Although my ideas are still swimming in my head and it is subject to change, the idea I seem to have right now is taking all that Laura Miller had to say and pitting it against what I'm finding on the internet.
I would like to compare Miller's idea that the double eyelid surgery is not fully an emulation of Western beauty, but rather something unique, and compare that to what is being portrayed in the media and discovering whether or not the internet is adding to the argument that it is in fact a surgery to look more western.
-I will have to analyze the websites I'm finding and reading what they say and see what image they're trying to portray
-I will read other articles I find on the internet and see what the Asians living in the West have to say about it
-maybe I'll look at other forms of media and see how this surgery is being portrayed
Thus far the questions I have are:
-What are the reasons for this surgery?
- What is being portrayed?
-Is this surgery a Western or a Japanese construction?
And I'm looking for more questions to ask.
Please comment and tell me how to make this project better and what other avenues I should explore.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
celebrities with plastic surgery?
I know for a fact that a lot of Japanese celebrities have had plastic surgery...I just don't have any proof. I tried looking for pictures or articles about it, but all I found were disorganized forums with pictures that were not distinct. It could be debated that it's not the same person or that the quality of the photo is just bad and that's why they look differently. And unfortunately my Japanese is so awful that I can't look at Japanese websites to find out anything else. it would take me too long to navigate. So I have to drop the idea of looking at Japanese celebrities, even though I know that information is out there somewhere.
websites debating about the surgery
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1950/context/cover/
- this talks about ethnic identity
http://www.fashionwindows.com/fashion_review/2000/eyelid_surgery.asp
- arguing that they are trying to look like the asians who have it naturally
http://dir.salon.com/health/feature/2000/02/16/asian_eyes/index.html
- asians fighting against the procedure
There was even a magazine created called "Monolid Magazine" to debate about Asian issues, especially that of the eyelid surgery.
http://www.magamall.com/client/disticor/Magamall_V201_MainEngine.nsf/f653519e8f751393852571710069f3c3/54388a60685f82f485256a100050ac2e!OpenDocument
http://www.youthradio.org/oldsite/health/eyelid.shtml
- a youth radio show thing about it
http://www.makemeheal.com/news/jackie-chaneyelid-surgery/609
- article about jackie chan getting surgery
- this talks about ethnic identity
http://www.fashionwindows.com/fashion_review/2000/eyelid_surgery.asp
- arguing that they are trying to look like the asians who have it naturally
http://dir.salon.com/health/feature/2000/02/16/asian_eyes/index.html
- asians fighting against the procedure
There was even a magazine created called "Monolid Magazine" to debate about Asian issues, especially that of the eyelid surgery.
http://www.magamall.com/client/disticor/Magamall_V201_MainEngine.nsf/f653519e8f751393852571710069f3c3/54388a60685f82f485256a100050ac2e!OpenDocument
http://www.youthradio.org/oldsite/health/eyelid.shtml
- a youth radio show thing about it
http://www.makemeheal.com/news/jackie-chaneyelid-surgery/609
- article about jackie chan getting surgery
websites with eyelid surgery
I tried to get pics of some before and after images of the surgery but I couldn't format them correctly. If I figure out how to do it, I'll post them again. For now I'm just going to post links of the websites. This also serves as a place for me to find the links again if I need to.
http://www.asiancosmeticsurgery.com/html/eyelids.asp
-the Asian model they have primarily on this page doesn't look completely asian to me.
http://www.drmeronk.com/asian/asian-eyelid-photos.html
- this has some before and after pics
http://www.plazaclinic.net/surgical.html#eyelids
- this is for non-cutting surgery
- it talks about what women want and doesn't suggest at all that men get this procedure even though the eyes on the bottom look very manly
http://asiams.net/Forum/index.php?showtopic=3
-this has no pictures and doesn't really talk about the surgery, but it's an argument between three forum people about some pros and cons of getting the surgery.
http://www.beautifuleyes.com/cosmetic-surgery/asian.html
- alot of neat before and after pics
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/11/06/china.cosmetic.surgery/index.html
http://www.asiancosmeticsurgery.com/html/beforeandafters.asp
I think I might do what I'm doing in my visual anthropology class and look at some of these websites and observe what kinds of images I'm seeing and look at the text and see what kinds of things they are saying to get the general idea of what sort of image they're trying to portray.
