In her essay “Glamour and the Art of Persuasion,” Virginia Postrel reveals the true and deceptive nature of glamor, and how its powers of persuasion and handling can also be dangerous. The cunning and treacherous power that glamor possesses is even more evident in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, as it is Gatsby's inability to see through the facade of glamor that ultimately leads to his downfall. Many often think that glamor is synonymous with beauty, fashion, etc. However, glamor isn't just about Hollywood celebrities hitting the red carpet at awards night. Instead, glamor serves to mask the true nature of things to make them appear more “fabulous” than they really are. For example, Postrel uncovers the use of glamor in the military and in recruitment videos, which show soldiers sacrificing their lives in the "intensity and excitement of battle." What the videos don't show, however, is the gore that accompanies the occasional glory. With the implementation of a little glamour, war can be viewed from a different perspective; instead of being seen as deadly and macabre, it is seen as exciting and adventurous. The videos even resemble classic action films, purposely created to make viewers "project themselves into the image." They are able to visualize themselves rushing into the battlefield, hearing the sound of gunfire and feeling the adrenaline rushing through their veins. War, however, is anything but glamorous, and yet the audience is spellbound by the manipulation. A person who joins the military just for the glamor is not thinking about the possibility of losing a limb or even their own life, but rather about the idea that war will suddenly transform them into a courageous war hero. Postrel then addresses the middle of paper...... which has this capacity, the one which "shapes our most fundamental choices". Career choices today seem to be improved by television and/or cinema. TV shows such as CSI glorify heroic detectives who solve mystery after mystery without ever getting bored, when in reality, a detective would most likely find themselves sitting behind mountains of paperwork instead of going out into the field as well regularly. Due to the manipulative nature of glamour, its victims are left with only the disappointment of finding that their lives have not turned out to be as exciting as their favorite television show had portrayed them to be. However, glamor is rarely so harmless, as it can lead to dangerous situations, such as leading a naive boy to war thinking the only thing he will know is glory, or convincing an ambitious man that the lifestyle glamor was anything but a mere illusion.