I think that this movie was really good. It addressed the fashion, media, and beauty industries. I realized throughout the movie how willing we are to buy into all the crap that the media feeds us about beauty - that we need cosmetics, surgery, or liposuction to look beautiful. We also buy into all the claims that we are not well-made - that we are not good enough. We are willing to suffer the envy and longing of looking like all the images that the media shows us. They tell us that only certain things and people are beautiful and we have to look like that to be beautiful. Not only do these images show us how we should look, it shows us what we should think of other people too. As a result, we become more judgmental of others and how they look. The movie talked a lot about the modeling/fashion industry and how it affects girls at a younger and younger age. Younger and younger girls are wearing make-up, dressing like models, and even modeling as a career. One specific girl in the movie was only 12 and a model. Her mother was pushing her into so many shows and wanting her to look perfect for the agencies. When her school got angry with her missing so much school, the mom transferred her to another school that would comply with her scheduling. In the end, my reaction to the movie was that we need to raise more awareness about all the corruption in the beauty industry.
This film does not prompt me to change a ton of things in my own life. It does however make me want to raise more awareness for other girls in the world. Yes, I do wear make-up and try to look nice, but not because the world tells me to. Lots of girls do though. They shouldn't feel the need to look a certain way to impress people and make themselves feel beautiful.
I think that the review below does accurately represent my perspective in some ways and does not in other ways. One way that it does accurate represent my perspective is because of this quote, "The cold fact is that no one can look like a supermodel and be physically healthy." It's true, no one can be perfect and look as skinny as these women are and be as healthy as they should. One reason why I do not agree with this review is because of this quote, "The documentary 'America the Beautiful' is not shrill or alarmist, nor does it strain to shock us." I think that this isn't right. A lot of the things brought up in this movie actually did shock and alarm me. I wanted to stop everything right then and there when the movie was over. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20080508/REVIEWS/277581949/-1/REVIEWS01
I appreciate how critically you have analyzed the movie with solid evidence and reflection on yourself. Reading your response helped me to consider this issue again, which I naturally ignore in daily life. As you have suggested that such concept of beauty not only rises from media but obsession to impress others, I realized our excess concerns for external appearances confuse us to seek how God considers “beauty.” Personally, I enjoyed this quote, “not only do these images show us how we should look, it shows us what we should think of other people too,” because it pointed out greater danger of our contemporary concept of beauty.
ReplyDeleteFrom the same review by Roger Ebert: "It's about a culture 'saturated with the perfect,' in which women are taught to seek an impossible physical ideal, and men to worship it."
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, what drives the creation of this culture where women are never good enough? In part, I think it's likely profit. The companies making these beauty products have to continually sell more and more product, so they need to continually build demand for things that women don't actually need.
It's certainly a very powerful system, which means it's all the more difficult to live into an alternative as a community.