http://www.asiancosmeticsurgery.com/html/eyelids.asp
-the Asian model they have primarily on this page doesn't look completely asian to me.
http://www.drmeronk.com/asian/asian-eyelid-photos.html
- this has some before and after pics
http://www.plazaclinic.net/surgical.html#eyelids
- this is for non-cutting surgery
- it talks about what women want and doesn't suggest at all that men get this procedure even though the eyes on the bottom look very manly
http://asiams.net/Forum/index.php?showtopic=3
-this has no pictures and doesn't really talk about the surgery, but it's an argument between three forum people about some pros and cons of getting the surgery.
http://www.beautifuleyes.com/cosmetic-surgery/asian.html
- alot of neat before and after pics
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/11/06/china.cosmetic.surgery/index.html
http://www.asiancosmeticsurgery.com/html/beforeandafters.asp
I think I might do what I'm doing in my visual anthropology class and look at some of these websites and observe what kinds of images I'm seeing and look at the text and see what kinds of things they are saying to get the general idea of what sort of image they're trying to portray.
What laura miller has to say about eyelid surgery
page 119-120:
"critics of double-eyelid beauty work are eager to dismiss the claims of Japanese women themselves, who say they are not creating the extra fold in order to appear Western."
-she is talking about the many scholars who insist that this surgery is an attempt for Japanese people to look western. They say that these women have "internalize white-woman beauty ideal"
-She does not outright deny this claim because the truth is that Japan has been dominated by the West and is still heavily influenced by them.
-She pushes the envelope further than this by asking people to look at the reason why the Japanese are saying they are getting this surgery. very few of them actually say it is to look western.
-She points out that many articles and advertisements rarely say that this surgery will make a person more western, although Miller does admit that there are ads where a white person is featured and thus does hint at this idea.
-She says that the people she interviewed who disapproved of this surgery said they disapproved of it specifically because the surgery does straightforwardly emulate the west.
- "This suggests that Euroamerican beauty ideals have indeed played a role in promoting this feature."
-She does suggest that people explore what the Japanese are saying about the surgery and the reasons they give as to why they are getting it.
- "...the most common word for the double-eyelid look is patchiri, "bright, clear eyes."
-she insists that surgery that makes the eyes look too western are "disliked"
-"Instead the desire is for an eye shape that looks bigger but is still Japanese."
Reasons for getting the surgery:
-want to be patchiri and more attractive
-because born with one double eyelid and one single eyelid
-are tired of using the glues and tapes and are tired of not being able to go to the pool or beach
- to look "cuter"
- complex about having small eyes (one woman was made fun of horribly for it)
-fear of being discovered for using the glues and tapes
-page 121
She suggests that these stories indicate normalization of this double eyelid practice.
"The process of normalization has created a sense that the double eyelid is the "average" for Japanese people..."
"The normalization of the double eyelid has occurred within the context of Japanese culture and is not simply a comparison of an individual's self to the Euroamerican media."
-She says this is seen in Japanese women looking at roles models in Japanese magazines, not American ones, at looking at Japanese pop stars, not American ones. So they are looking intrinsically at their own models, not foreigners.
-my only question is about the Japanese models who get this surgery. What is their motivation for doing it? Who are their role models?
She goes into details as to why this surgery is and isn't a direct influence of the west.
-it is b/c of the pressure of the "global standard of white beauty" (116)
- it's not because there was a mixing of japanese people historically from the Yayoi people and the Jomon people that made it so that 80% of the Japanese naturally have the double eyelid and the rest are born without it. (116)
- she doesn't explicity explain her rationale behind this but i assume that because people are naturally born with and without it, that certain ideas of beauty are constructed just by looking at each other.
-it's not b/c there is a practice in Japan about personality types based on eye shape. And cosmetics can make you change to a desired trait both physically on your face and personality wise (118)
-says it's not b/c this surgery has a long history. The first recorded surgery happening in 1896 (118)
- but wasn't there western influence by then?
