"200 lbs of Beauty" is a movie about the beauty standards from specifically the korean culture. In this movie Hanna, the protagonist undergoes a drastic change to chase the life and love of her dreams ... Only to find out that it was'nt what she had quite expected. I think that “200 pounds of Beauty” takes the ideas of a stereotypical storyline and character development and turns it into something interesting and deeper because the protagonist’s final destination with herself is not that she has grown to love the way she was before, but that she has realized the shallowness in her inability to accept the superficial factors that rule society. I dont think she was able to reconcile with reality. Even until the end of the movie, she remains the pretty girl just without the vanity she once possessed.
This film did not validate the cliché theme of “beauty is skin deep” because the character’s personality alternated along with her appearance, what this film did was validate the fact that there is no escape way out of self consciousness and bending toward the social standards of beauty by pressure.
Hanna has no problems with going under the knife to solve her beauty woes, but in reality her problems go beyond her beauty woes. Her problems extend from a the pressures from her society to categorize people into classes by appearance: fat vs. skinny, ugly vs. pretty, etc. Surgery did answer her beauty woes, but it did not solve her self esteem woes. she was the quiet, submissive, unattractive character who always stood behind the curtains in hiding. Through out the many things that she gained, she certainly did not gain self esteem, she gained vanity through her plastic surgery. Those two are very different because the first is derived by self love while the ladder is cultivated by the perspectives of peers. After her surgery, she had lost what she had once treasured; her friends, family and her passion to sing.
This film did not validate the cliché theme of “beauty is skin deep” because the character’s personality alternated along with her appearance, what this film did was validate the fact that there is no escape way out of self consciousness and bending toward the social standards of beauty by pressure.
Hanna has no problems with going under the knife to solve her beauty woes, but in reality her problems go beyond her beauty woes. Her problems extend from a the pressures from her society to categorize people into classes by appearance: fat vs. skinny, ugly vs. pretty, etc. Surgery did answer her beauty woes, but it did not solve her self esteem woes. she was the quiet, submissive, unattractive character who always stood behind the curtains in hiding. Through out the many things that she gained, she certainly did not gain self esteem, she gained vanity through her plastic surgery. Those two are very different because the first is derived by self love while the ladder is cultivated by the perspectives of peers. After her surgery, she had lost what she had once treasured; her friends, family and her passion to sing.
The Asian perception of beauty theme is hard to ignore in this film. What is optimal in the characters idea of beauty is the big eyes, the petite Barbie doll figure, the small mouth, fuller lips, tall and slender nose, light skin color and an overall natural innocent look. Several instances in the film, the characters draws directly from western imagery, such as the Barbie doll and Kate Mosses’ face structure. I think this subject of mixing standards of beauty between cultures is one nonexclusive to just between Asian sentiment toward western features, there are many features that are good and bad of all cultures. For instance, white people might like the full lips of African Americans, and African Americans might admire the hair of white people. Both cultures may even find a desirability in the almond shapes of Asian eyes. I think that Asian perception of beauty is emphasized and is so distinct because of the easy access and over popularization of plastic surgery. The sharing of admiration for cross cultures should be celebrated, however the social norms which derides people of their acceptance based on their mere appearance is a subject to think criticially in any reality, any culture. Interesting ideas, cute humor, good movie- Jenny
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