Chicagoist: CIFF: "America the Beautiful"

matty

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:35:34 -0600

chicago, based on our collective weight problem, must have very little advertising.

Spook

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:33:30 -0600

in other words the majority of Americans are dumb A*s consumer sheep, yet still a very proud lot

Ferdy

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:35:22 -0600

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.

Ferdy

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:29:59 -0600

Did he even challenge the "fabric is expensive" line?

guest

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:27:44 -0600

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.

guest

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:27:27 -0600

Give it up for Leo Burnett!!!! WOO-HOO!!!

Rob Christopher

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:25:18 -0600

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.

Ferdy

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:42:57 -0600

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.

guest

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:42:32 -0600

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.