If only my eyes were just a little bit bigger …
If only I had double eyelids …
If only I could get rid of that ugly mole …
If only my nose was a little sharper …
Damn, if only I had her cheekbones …
Society has successfully defined what kind of looks and features one must have to be considered beautiful. And there are many (not just women) out there who doubt their looks, internally hating certain features that they are born with, and are more than ready to ‘correct’ them.
We’ve all heard of the ‘lion lady’, Jocelyn Wildenstein. If you haven’t then, Ms Wildenstein has undergone numerous plastic surgeries in a desperate attempt to regain the affection of her husband. Simply put, he loved lions, so she decided to make herself look like one.
Likewise there was a young girl in South Korea who was constantly surrounded by people with ‘perfected’ looks. She feels pressured to fit in and have long desired to have the same mannequin look. However, without the support of her parents, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Just how far would she go to change her looks and achieve self acceptance?
In a video titled “Human Form”, Young Inhyung draws pictures of small girls with perfectly symmetrical features, almost doll-like. Even as a child, she is already in delusional on how people should look.
She visits a cosmetic clinic one day, but was told that she wouldn’t be able to afford the plastic surgery.
She then turns to her mother for support, but her mother says she’s too young for surgery. Remember as a teenager, where all you wanted was to have the latest mobile phone and $hit; well this girl is asking for a new face! #kidsthesedays
Inhyung walks home in the dark and spots a flyer on the wall ‘Research Participants Needed for Plastic Surgery’ which caught her attention. Inhyung decides to participate and she eventually signs the disclaimer forms. Next she is seen on the operation table undergoing the surgery. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
With high hopes, she dreams that she will finally wake up to a ‘perfect’ face. However, the surgery had gone awfully wrong and Inhyung is left with her face bloodied in bandages. You cannot help but feel sorry for her.
Human form, an award-winning South Korea horror short film depicts the influence of what is perceived to be beautiful on a young girl. And please take note the genre is horror.
In our current generation, not just women, but men too are very much into enhancing their looks. We feel the pressure to become what society deems as beautiful and acceptable. But sadly, not all stories are with happy endings. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time till we end up like that: surgery obsessed.
If you are interested in the story, check out the video below.
