Zhuoying (Joy) Li Design and Technology Thesis 1 Thesis Title: Re-Realization Thesis Professor: Anezka Sebek Fall 2011

Project Issue

East Asian women have adorned western beauty for a century that almost everyone is

finding ways to look more like their ideal beauty. Big eyes, double eyelids, oval face, narrow

jaw, small cheek and chin, and high nose are all dispensable qualities that an ideal Asian beauty

should have. Excitingly, the advancement of plastic surgery and makeup tools and techniques

have brought the hope for women in East Asian. However, they are going to the extreme that

they have diminished their individuality and degraded their natural beauty. By overdoing

makeup and plastic surgery, girls in East Asia are not been more attractive but look like clones of

each other. Therefore, I want to create an installation that raise the awareness of such issue and

question people the gain after changing themselves so hard to become the same as others.

Issue Context

Asian youth, especially Chinese are obsessed with Caucasian-European’s facial

appearance. Although there are differences between oriental Asian aesthetic values, the common

dissatisfactions are small eyes, wide and flat face and nose, big chin and cheek, and beige skin.1

Below is a photograph displayed at a plastic surgery center that shows the mainstream beauty

standard among different ethnic groups. (From left to right: African, European, Chinese, Korean,

and Japanese)2

                                                                                                               1  Marek Dobke, Christopher Chung and Kazuaki Takabe, “Facial Aesthetic Preferences Among Asian Women: Are All Oriental Asians the Same?”, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 30, no. 3, 342-347. 2 “Attractive Composite Faces”, photo, Blogpost.com, http://javajossi.blogspot.com/2010/11/attractive-composite-faces-of-asian.html.

Since 20th century, having double eyelids have been regarded as a symbol of beauty in

East Asia. However, approximately  75  percent  of  all  Koreans  and  50  percent  of  all  other  

Asians  are  born  without  the  double  eyelid  crease.3  Therefore,  women’s  strive  for  beauty  all  

starts  from  magical  makeup  tools  and  plastic  surgeries  for  bigger  and  more  Caucasian  like  

eyes.  The  double  eyelid  surgery  has  been  the  most  popular  and  common  plastic  surgery  in  

East  Asian,  yet,  it  no  longer  satisfy  the  aggressive  youth  that  they  want  to  achieve  “giant”  

eyes  rather  than  big  eyes.  They  are  now  risking  more  to  have  their  eye-­‐head  opened  with  

the  double  eyelid  surgery  (image 1).  

Image 1 Image 2 Image 34

Even though many people yield from plastic surgery, they all have done their own secret

procedure to become similar with the ideal beauty. As I discovered, nowadays, girls wear circle

contacts not for a play of different eye color but for bigger eye pupils (image 2); girls use glues

to create natural looking double eye lids that won’t show any flaw (image 3); girls tape on their

face overnight to slim their face and wider their eyes (image 4, 5); girls even use clips to higher

their nose (image5) and etc. All of these magical methods have gone from mild to extreme that

layers of makeup and props have covered their distinctive Asian identity and natural beauty.                                                                                                                3 Sandy Kobrin, “Asian-Americans Criticize Eyelid Surgery Craze”, Womensenews, August 15, 2004, http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/040815/asian-americans-criticize-eyelid-surgery-craze. 4 “Double Eyelid Glue”, photo, Have8.com, http://zt.have8.com/article/1854864.html.

Image 45 Image 56 Image 67

Moreover, the pursuing of ideal beauty has caused scary experiences. Examples are boy

friends shocked and disappointed after seeing their girl friends’ natural face because of the huge

difference; circle contacts covered people’s eye balls even the white area; layers of faux lashes

with smoky eye shadows that created a monster look more than a western beauty. There will also

be further consequences such as side effects and health issues caused by cosmetic surgeries and

makeup props. More sadly, people can’t hide their true face lifetime because DNA doesn’t lie

that their children won’t look the same as their fake mask.

There is also a trend of posting before and after images of makeup process online that

presents an unbelievable difference and announce their ability to be pretty even though they are

naturally ugly. However, the “ugliness” is usually exaggerated in order to emphasize the ideal

side. Perhaps the images below can exemplify the best that the three are all the same person as

in image 7; yet with makeup, she shows her obsession with European facial appearance (image

8), and her ability to become the standard beauty among Chinese youth (Image 9). Nevertheless,

people made themselves look worse before that they usually wore careless nightgown and have

their hair up with bare face staring at the camera without any smile. They could look much better

if they have done everything except the makeup they did in the “after” photos.

