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juushikaOn a completely different note!
I read Feministing in a passive sort of browsing way, but this post caught my eye and my attention. It's a video done by a group by Pleix, and a brilliant bit of social commentary in a quietly disturbing package. Well, just watch it (potentially disturbing, but the imagery is not graphic):
What makes this satire so effective is definitely the presentation: scalpels, blood, and incision lines combined with friendly packaging, anonymous presentation, and cheerful instructions. It's visually pleasing at the same time that it's revolting, adorable at the same time that it's horrifying. It's like Handmaid's Tale, with insidiously innocent packaging; like Brave New World, with more disturbing content. There's a scene in the manga Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm, in the "utopia" of Tiphares, where Alita rips a suicide booth—sleek and clean on the outside—out of the ground, exposing the mutilated, dripping corpses that lie below.
Of course it is each person's choice to do whatever they wish with their bodies—be it braces, or plastic surgery, or perhaps even suicide. But I don't understand a society in which elective cosmetic surgery is considered part and parcel of beauty. I don't understand, either, a culture where young girls are given beauty aids the same way that they are given board games. I believe there is a pile of body parts and blood beneath the polite exterior, and it is wonderful to see a video that shows both: the cheerful, socially acceptable wrappings, and the unpleasant blood and guts beneath. It doesn't address the less bloody form of gruesome beauty—like eating disorders—but the message, of course, is greater than the video itself.
I'd love to see similar satires. If you happen to know of any, please do recommend them! This video is wonderfully done and a perfect length, given the premise and content: it makes the point without becoming repetitive. But I'd love to see something similar in book length. And I want to reread Gunnm, of course, but it's buried deep within my boxes of books.
I read Feministing in a passive sort of browsing way, but this post caught my eye and my attention. It's a video done by a group by Pleix, and a brilliant bit of social commentary in a quietly disturbing package. Well, just watch it (potentially disturbing, but the imagery is not graphic):
What makes this satire so effective is definitely the presentation: scalpels, blood, and incision lines combined with friendly packaging, anonymous presentation, and cheerful instructions. It's visually pleasing at the same time that it's revolting, adorable at the same time that it's horrifying. It's like Handmaid's Tale, with insidiously innocent packaging; like Brave New World, with more disturbing content. There's a scene in the manga Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm, in the "utopia" of Tiphares, where Alita rips a suicide booth—sleek and clean on the outside—out of the ground, exposing the mutilated, dripping corpses that lie below.
Of course it is each person's choice to do whatever they wish with their bodies—be it braces, or plastic surgery, or perhaps even suicide. But I don't understand a society in which elective cosmetic surgery is considered part and parcel of beauty. I don't understand, either, a culture where young girls are given beauty aids the same way that they are given board games. I believe there is a pile of body parts and blood beneath the polite exterior, and it is wonderful to see a video that shows both: the cheerful, socially acceptable wrappings, and the unpleasant blood and guts beneath. It doesn't address the less bloody form of gruesome beauty—like eating disorders—but the message, of course, is greater than the video itself.
I'd love to see similar satires. If you happen to know of any, please do recommend them! This video is wonderfully done and a perfect length, given the premise and content: it makes the point without becoming repetitive. But I'd love to see something similar in book length. And I want to reread Gunnm, of course, but it's buried deep within my boxes of books.
