BEAUTY MARKS

advised by Dennis Lim

assisted by Julia Sharpe

Beauty Marks is an effort to bring forward the irony of societal expectations regarding beauty standards. The idea of beauty, predated by history, has long been an oppressive device toward the minorities that puts forward the cishet-European-white men desire. In the contemporary era, these oppressed groups expanded their category to not only women but also include race, sexuality, and gender identity. Inspired by Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, the Beauty Marks sees the short film as an effort to map the fiction that is posed to the body socially, culturally, and politically. The film puts forward the ugly truths hidden from the mainstream for the body to achieve the impossible beauty standards that we understand now. Beauty Marks invites the audience to pay attention to the hidden reality behind these expectations and reconsider what beauty means and how it constitutes the body by revealing the pain and sacrifice.

The film is a continuing research around beauty and genetic engineering that extended from a previous project. It presents an ethical dilemma that comes from physical alteration that can happen within one’s own home to achieve a certain beauty standard. The black goo that oozes out of the protagonist’s face is up to the interpretation of the audience, whether it is a desired outcome or the other way around.