                                                                                                               5 “Face Sliming Tape”, photo, Taobao.com, http://store.taobao.com/shop/view_shop-ffd114287374fbba48e66f4a9a02c175.htm. 6 “Eyes Tape”, photo, 100sp.com, http://www.100sp.com/show_pro.asp?id=14916. 7 “Nose Up Clip”, photo, Blogspot.com, http://all-lovely-pink.blogspot.com/2009/03/nose-up-clip.html.

Image 7, 88 Image 99

Therefore, I want to question why Asian women are minimizing their personal identity

and torturing themselves to become the ideal beauties that actually look fake and soulless. Is

their natural appearance not beautiful? I don’t think so, and I’d like to find a way to make people

to rethink their beauty identity and realize how far they have gone form themselves.

Research

Question1: Why do people strive to be beautiful? What are the benefits?

Although we are all legally equal, people are often treated differently according to their

physical appearance. Since childhood, the cuter kits get more attention and more encouragement,

thus build up their confidence and ability. 10 Some people even think their face is their fate

because first impression is important for relationship and job opportunity.

Question 2: What really is beauty? What defines it?

There are various academic approaches and analysis of the standards and measurements

of beauty. However, from studies of attractive features and scientific measurements I found, they

all reveal people’s misunderstanding that they have been blindly pursuing the ideal standard.

                                                                                                               8 “Before and After”, photo, LadyBand.com, http://www.ladyband.com/article/00163836.shtml. 9 Ibid. 10 Karl Grammer and Elisabeth Oberzaucher. “Our Preferences: Why We Like What We Like”, Essential Building Blocks of Human Nature, The Frontiers Collection, 2011, 95-108.  

1. Beauty: The attractiveness

• Neonate features: eyes, nose, and chin.

• Maturity features: cheekbones, and cheek.

• Expressive features: eyebrows, pupils, and smile.

Based on Michael Cunningham’s experiments, girls care most about their neonate features,

but viewers are actually attracted by their expressive features.11 To concern too much on the

individual parts does not bring you the most attention; yet, a smile with your soul in your eyes

works more effectively.

2. Determinants of facial attractiveness: Physical  Characteristics

• Averageness (prototypicality)

• Sexual dimorphism

• Youthfulness

• Symmetry

According to Dr. Mounir Bashour’s study, extreme outstanding facial appearance such as

very large eyes and high nose bridge does not achieve the best facial harmony; yet, most viewers

adorn faces that maintain some averageness.12

3. The Golden Radio Face (image 10)

Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt quantifies beauty scientifically by developing the Golden

Decagon Mask.13 This two-dimensional visual of the human face is based upon the Golden Ratio

(also known as the Divine or phi ratio): 1:1.618. This special number is believed to symbolize

                                                                                                               11 Michael R. Cunningham “Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: Quasi-experiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty.”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50, no.5, May 1986, 925-935.  12  Mounir Bashour, “History and Current Concepts in the Analysis of Facial Attractiveness” Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 118, no.3, Sept 1, 2006, 741-756.  13 Stephen R. Marquardt. “Marquardt’s Beauty Analysis”, http://www.beautyanalysis.com/index2_mba.htm.

perfect natural harmony and appears in Renaissance art, ancient Greek architecture, music, and

nature. The closer a face is to this template, the more aesthetically pleasing the face is.

Image 1014: From left to right: European, Asian and African

Nevertheless, when comes to facial appearance, people’s preference does not fall exactly into

the scientific measurement. As seen in the match-up photos done to top model Agyness Deyn (image

11)15 and Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe (image 12)16, Agyness’ face is almost perfectly aligned

with the mask whereas Marilyn’s face seems too wide and her eyebrows are too high compare to the

golden radio. Contradictory, most people consider Marilyn the prettier and more feminine rather

than Agyness who is recognized as the cool and fashionable idol. Thus, where people’s preference

truly lies is undefined that it can be affected by various factors.

                                                                                                               14 “Golden Ratio Mask”, photo, Blogpost.com, http://beautyanalysisblog.blogspot.com/. 15 Maggie Bullock, “Agyness Deyn”, photo, Elle.com, http://www.elle.com/Beauty/Beauty-Spotlight/Golden-Ratio-Perfect-Face. 16 “Marilyn Monroe”, photo, Renee’s AntiAge Blog, http://reneeantiage.wordpress.com/.

Question  3:  What  has  influenced  Asian  youth  the  most  on  their  beauty  standards?  And  who  

defined  the  ideal  beauty?

Media  has  been  playing  a  leading  role  that  girls  are  striving  to  catch  its  standard.  

