Tammy LoProfessor GoncalvesWomen and MediaMarch 22, 2014

Project Proposal: Media’s Role In Female Aesthetic Surgery

My upbringing on what beauty is not what I see in the mirror every morning. It is acceptable for parents to not verbally say one is beautiful, but it is different when your mother hypnotized by the television picture and vocally praise the beauty of the screened figure, in which, often is a Caucasian female model. I believe that the words parents decide to use towards their children are immensely critical and affect adolescents alike. My mother would say things like, “There is not one ugly Caucasian.” I, then ask, “Eastern Asians are beautiful too, no?” She responds, “No, extremely few.” The repetition of her compliments to the beauty of Caucasians becomes a problem because she never once told her children they were beautiful. I was left to criticize myself, and I believe we are the harshest critiques on ourselves. From a very young age, she pinched my nose softly to visualize it being smaller, and still ridicule my body by staring or laughing at me when I walk by her. By high school, I’ve come to believe that I have a flat, wide, large nose, a large face, a fat body, and on top of all that, terrible acned skin. I experienced a sense of insecurity and self-esteem issues where I thought I was unattractive, but it didn’t affect me too much—I was just a homebody. I became interested to Korean media—Korean Pop music, Korean drama, and Korean culture. I noticed how “perfect” the actresses and actors were. My research led me to the artificiality of most Korean actresses. They often opt plastic surgery that reconstructed their appearance and changed their identity completely. That is when the way I viewed South Korean women on television changed—first reaction is my critique whether they are plastic or not plastic.

My project will be a short film addressing South Korean media’s influence on women by imposing a rigid constructed ideal image of beauty. The ideal image of the female beauty is shared by Eastern Asians: Chinese, Japanese, South Korean, etc. In the perspective of a South Korean woman, the ideal image of a woman is one with double eyelids, large eyes, high-bridged nose, small nose, small face, V-shaped face, youth, white skin, and thin figure. My focus will not be on the paleness and whiteness of the skin or the thinness of the body because it is considered South Korean culture, but I intensely research on media’s obsession with beauty that leads women to opt plastic surgery or the nip and tuck process of beauty. By publishing this film, I hope to cut the media umbilical cord that feeds females discouraging

beliefs of an existing beauty standard, and I want to encourage young girls and women to appreciate their being. Young girls should never have to start thinking of saving money in a jar for plastic surgery. This subject of plastic surgery and beauty was a large part of my childhood growing up, so, I would like to share a small segment my story on appearance and thoughts on plastic surgery. This project will be supported by videos and images—ranging from celebrities to extreme identity transformations. Korean media often give lead drama roles to beautiful women—it was beauty they were selling. This leads girls and boys to want to be that character and opt plastic surgery to be beautiful in order to achieve that romantic life portrayed in television. Media ridicules female personals about their appearance because it is either they are beautifully artificial or if they are ugly, then they say they are a face of a comedian. Comedians are commonly known to be ugly and not attractive because their funny appearance is compatible to their humor. Talented individuals must be balanced with their features. Media often fails to deliver dangers of aesthetic surgery—(Pictures of failed surgeries, which can lead to greater health risks such as depression.)

South Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the world. Thousands of dollars are spent on surgeries, skin care, and hair care—even the government sees plastic surgery good thing as it is aiding tourists to visit South Korea for potential operations. Plastic surgery may have become part of South Korean culture—students graduate from high school and their parents present them plastic surgery as college gifts.

IDOLS COMEDIANS

SOURCES

Korean Female Body Image VS American Female Body Image Represented In The Mediahttp://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1329&context=gs_rp

Korea’s Plastic Surgery Obsession Is A Glimpse Into The Future http://www.businessinsider.com/korea-is-obsessed-with-plastic-surgery-2013-5?op=1

What’s A Korean Beauty?: Comparing Cultural Constructshttp://seoulbeats.com/2013/08/whats-korean-beauty-comparing-cultural-constructs/

South Korean High Schoolers Get Plastic Surgery For Graduation

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/south-korean-high-schoolers-get-plastic-surgery-for-graduation/277255/

Japanese Model Spends More Than $100,000 On Plastic Surgery To Look Like A French Dollhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319427/Vanilla-Chamu-photos-Japanese-model-spent-100k-plastic-surgery-look-like-French-doll.html

Plastic Surgery Craze Takes Dangerous Turnhttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/28/asia-pacific/plastic-surgery-craze-takes-dangerous-turn/#.Uy0SL61dWRN

South Korean Parents Forces Children To Get Plastic Surgeryhttp://www.vice.com/gr/read/south-korean-parents-are-making-their-kids-get-plastic-surgery

Beg plastic surgery parodyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=264nb9wX0Qo

VICE documentary—some prefer natural while some prefer artificialhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWKjxxM6q8

(aus) journeymantv—plastic surgery, want to be like kpop idolhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCKShGLyeK0

SPH razor—singaporeans + kpop, look up to westernershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EW6TuG9WHc

plastic surgeryhttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/the-k-pop-plastic-surgery-obsession/276215/

NY times—sk surgery comes out of the closethttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/world/asia/in-south-korea-plastic-surgery-comes-out-of-the-closet.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

gangnam-style nip and tuck draws tourists to south koreahttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-29/gangnam-style-nip-and-tuck-draws-tourists-to-seoul-s-beauty-belt.html

let me in reality showhttp://myseoulsecret.com/2013/12/11/let-me-in/