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This is part of Chicagoist's continuing coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival.
A sobering statistic from Chicago filmmaker Darryl Robert's new documentary America the Beautiful: Although the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world's population, its residents are exposed to 40% of its advertising. Roberts argues that one major effect of that hypersaturation is an obsession with a certain kind of "perfect beauty," an unrealistic ideal that leaves many women feeling unhappy with how they look and guilty about what they eat. His movie is a saddening but almost jaunty exploration of how this modern notion of perfect beauty took hold, who's being taken advantage of, and who's making money from it (as it turns out, an awful lot of people). He selects as his case study Gerren Taylor, a model who started on the catwalks at the age of 12 only to find that within a few years designers were already dismissing her for having "hips that were too big" and an unsuitable waist size.
Wisely, Roberts uses a low-key approach and lets his interview subjects do most of the talking. And as you can imagine, especially among people in the industry, there's a lot rationalization to go around. A woman at ad agency Leo Burnett explains with a straight face that there are two types of female consumers: "moderately beauty-involved" and "heavily beauty-involved." A designer reveals that the reason models with tiny figures are preferable is because dressing them uses less fabric, which is expensive. And, in an especially wicked jibe, Roberts points out that despite the fact that many Revlon cosmetics contain suspected carcinogens (which are are banned in the E.U.) twice a year the company sponsors breast cancer walk-a-thons.
Bottom line: it's definitely worth seeing. We guarantee a hearty post-screening discussion, and perhaps a new way of looking at trashy magazines with glossy covers.
America the Beautiful has a benefit screening on 10/6 and then screens again on 10/13 and 10/14. Details at the festival site.
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What is the percentage for Europe? 40% doesn't say so much about advertising itself as much as it does about technology, transportation and our economy. I'd also be interested in seeing a map that spots the highest concentration of advertising. Times Square and the New York media market are probably off the charts. Throw in cable TV ads, Internet advertising, and snail mailers and yeah there's a lot of stuff out there that just gets wasted. If you live in a town where, you don't have a car, and you don't have a computer, the store down the road doesn't have to advertise to you to get you to come.
Perhaps this movie does make some points, but it sounds a little suspect to me. First, "A designer reveals that the reason models with tiny figures are preferable is because dressing them uses less fabric, which is expensive" is b.s. because garments are routinely pinned smaller to make them fit models. The ideal in the industry is small--period.
Second, an Italian city passed a law to ban swimmers from public beaches who didn't meet a certain standard of thinness. It seems that one can't place all the blame on the oversaturation of advertising on standards of beauty. If advertising were the measure of beauty obsession, every American would be anorexic.
I would indict the fashion industry more than advertising itself for this shameful state of affairs. The word seems to get out no matter how little advertising there is.
I think the movie spreads the blame pretty evenly: the fashion industry perpetuates this beauty myth, but the advertising and celebrity media industries seize on this "product" because they need something to be able to sell; and we as consumers all too willingly eat it up. Roberts respects the complexity of the issue.
Give it up for Leo Burnett!!!! WOO-HOO!!!
Is this another one of those documentaries where the filmmakers tell you exactly what to think and bend their subjects words or the facts themselves as needed?
Will viewers completely lap it up like they did all the other screeds on film (F-911, Sicko, Fast Food Nation, Who Killed...) until they realize that the filmmakers played fast and loose with their facts to make their point?
Because if it is, no thanks. I'm tired of being treated like a child.
Somebody needs to completely reboot documentary film making and start over.
Did he even challenge the "fabric is expensive" line?
Guest 5 - I quite agree. Documentaries are as manufactured as feature films. Where are the Barbara Kopples and Steve James who let the events tell the story? Plus, choosing the beauty industry as a doc topic is so lame--it's been done to death from both pro and con sides (lots of docs on fashion designers, lots of docs on anorexia and body image). It's an easy sell.
in other words the majority of Americans are dumb A*s consumer sheep, yet still a very proud lot
chicago, based on our collective weight problem, must have very little advertising.