The  majority  of  East  Asian  youth  have  always  kept  an  eye  on  celebrities,  advertisings,  and  

fashion  trends.  Whatever  the  TV,  the  press  and  the  ads  present  have  been  deeply  believed  

as  the  true  ideal.  How  could  we  not?  It’s  all  around  us.  As  a  result,  the  higher  the  standard  

goes,  the  harder  people  trying  to  pursue  with  any  costs.  Even  celebrities  have  to  

manipulate  themselves  to  match  the  standards.  Below  are  before  and  after  photos  of  Asian  

celebrities  who  have  worked  hard  to  achieved  the  ideal  facial  appearance.    

Image  1317:  Japanese  singer  Ayumi  Hamasaki  

   Image 1418: Korean actress Lee Da Hae Image 1519: Chinese actress Li Bing Bing

                                                                                                               17 “Before and After”, photo, Gaibianziji.org, http://gaibianziji.org/anli/stars/mxzs/200805/11718.html. 18 “Before and After”, photo, 31591111.com, http://www.31591111.com/view-7582.html. 19 “Before and After”, photo, Allmei.com, http://www.allmei.com/news/42005.htm.

Question  4:  How  have  the  standards  changed  over  time?  How  far  have  people  gone  to,  to  fit  

these  unattainable  standards?  

Similar  with  fashion  trends,  beauty  standards  have  been  varied  continuously.  Use  

China  as  an  example,  within  the  last  50  years,  its  celebrities  have  portrayed  the  

contradictory  beauty  standards.  Deng  Lijun,  a  Taiwanese  singer  in  the  70s,  has  rounded  

face,  medium  eyes  and  small  nose  that  remain  an  authentic  Chinese  appearance.  In  

contrast,  in  the  90s,  the  preference  of  a  more  Caucasian-­‐European  look  has  shown  from  

Chinese  actress  Ling  Qingxia’s  face,  which  acquires  a  higher  nose,  larger  eyes  and  more  

obvious  cheekbones  and  jawbones.  Nevertheless,  the  present  dream  girl  has  gone  further  

than  a  mimic  of  western  beauty.  As  seen  in  Chinese  actress  Fan  Bingbing’s  portrait,  the  

mainstream  ideal  beauty  now  requires  giant  eyes,  very  high  nose  bridge  and  extraordinary  

thin  cheek  and  chin.  Therefore,  even  if  people  change  themselves  to  the  “perfect”  now,  they  

might  regret  when  the  next  trend  arrives.  

Image 1620 Image 1721 Image 1822

 

According  to  Chin Evans P. and McConnell A.R.’s research, Asian  women  are  more  

likely  to  experience  negative  self-­‐evaluations  after  exposure  to  a  mainstream  beauty  

                                                                                                               20 Hongjuan Sun, “Deng Lijun”, photo, Cri.cn, http://gb.cri.cn/27504/2009/03/03/3905s2445427.htm. 21 Ke Chen, “Lin Qingxia”, photo, Sohu.com, http://feizhutian.blog.sohu.com/72602257.html. 22 Ying Li, “Fan Bingbing”, photo, Sdnews.com, http://ent.sdnews.com.cn/2008/9/11/660424.html.

standard  than  members  of  other  stigmatized  groups,  such  as  Black  women.  23  They  found  

that  Asian  women  would  see  imageries  of  mainstream  beauty  as  relevant  for  their  

comparisons  and  have  greater  dissatisfactions  with  themselves.  It  is  not  hard  to  imagine  

why  Asian  women  are  striving  to  catch  the  standard;  however,  some  TV  shows  have  made  

people  feel  even  worse  about  themselves.  

Image 19 Image20

     

For  intense,  a  TV  show  in  Taiwan  invited  girls  to  compete  with  each  other  for  a  

bigger  difference  before  and  after  makeup  (image  19,20)24.  People  in  the  show  were  

laughing  at  the  girls’  natural  appearance  and  surprised  by  the  considerable  contrast  they  

made.  What  has  been  emphasized  is  that  these  girls  are  naturally  “ugly”  but  look  

astonishing  after  makeup.  It  also  communicates  to  their  audience  that  this  is  the  way  to  

become  pretty.    

  As  a  result,  people  are  learning  hard  to  mimic  the  so-­‐called  beauty  transformation.  

Unfortunately,  girls  didn’t  recognize  that  they  have  become  clones  of  each  other.  When  

looking  at  photos  of  different  Chinese  youth,  they  aren’t  making  themselves  more  

outstanding  but  undistinguishable  among  their  peers  (image  20,21,22).  As Jason Biller and

                                                                                                               23  Chin  Evans  P.  and  McConnell  A.R,  “Self  and  Identity”,  Psychology  Press  2,  no.  2,  April-­‐June  2003,  153-­‐167.    24 “Taiwanese Television”, photo, Pclady,com.cn, http://bbs.pclady.com.cn/topic-746382.html.

