America the Beautiful

A fourteen-year-old model, size four, is told by agencies that she is obese. Another teenager refers to plastic surgery as “a girl’s best friend.” Magazine editors and advertising executives deny responsibility when it comes to promoting an unhealthy beauty standard, while elementary school girls compare themselves to images they’ve seen in the media and declare with complete conviction that they are fat and ugly.
These are some of the stories found in Darryl Roberts’ documentary America the Beautiful, an insightful look into the beauty industry and how it can affect consumers. Roberts investigates this cultural preoccupation by interviewing those who perpetuate the “beauty standard” and those who are deeply influenced by it. He attends runway shows and plastic surgery consultations. An online “beautiful people” dating service rejects him after members vote against his submitted profile and photo. He takes a random sample of cosmetic products to a lab, where unlisted toxic ingredients are identified in each of them.
Throughout the documentary is the story of Gerren Taylor, whose modeling career skyrockets at age twelve. Roberts contrasts footage of Taylor walking the runway in sultry designs with images of her playing with dolls. As the film unfolds, Taylor deals with criticism about her size and jobs begin disappearing. Eventually, in a conversation with Roberts, she says she is ugly and muses about dieting and the possibility of plastic surgery. The undeniable transformation of Taylor’s self-worth puts a face to the film's research and statistics.
Whether or not we are a part of the beauty industry, we can still be subjected to its images and messages promoting an expectation of physical perfection.  Does that affect the way you view and value yourself? Does America have an unhealthy obsession with beauty, and if so, is there anything we as consumers can do to change it?