Sunday, July 3, 2016

Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art

       This week’s materials make me think beyond med, tech or art, to how today’s popular culture along with the advancing technology is changing people’s definition of beauty in Asia. 

       Plastic surgery is more and more common in today’s world. In essence, it enables people to alter their appearance by will. And many people undergo these surgeries to become “more beautiful” in their own standards. This is good for people who regard physical beauty as a great deal in their life. However, I feel like today’s popular culture is making people lose their unique taste in beauty. In China, teenage girls are taking too much plastic surgeries only to become famous on the social media. I saw a Japanese movie called “Helter-Skelter” that depicts the tragic conflict going on inside a famous model between the fancy modeling career and the painful and harmful plastic surgeries to maintain such career.

HELTER SKELTER ヘルタースケルター Trailer



       In Korea, it is no secret that almost every woman does plastic surgery, and when they walk into the clinic, they always ask for the same face of some movie stars. My point is, the immature popular culture is fueling the formation of blind worship of appearance in a woman’s career, and the dangerous singular standard of beauty in the society. 

Korean girls who look alike


       In lecture, Prof. Vesna talked about Orlan, the artist who took plastic surgeries to mimic famous images from art works. In an interview of Stuart Jeffries with Orlan, the artist revealed that one of the objectives of her work is about changing the convention of the inferiority and limits to females. In the recent movie "The Danish Girl," the main character also sought to break through the limit of sex through transgender plastic surgery. 

The Danish Girl - Trailer



       Last but not least, there are still much to discuss about the pros and cons towards psychological wellbeing of plastic surgeries. But the first principle to remember in mind is to always think twice before actually making the decision.





Bibliography

Sources

15-year-old Girl Who Has Undergone Extreme Plastic Surgery Cause an Online Furore. Daily Mail, 
     12 Apr. 2015. Web.

Wengie. "Why Korean Girls All Look the Same – a Closer Look at Korean Beauty and Make up 
     Standards and the Miss Korea and Daegu Pagent Contestants." The Wonderful World of Wengie 
     RSS. N.p., 1 Jan. 2014. Web.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine + Technology + Art | Lectures." Web.
       <https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/510391/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=9092396>.

Jeffries, Stuart. "Orlan's Art of Sex and Surgery." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2009. 
     Web.

Dittmann, Melissa. "Plastic Surgery: Beauty or Beast?" Monitor Vol.36 (Sep. 2005): Page 30. 
     American Psychological Association. Web.
     <http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep05/surgery.aspx>.



Images/Videos

Wengie. "Why Korean Girls All Look the Same – a Closer Look at Korean Beauty and Make up 
     Standards and the Miss Korea and Daegu Pagent Contestants." The Wonderful World of Wengie 
     RSS. N.p., 1 Jan. 2014. Web.

Filmlincdotcom. "NYAFF: HELTER SKELTER ヘルタースケルター Trailer." YouTube, 2013.

MovieclipsTRAILERS. "The Danish Girl Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Eddie Redmayne, Alicia 
     Vikander Drama HD." YouTube, 2015. Web.






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