Smile Pretty. From the series, Girls in America; Identity and Adolescence 1998
Distributed by Films Media Group, PO Box 2053, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-2053; 800-257-5126
Produced by Independent Film Service, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Directed by Carol Cassidy
VHS, color, 57 min.
High School - Adult
Adolescence, Gender Studies, Child Development
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Debra Mandel, Head, Media Center, Northeastern University Libraries, Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. 02115Smiling Pretty, second part of the two-part series, "Girls in America: Identity and Adolescence", depicts the culture of teen beauty pageants and the players who shape it-- teenage girls, moms, beauty pros, and judges. It's shot in cinema verite style without transitional shots, voice-over or title credits to identify location, person, age or relationship. For purposes of clarification, some credits would have helped. Well paced, playful video and super 8 scenes are interspersed with edgy bubble-gum music, capturing the unique reality of teen beauty competition, complete with make-up, silicon gel cups, human hair extensions, and trophy rooms. It's grueling weekend work. One could be anywhere in the US, or any era for that matter, but the filmmakers have taken us to California, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Massachusetts (as indicated by closing credits) to show a variety of competitions on which these girls pin their hopes. Multicultural representation is the minority: the video includes interesting portraits of an African-American girl who has a white mother and one Chinese-American girl.
Smiling Pretty presents entertaining close-ups of backstage dressing, primping, and rehearsing and on stage strutting, winning, and losing. It includes revealing interviews and conversations with contestants and their mothers. What's most captivating and troubling are the demanding bonds between them, characterized by intense physical scrutiny and judging of their daughter's appearance. The painful hair teasing of Cherie (sp?), and her tortured self-mocking voguing before an always critical, watchful mom are scenes worthy of much discussion. A single mother uses beauty pageant money to save for her daughter's college. You might ask, who is calling the shots in these girls' lives? (one eerily thinks of JonBenet Ramsey). Yet, because Smiling Pretty is not didactic, it can be creatively used in junior high, high school, and undergraduate classes to catalyze discussions about the beauty pageant industry in general, gender and ethnic identity, women's studies, girl's studies, guidance, sociology, psychology, and even fashion. It is hoped that a video of girls in sports and other male-dominated fields could be used along with this video to form a larger discussion on image-making, stereotyping, and gender conformity. Part one of "Girls in America: Identity and Adolescence", Run Like a Girl, portrays teenage girls in competitive sport. This reviewer has not seen it. Smiling Pretty is recommended for public library, school, and undergraduate collections where appropriate.