-The main difference between the double eyelids of Japanese and Euroamericans is that Japanese eyelids have more fat. Japanese that have surgeries that remove too much fat from the eyelid are considered weird-looking" (118-119)
-She blames alot of this notion of this eyelid surgery being a copy of westerners is out of western ethnocentricsm.
-Euroamericans have a certain idea of how Japanese should look and to change that is to make them a different race
- indicates they hypocrisy that Americans have when they say the Japanese are trying to be white when they adapt new styles, but when we do it, we're just being creative
-There is something going on in Japan that has been happening for a while that Japan is "modernizing" and taking on Western ideas of fashion and styles and their diets are changing so their physical appearence is also changing.
I wonder if it's just that there's a lot of changing going on and Euroamericans don't know how to handle it
"critics of double-eyelid beauty work are eager to dismiss the claims of Japanese women themselves, who say they are not creating the extra fold in order to appear Western."
-she is talking about the many scholars who insist that this surgery is an attempt for Japanese people to look western. They say that these women have "internalize white-woman beauty ideal"
-She does not outright deny this claim because the truth is that Japan has been dominated by the West and is still heavily influenced by them.
-She pushes the envelope further than this by asking people to look at the reason why the Japanese are saying they are getting this surgery. very few of them actually say it is to look western.
-She points out that many articles and advertisements rarely say that this surgery will make a person more western, although Miller does admit that there are ads where a white person is featured and thus does hint at this idea.
-She says that the people she interviewed who disapproved of this surgery said they disapproved of it specifically because the surgery does straightforwardly emulate the west.
- "This suggests that Euroamerican beauty ideals have indeed played a role in promoting this feature."
-She does suggest that people explore what the Japanese are saying about the surgery and the reasons they give as to why they are getting it.
- "...the most common word for the double-eyelid look is patchiri, "bright, clear eyes."
-she insists that surgery that makes the eyes look too western are "disliked"
-"Instead the desire is for an eye shape that looks bigger but is still Japanese."
Reasons for getting the surgery:
-want to be patchiri and more attractive
-because born with one double eyelid and one single eyelid
-are tired of using the glues and tapes and are tired of not being able to go to the pool or beach
- to look "cuter"
- complex about having small eyes (one woman was made fun of horribly for it)
-fear of being discovered for using the glues and tapes
-page 121
She suggests that these stories indicate normalization of this double eyelid practice.
"The process of normalization has created a sense that the double eyelid is the "average" for Japanese people..."
"The normalization of the double eyelid has occurred within the context of Japanese culture and is not simply a comparison of an individual's self to the Euroamerican media."
-She says this is seen in Japanese women looking at roles models in Japanese magazines, not American ones, at looking at Japanese pop stars, not American ones. So they are looking intrinsically at their own models, not foreigners.
-my only question is about the Japanese models who get this surgery. What is their motivation for doing it? Who are their role models?
She goes into details as to why this surgery is and isn't a direct influence of the west.
-it is b/c of the pressure of the "global standard of white beauty" (116)
- it's not because there was a mixing of japanese people historically from the Yayoi people and the Jomon people that made it so that 80% of the Japanese naturally have the double eyelid and the rest are born without it. (116)
- she doesn't explicity explain her rationale behind this but i assume that because people are naturally born with and without it, that certain ideas of beauty are constructed just by looking at each other.
-it's not b/c there is a practice in Japan about personality types based on eye shape. And cosmetics can make you change to a desired trait both physically on your face and personality wise (118)
-says it's not b/c this surgery has a long history. The first recorded surgery happening in 1896 (118)
- but wasn't there western influence by then?
-The main difference between the double eyelids of Japanese and Euroamericans is that Japanese eyelids have more fat. Japanese that have surgeries that remove too much fat from the eyelid are considered weird-looking" (118-119)
-She blames alot of this notion of this eyelid surgery being a copy of westerners is out of western ethnocentricsm.
-Euroamericans have a certain idea of how Japanese should look and to change that is to make them a different race
- indicates they hypocrisy that Americans have when they say the Japanese are trying to be white when they adapt new styles, but when we do it, we're just being creative
-There is something going on in Japan that has been happening for a while that Japan is "modernizing" and taking on Western ideas of fashion and styles and their diets are changing so their physical appearence is also changing.
