In a media culture, we not only judge strangers by how they look but by the images of how they look. So we want attractive pictures of our heroes and repulsive images of our enemies.
Virginia PostrelRead
By binding image and desire, glamour gives us pleasure, even as it heightens our yearning. It leads us to feel that the life we dream of exists, and to desire it even more.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Glamour amplifies our desires and dreams, creating a sense of pleasure from what we aspire to in life.
In this quote, Virginia Postrel explores the concept of glamour as a powerful force that intertwines images of desire with our perceptions of pleasure. Glamour not only makes our aspirations feel tangible but also deepens our longing for those aspirations, suggesting that the allure of what we desire can motivate us to pursue a more fulfilling life, even as it makes us aware of what we lack.
Themes
GlamourDesirePleasureYearningAspiration
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal aspirations and the pursuit of dreams.
More from Virginia Postrel
All quotes →Glamour doesn’t just happen, people don’t wake up in the morning glamorous.
Virginia PostrelRead
With its fluctuating forms and needless decoration, fashion epitomizes the supposedly unproductive waste that inspired 20th-century technocrats to dream of central planning. It exists for no good reason. But that's practically a definition of art.
Virginia PostrelRead
A world of few choices, whether in jeans or mates, is a world in which individual differences become sources of alienation, unhappiness, even self-loathing. If no jeans fit, you'll feel uncomfortable or inferior. If no housing developments reflect your taste for unique architecture, you'll write screeds against philistine mass culture.
Virginia PostrelRead
Most of us cluster somewhere in the middle of most statistical distributions. But there are lots of bell curves, and pretty much everyone is on a tail of at least one of them. We may collect strange memorabilia or read esoteric books, hold unusual religious beliefs or wear odd-sized shoes, suffer rare diseases or enjoy obscure movies.
Virginia PostrelRead
'Frankenstein' did not invent the fear of science; the novel found its audience because it dramatized anxieties that already existed. Although popular entertainment can, over the long run, shape public perceptions, it becomes popular in the first place only if it addresses preexisting hopes, fears, and fascinations.
Virginia PostrelRead
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