a look at how multi billion dollar industries (cosmetics, dieting, cosmetic surgery, pornography, mass media) set impossible beauty standards and reap large profits by making women feel insecure about their appearance.
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I ♥ Mark Kermode
By tradition, every Saturday morning I download BBC Five Live’s Movie Review podcast by Mark Kermode. I have been doing this religiously for years, when I lived in the States, while vacationing in Japan, or Italy, and now that I live in Paris. I listen to it on my iPod, while cutting up vegetables or during a run to the corner bakery shop; I try to avoid noisy places because I wouldn’t want to miss a beat.
A few weeks ago Mark reviewed Paris Hilton’s movie “The Hottie and the Nottie.” I had often remarked Mark’s feminist stands, here and there, but what he said about this particular film was just priceless.
A quick plot synopsis, from Imdb:
Nate moves to L.A. to track down Cristabel [Hilton], the woman he’s been in love with since childhood, only to discover that his plan to woo her only has one hurdle to overcome: what to do with June, Cristabel’s ever-present, not-so-hot best friend? What’s even more complicating is Nate’s growing feelings for June, whose true beauty starts to emerge.
What the synopsis doesn’t say is that Cristabel’s best friend is not just simply unattractive; she looks like a monster (I may add, the most unrealistic ugly person I have ever seen. Trailer here.) Long story short, June goes through extensive plastic surgery and becomes attractive. Nate falls for her.
This is what Mark Kermode had to say about the film:
Obviously the Hottie or the Nottie is ghastly and terrible and awful. […] It’s a film that says beauty is only skin deep but we can cut that skin up. We can change it, because in the end who wants to be ugly? Point number one. […] Point number two. Let’s discuss Paris Hilton in this film. Terrible actress, looks awful, can’t speak properly, doesn’t have any facial expressions, not entirely sure why. […] She’s just nauseatingly dull. […] But I also have to say this film is deeply offensive, on the grounds that it’s a film that says, “Hey we all should look like this.” I think they all look like the Third Reich. I just think they look like Stepford Wives, it’s horrible. […] It’s body fascism… People should be allowed to look like people. I just hate this idea that this is what attractive people look like, I’m like, “No, this is what the Autons look like in Dr. Who.”