David Kim also pointed out from their research, the ideal facial aesthetics do not fit for everyone

because facial harmony must be pursued on an individual basis.25

Image 2026,21,2227

Precedents:

Image 23 Image 24

 The “Doll Face” animation is one of my precedents (image 23)28.  The  Doll  Face  at  first  

comes  out  of  her  box  and  sees  the  TV,  which  shows  an  image  of  what  she  is  supposed  to  

look  like.  Thus,  she  pulls  out  her  makeup  and  changes  herself  to  match  the  image.  

Whenever  the  image  changes  to  a  new,  higher  standard  along  with  the  TV  screen  raises  

                                                                                                               25  Jason Biller and David Kim, “Contemporary Assessment of Facial Aesthetic Preferences”. Arch Facial Plast Surg 11, no.2, 2009, 91-97. 26 “Post 90s”, photo, QQZyz.net, http://www.qqzyz.net/viewNews/43763.html. 27 “Post 90s”, photo, Im808.com, http://www.lm808.com/html/feizhuliumeinv/20091113/11274.html. 28 Andrew Huang, “Doll Face”, 2007, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6hNj1uOkY.

higher,  the  Doll  Face  stretches  herself  to  reach  that  point,  and  changes  her  face  again  and  

again.  At  last,  she  falls,  shatters,  and  breaks.  The doll face lost her life just because the

obsession and adoration of the ideal beauty that the media told her. It reflects the reality that

humans are like dolls controlled by mass media that we have lost ourselves sometimes.

Another precedent is “The Beauty Kit” animation by Angalo Papeteri (image 24) 29. It has

four different beauty kits for little girls to reconstruct their face or body in order to look like a

sexy mature woman. It looks like a fun and dramatic representation of a plastic surgery that you

can do to yourself. The way the animation presents is simple but impressive and effective. It

reflects that the present young generation has viewed plastic surgery as commonly accepted way

to improve themselves. The desire to become the ideal has surpassed the consideration of risk.

Audience:

My audience will be the East Asian youth, especially Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean.

They are aged from 16 to 28, and most likely my peers as so called the “post 90s”, who were

born in and after 1990. They are the ones that obsessed with the overdoing for prettiness and are

also influenced the most by the mass media.

 

Prototype:  

1.  A  Beauty  Kit:    

I  plan  to  make  a  beauty  kit  that  creates  further  exaggerated  facial  appearance  than  existing  

makeup  and  tools.  I  will  be  using  daily  materials  to  mimic  the  functions  of  makeup  

products  such  as  double  eyelid  tape,  nose  up  clip,  circle  contacts  and  etc.  My  beauty  kit  

                                                                                                               29  Angalo Papeteri, “Beauty Kit for Girls”. Youtube, 2005, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXPzZUtAnW4.  

actually  makes  users  look  horrible,  which  is  intentionally  used  to  raise  the  awareness  and  

criticize  the  current  issue  among  East  Asian  youth.  I  will  show  my  audience  the  product  

and  a  documentary  of  the  makeup  process  so  that  their  reaction  tells  the  effectiveness  of  

my  prototype.  

 

Mind  Map:  

   

 

Bibliography  

Bashour, Mounir. “History and Current Concepts in the Analysis of Facial Attractiveness” Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 118, no.3, Sept 1, 2006, 741-756.

Biller, Jason and Kim, David. “Contemporary Assessment of Facial Aesthetic Preferences”. Arch

Facial Plast Surg 11, no.2, 2009, 91-97. Chin, Evans P, and McConnell, A.R, “Self and Identity”, Psychology Press 2, no. 2, April-June

2003, 153-167. Cunningham, Michael R. “Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: Quasi-experiments

on the sociobiology of female facial beauty”, Personality and Social Psychology 50, no.5, May 1986, 925-935.

Dobke, Marek, Chung, Christopher and Takabe, Kazuaki. “Facial Aesthetic Preferences Among

Asian Women: Are All Oriental Asians the Same?”, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 30, no. 3, 342-347.

Grammer, Karl, and Oberzaucher, Elisabeth. “Our Preferences: Why We Like What We Like”,

Essential Building Blocks of Human Nature, The Frontiers Collection, 2011, 95-108. Huang, Andrew. “Doll Face”, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6hNj1uOkY. Kobrin, Sandy. “Asian-Americans Criticize Eyelid Surgery Craze”, Womensenews, August 15,

2004. http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/040815/asian-americans-criticize-eyelid-surgery-craze.

Marquardt, Stephen R. “Marquardt’s Beauty Analysis”.

http://www.beautyanalysis.com/index2_mba.htm. Papeteri, Angalo. “Beauty Kit”. Youtube, 2005.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXPzZUtAnW4.