Educational Media Reviews Online

This video chronicles the decisions of Sharon Kim and Maria Estante, two young women of Asian descent who are contemplating cosmetic surgery. Sharon and Maria are both considering having their eyes made more "Western," and, additionally, Maria is considering having work done on her nose. In the beginning of the film, we hear their reasons. Both want to have more confidence, feel better about themselves, and not suffer discrimination and outright hostile behavior because of their appearance. In the first half of the film, it frequently becomes difficult to tell which woman is talking. In at least one scene this is intentional and effective, when the two women's voices overlap telling the same kinds of stories and citing the same types of reasons for wanting cosmetic surgery. At other times, it is unintentional and makes it difficult for the audience to know each woman as an individual.

After we hear from the two women, we hear from their friends, most of whom are baffled by the desire to have cosmetic surgery, in spite of their own layers of makeup, earrings, and trendy clothes. We hear from Sharon that her mother was the one to initially bring up the surgery, and that at first Sharon thought it was a bad idea. Then we hear from Maria's mother, who thinks she's beautiful the way she is and can't understand why her daughter would want to do this. At the same time, clips fly by of thin, blonde cheerleaders along with some older clips of a man talking about a face's "proper" proportions.

Finally, Sharon does decide to have the surgery on her eyes and consents to have it filmed. The sequence jumps from the surgery taking place, blood and all, to Maria and her mother watching the film on their television. After the surgery, we see Sharon (who isn't all that visibly changed) smiling and saying how happy she is and how much more confident she feels. Maria seems vindicated that Sharon feels so good, while Maria's mother seems both horrified and skeptical. This sequence is particularly effective, highlighting the mechanics as well as the emotional underpinnings of cosmetic surgery.

The end of the video shoots forward 8 months. Sharon still claims she's happy with the decision, but she does not appear as confident. She visits with her mother after a long separation and seems to be an emotional wreck. Maria is still vacillating on whether or not she's going to have surgery, claiming (rather unconvincingly) that funding is the only thing standing in her way.

This documentary covers territory we've all heard about before. That the Western ideal of beauty as portrayed in the media is unrealistic and unattainable, even for women of Western heritage, is not a big revelation. However, I think that the fact that these women of Asian descent would want to have surgery to make their eyes look more Western might be. At the same time, the film's pacing makes it difficult to clearly identify each of these young women, so much as take them seriously or identify with them. The film is enough to generate a discussion about the issues raised, although it certainly provides no real opinions or solutions of its own. While not an essential purchase, this is recommended for larger Asian and women's studies collections.

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