ACADEMIC WRITING - Not-So-Iconic Figures
For Assignment 1, we were given around 8-9 weeks to design a poster of a figure who has contributed a lot to society, but is not well-known (yet!!) Naturally, I started with brainstorming for the most obscene ideas on the market, from the inventor of the flip-flops (probably the MOST essential article of clothing in Indonesian society) to a local ojek (I'd be late everyday if we didn't have them) to the inventor of minyak telon or cajeput oil (every sick man's best friend).
In the end, though, I settled for a more global, yet more psychological approach---makeup.
Now you're thinking, what the crap. Who invented makeup?! There's no way to know, unless you happen to have a time machine, since cosmetics originated in Ancient Egypt. I'm not going for the inventor of makeup here, though, but rather the person who commercialised makeup. And that's where Mr. Max Factor comes in.
MAX FACTOR
(1877–1938)
We humans have always been obsessed with appearances. It's not just about your face, it's the social status that comes with it. I find that people don't care about their physical appearance as much as the rewards---we want to look a certain way to feel confident, and to be viewed with respect.
Makeup helps achieve that. You have more say in what you look like---and thus, how the world perceives you. It's not about looking pretty as much as it is about feeling pretty. Have a huge zit that you swear everyone's looking at? Cover it up with a little concealer. Feel like your nose is distracting people from the rest of you? Put a little bronzer on there and look like Donatello personally sculpted your nose. Do I sound like an overly-perky saleswoman at 10 in the morning? I probably do.
Makeup is liberating. The modern world is obsessed with individuality and growth. It's not about where you came from, it's about where you want to be. And I think makeup is the very epitome of that ideology. It allows you to choose your appearance. Of course, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to wear makeup. I don't wear cosmetics save for lip balm and powder, but that's just because I'm lazy. If you're happy with your face just how it is, that's fine. But if you don't feel like your face displays your maximum potential, that's fine too.
Some people say that makeup is psychologically damaging because it discourages people from seeing their inner beauty, but I think it's the exact opposite. Makeup encourages people to fulfill their own standards of beauty. It encourages experimentation and assertiveness. And I ask you now---which one is more important: the image that you were born with, or the image that you aspire to be?
Max Factor, originally Maksymilian Faktorowicz, was a Polish-Jewish cosmetician who immigrated to the United States in 1904. He initially started selling and distributing theatrical makeup to the growing film industry in Los Angeles, California.
In the early years of film-making, greasepaint in stick form was widely used onstage, but the colours didn't work satisfactorily on screen. Factor began working with the formulas, and in 1914 he perfected his first cosmetic product.
In 1922, Factor visited the headquarters of Leichner in Germany. Despite being their biggest retailer, he was snubbed and kept waiting at reception. Furious, he left and soon detached himself from Leichner, and started selling his own brand of greasepaint. His children convinced him to expand his products to the national market, which led him to create one of the first commercial makeup brands in history.
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However, I do worry that Max Factor might be a little bit too known. The assignment, after all, is about exposing those who deserve more credit for their creations. I'll ask my teacher tomorrow. For now, here are my back-ups:
LARRY TESLER
Larry Tesler is a computer scientist who "works in the field of human–computer interaction", a phrase I have just copy-pasted from Wikipedia, thanks to the efforts brought on by this guy. Yep, you guessed it, Tesler was the guy who invented the copy and paste, a feature that has helped many desperate students and last-minute essays.
TSAO-I SHIH
Inventor of the electric flyswatter, or raket nyamuk. I think this is one of the most revolutionary products because mosquitoes are a glaring problem in Indonesia. As evening approaches, I like to have one close at hand to defend myself against these bloodthirsty beasts.
MARTIN COOPER
We all know Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone, but who invented the first mobile phone? Thanks to Martin Cooper, communication is now more versatile in the form of this handheld miracle.
That's it for today! I think this is going to be a really fun project because a) you get to explore society from different perspectives, i.e. which is more important: communications? Appearance? Versatility? And because b) it's not due next week, or the week after that, or the week after THAT, so no pressure! That doesn't mean I can slack off, but it's a nice change of phase.
Signing off for real now!