So. I saw America the Beautiful last night.

[miss_anastasia]

A friend had free tickets to a screening at the Winspear. I have been teaching about deviant appearances (including being 'too fat' and 'too thin' ) for the past two weeks. And... it just keeps making me a little confused. To be honest, films like America the Beautiful, where the point seems to be that women have horrible self-esteem, and hate

Comments

[wrin]

I am the opposite side of that coin. My problems are exactly the problems people get so shallow about. Tiny flaws appear enormous. Five pounds feels like five points on my BMI. Up.

I don't know why perfection makes me obsessive. Especially since it's unattainable.

[miss_anastasia]

Don't get me wrong - I can get obsessive too, it just doesn't happen with appearance. (Though that might have to do with a blatant disregard for fashion magazines...)

Numbers freak me right out - inches, weight, everything - but that would be why I actually have NO idea what I weigh, and intend to keep it that way.

[stripesalesman]

Or... maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, who never got told she was ugly.

I haven't seen the film, but it sounds like you're missing the point. It's not that anyone is sitting the average woman down and saying, "Yo baby, you're one hell of a fatty pancake." But the nature of consumerism in our society is such that sales tend to boom when everyone is obviously and painfully conscious of their physical flaws, and is continually seeking out ways to rectify them.

I don't think the majority of women who have a difficult time interacting comfortably with their bodies are consciously thinking that beauty is it as far as what's important in life

[miss_anastasia]

No, the part that makes it difficult is I do understand the context, and I do get that there's a whole industry out there that 'needs' me to feel like crap so I'll buy their stuff. That everyone's telling them to look like the girls in the magazines, or they 'aren't pretty.'

It's just that, as important as I can see films like this one being, and as much as I think they need to be made, and seen, they just don't seem to 'speak' to me. And that makes me a little uncomfortable.

[stripesalesman]

I think perhaps much of this had to do with self-definition. If you have goals in your life that aren't tied to your appearance, you don't define yourself by your appearance very much. Others may see their appearance as tied to what they want to accomplish in life (e.g. become an actress, marry a successful husband, etc.).

Maybe your ambitions don't tie in with a need to have good looks (or at least better looks).

[stripesalesman]

The above was me, BTW.

- Mustafa Hirji