" name, or to speak a language in its distinctive ways is intrinsically "perfectionist" (Burke 507). What Burke's saying here is that something as simple as wanting to know the exact name for something is in essence a desire for perfection. Burke would go on to state that "There is a principle of perfection implicit in the nature of symbol-systems; and in keeping with his nature as symbol-using animal, man is moved by this principle" (Burke 508).
its relevance today
As we are still symbol-using creatures, perfection continues to manipulate us. Our visual media drives ideals of perfection into our heads on a daily basis, and we are often influenced by these visual representations of perfection. As a result, we strive towards "perfection" even though perfection is an abstract concept that differs from one person to another. Today, advertisements are especially guilty of representing "perfect" ideals and "perfect" people to target a specific audience and get them to purchase certain products. Beauty campaigns in particular take advantage of our need for identification and our desires to perfect ourselves. Read on to see how visual media today represents perfection. |