Unrealistically beautiful: famous men before and after photoshop

We write a lot about the prevailing desire of society for a single standard of beauty - and that new times are coming when this tradition is finally starting to disappear. And although the “beautiful-ugly” dichotomy is gradually (but inevitably) giving way to love and respect for the beautiful diversity of human appearance, the media and pop culture still continue to hold on to their ideas that “ideal people” must exist and how they should to look like.

It is believed that women suffer most from these stereotypes: advertising, fashion shoots and even models in online stores obsessively hint to us that a beautiful woman is the owner of the 90-60-90 standard, exorbitantly long legs, a mane of hair and flawless skin, often “Improved” by retouchers to an implausible look. However, if we take a closer look, we find that men also suffer from photoshop - they are simply considered to be less worried about their appearance. We have collected several vivid examples of how retouchers decided to “embellish” already beautiful and famous men to their taste, and found their “real” photos taken at the same time.

(Total 11 photos)

Source: wonderzine.com

1. Michael Fassbender, 2011

See how the eyes of the talented and charismatic Michael Fassbender shine with an infernal icy blue light? That's because they cut off half of his ass! In their quest to emphasize that Fassbender has every right to stand next to the Man of the Year takeaway, the GQ retouchers have embraced all stereotypes about male beauty. First of all, that if your shoulders do not exceed the width of your hips twice, you are in the trash. Special thanks to everyone who, with this cover, imposed on readers the delusion that stylish and courageous is when you have a shirt two sizes smaller, sitting as if it was painted on a naked body with paint (and here it seems to have been painted in places).

2. Matt Damon, 2014

Men's health and sports magazines are still propagandists of unrealistic proportions. Their editors definitely contributed to the fact that the men of the planet were divided into two camps: those who spend all their free time in a fitness club chasing cubes, and those who didn’t care about it. However, balanced sets of exercises and a healthy diet are zilch next to the power of Photoshop in the hands of a master. The cover of Men's Health 2014 perfectly confirms this, and the takeaway "Get back in shape!" next to Matt Damon looks mocking: the actor has not looked like this for a long time.

3. Johnny Depp, 2011

In 2011, Johnny Depp was inevitably approaching his fiftieth birthday, but millions of fans around the world and Vanity Fair photo editors refused to believe it. I don’t want to insinuate, but it seems that Depp himself did too - around the same time, he stopped appearing in public without glasses with slightly tinted lenses that hide wrinkles around the eyes. From the picture on the cover, where he was almost rid of signs of age, you can also learn the basics of sculpting in makeup. Whether it was worth starting the conversation about "johnny demons" with a facelift is a good question.

4. Channing Tatum, 2012

In 2012, Tatum released "Magic Mike", which brought him fame on a planetary scale, and we get a clear idea of \u200b\u200bwhat he looks like. Yes, let's say he does not have the most aristocratic appearance in the world, but we believe that it was possible to shove him into the cover format in a more elegant way. So what happened to the photo editors of the world's premier gentlemen's magazine? What is it anyway? An amazing find by the photographer in terms of angle, or was Channing's head re-pasted from another shot, after smoothing out the asymmetry of the face and not particularly attending to the proportions? Be that as it may, the work with the appearance of the actor on this cover is impressive.

5. Clive Owen, 2007

One of the most courageous and elegant men in the world, Clive Owen never became our ideal James Bond, but in 2007 he took on an equally important mission - to teach the men of the planet not only to use a cream, but also an anti-aging one. Having become the face of Lancôme, Owen immediately fell under the knife (or rather, under the iron) of the retoucher: we have never seen his textured face so smooth. And hopefully we never see it again: it can't be that cream does this to men.

6. Seth Meyers, 2014

This year, 40-year-old actor and comedian Seth Myers has had a major breakthrough: first he got his own talk TV show, and then he was appointed to host the main Emmy award in television. It would seem that for a popular American presenter, appearance is not the most vital criterion (it is much more important to have a well-spoken tongue, a lively mind and readiness for adventures). However, the NBC retouchers decided otherwise, and the handsome American TV presenter became the Most Pretty. Which, according to the masters of Photoshop, translates as "15 years younger."

7. Tom Cruise, 2012

Tom Cruise is a male analogue of the wonderful term “film star”, one of the few: at 52, he really looks great, obviously devotes a lot of time to this and still looks great in genre films. Now try to find it on the cover of W magazine, dedicated to the release of the film "Rock of Ages". Playing in this musical film was not the most brilliant idea anyway (the film failed miserably at the box office), but for some reason the retouchers decided that the standard of an aged rock star is not the nobly wrinkled Steven Tyler and Keith Richards, but the young Jared Summer. The original title of the picture Rock of Ages looks especially ironic in this context.

8. Ryan Gosling, 2012

A couple of months ago, the world exploded with Baby Gosling headlines - but they were a few years too late: Baby Gosling is what we see on the cover of the Studio Ciné Live newsreel, and it's not even glossy. It was this picture that was distributed to hundreds of publications in the world, but the French treated it especially reverently: the baby's skin, exuding an unearthly radiance (and, it seems to us, fragrance), is an indispensable attribute of the most desirable man on the planet at that time.

9. Andy Roddick, 2007

2007 was not the most successful year for the former world number one, tennis player Andy Roddick: he had a number of defeats from Roger Federer. Men's Fitness magazine decided to cheer up the athlete in a specific way: put it on the cover, and at the same time doubled his biceps and erased the birthmark. Roddick responded openly by stating that "he doesn't look like that", becoming the Keira Knightley of his time.

10. Ian Somerhalder, 2013

Ever since The Rules of Sex by Bret Easton Ellis, we believe that Ian Somerhalder is one of the most beautiful people in the world. It would seem, no matter how you look at it, everything in it is flawless. But there is no limit to perfection, the Icon staff decided: the jaw could be thinner, the eyes more piercing, the arch of the eyebrow more seductive, and the lips plumper. And, yes, a couple of timid horizontal wrinkles on the forehead can be left, but all the other hints that he is already, oh horror, 35 - no, no.

11. Leonardo DiCaprio, 2011

Was Leonardo DiCaprio thinking, holding this GQ number in his hands, how he suddenly became like Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks? One of the best actors of our time on the cover of GQ is a great opportunity to summarize and say something that we think is important. The main thing for which we appreciate actors and admire them is their ability to play different people and different destinies, sometimes noticeably reincarnating. We don't go to the movies "for looks", as some people think for some reason, we go to the talent. None of the movie stars is obliged to us to keep his face and body intact, "justifying" some expectations or confirming the illusion that the great do not age. Yes, sometimes you have to say such platitudes, because trying to turn a brilliant actor into his young version invariably leads to disaster.