Group Film- America the Beautiful

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009914-america_the_beautiful/

The Rotten Tomatoes assessment of the documentary America the Beautiful is fairly accurate in terms of synopsis and rating. However, I do not agree with the statement listed on the top of the page saying, “This doc doesn't expose any new territory about our unattainable standards of beauty, but does manage to entertain with an effective and accessible tone by filmmaker/subject Darryl Roberts.” I thought that the documentary exposed a lot of things within the fashion industry that I was uneducated about, which could be considered new territory for me and the others in my film group. The 68% fresh rating is fair, in my opinion, because the documentary was very interesting and informative, but left a bitter aftertaste because of all of the negative, but true, information that was learned throughout the film.

                After watching America the Beautiful I realized that the fashion industry is not about making clothes to help people feel confident but only to turn a profit. As one man said in the film, “we could change, but if we do then we won’t make any money.”  The fashion industry was portrayed as being a self-obsessed monster which, after further investigating, does not seem to be too far off the mark. This film prompted me to look at people in a way that finds their positive qualities instead of their negative ones. An analogy given in the movie that struck me was from an African woman who compared people to trees. She talked about we think every tree is beautiful, so why should  we not be think that every human is beautiful? It’s an interesting concept that I have never bothered to think about before.