so pretty it’s a virtue
TRANSCRIPT
SO PRETTY IT’S A VIRTUE
On the Economic Aspects of Plastic Surgery in China, Japan, and South
Korea
Katrin Marquez, ASLC Capstone Project 2014
IN THE NEWS
• Why is plastic surgery so popular in East Asian countries?
• Is plastic surgery as popular as the media makes it seem?
WHY PLASTIC SURGERY?
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2009
“The Chinese and Korean patients tell me that they want to have faces like Americans. The idea of beauty is more westernized recently. That means the Asian people want to have a
little less Asian, more westernized appearance. They don’t like big cheekbones or small eyes.
They want to have big, bright eyes with slender, nice facial bones.”
-Plastic Surgeon Dr. Kim Byung-gun
SELF-ORIENTALIZING
Self-orientalizatio
n
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
Problem With Theory:• Denies agency of those choosing to have
plastic surgery• it overlooks the fact that some “Western”
beauty standards have existed within East Asian cultures even before contact with the West
• it ignores that cultures are not static and, as such, ideals of physical appearance are continually shifting
• My theory: Because of increased economic growth and competitiveness, plastic surgery has increased in popularity because it is both luxury good and signaling mechanism, but it remains informed by specific national ideologies..
ALTERNATE THEORY
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
ALTERNATE THEORY
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
• Data is largely unreliable• China, Japan and South Korea have
different attitudes toward plastic surgery and other beauty practices
BEAUTY PRACTICES
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
• Beauty as a marker of success and affluence
• Investment of money and time performance of success or anticipated success
• Highly competitive job markets
COMPETITIVENESS
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
“[A]esthetic results of surgery are not an ends in themselves but rather a
means ...to attain better socioeconomic status.”
- Eugenia Kaw in "Medicalization of Racial Features: Asian American Women and
Cosmetic Surgery."
• Shifting beauty standards• 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul• National identity in globalized context
GLOBALIZATION
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
• Films and television have routinized even the most drastic beauty practices by usually depicting only the positive effects of said practices
• The media of specific countries usually reflect larger ideologies The Japanese exception
MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
EMBODIED IDEOLOGY
Self-orientalization
Economics
Beauty Practices
Competition
Globalization
Media
Importance
Appearance as ideologyStructuralism and agency