I wonder if it's just that there's a lot of changing going on and Euroamericans don't know how to handle it
Eyelid surgery
Not only because this book talks about it, but because Mizenko-sensei keept bringing it up, I'm going to put alot of my focus on eyelid surgery. In this book Laura Miller talks about a lot of different things: beauty issues that range from hair removal, implants, and even better smelling flatulence. I do not yet know how extensively I can talk about eyelid surgery, even in this book it is only covered by a few pages. So I may wind up picking another major/most popular beauty thing to talk about in my final project.
So bear with me as this project may alter a little from where it stands now.
So bear with me as this project may alter a little from where it stands now.
the book
I"m mostly through this book that I"ve started reading for the sake of my project and the author of course is making a lot of points about beauty culture. Her main objective seems to be to try and prove that the beauty fads that exist in the 1990's-early 2000's are not soley due to the influence of western culture but also stem from something internal as well. She goes through countless examples and extensive research to prove this.
I have yet to make up my mind as to whether or not I completely buy into what she is saying. I do however recognize the points that she is making; especially since most of them are just common sense.
She goes about her research by analyzing Japanese history, beauty advertisements, and by interviewing Japanese people. I feel that all of these things together puts a lot of validity to what she is saying.
Another major argument of hers is that beauty culture is a form of proper etiquette in Japan. I think she is trying to validate the beauty craze in Japan and why it is a billion dollar business despite reports of fraud and malpractice. I wonder also if she is trying to make the Japanese understandable to a Western audience who might stereotypically not understand them. Nonetheless I find this approach rather intriguing and may touch upon it myself in my final paper.
Because what she is saying is rather extensive and somewhat dense, I need to read through it again. I've been reading it very carefully which is why it's been taking me so long to read it. I do not yet know how much of her arguments I will post here. I wasn't really planning to post them but if people want to know what they are or think they are necessary, I will post them.
I have yet to make up my mind as to whether or not I completely buy into what she is saying. I do however recognize the points that she is making; especially since most of them are just common sense.
She goes about her research by analyzing Japanese history, beauty advertisements, and by interviewing Japanese people. I feel that all of these things together puts a lot of validity to what she is saying.
Another major argument of hers is that beauty culture is a form of proper etiquette in Japan. I think she is trying to validate the beauty craze in Japan and why it is a billion dollar business despite reports of fraud and malpractice. I wonder also if she is trying to make the Japanese understandable to a Western audience who might stereotypically not understand them. Nonetheless I find this approach rather intriguing and may touch upon it myself in my final paper.
Because what she is saying is rather extensive and somewhat dense, I need to read through it again. I've been reading it very carefully which is why it's been taking me so long to read it. I do not yet know how much of her arguments I will post here. I wasn't really planning to post them but if people want to know what they are or think they are necessary, I will post them.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Project notes
I was originally going to write the notes out in my blog but then I realized that I would probably get into trouble for posting details about that book without permission so instead you'll have to bear with me while I read it and wait for me to formulate what I want to say about it before I post another uh, post about it.
I will eventually provide an outline for my project and provide some ideas from this book and other materials that I will be looking at. So for now just let me read and compile things on my own before I post about it.
I will eventually provide an outline for my project and provide some ideas from this book and other materials that I will be looking at. So for now just let me read and compile things on my own before I post about it.
Project idea
This is the book that Mizenko-sensei was kind enough to obtain for me. This woman is an anthropologist who is analyzing the beauty culture of Japan in the 90's and early 2000's. I am currently reading this book and will provide for you a breakdown of each chapter so that I don't write one very long summary. And also so it will be easier on myself to look at.
As for my project idea itself, I do not yet have a concrete idea. I'm keeping an open mind at this point. I plan to read this entire book and then search the web for websites about Japanese cosmetic surgery and other such beauty treatments and then analyze what Miller had said with ideas of my own making.
I get the feeling at this point that I will have to be combating many stereotypes as I work through this project. So we will see what happens.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Other part of cute project
So I have to admit I have personal reasons for choosing Chinatsu Ban as the artist I want to observe. I have a thing for elephants, perhaps in a similar way that Chinatsu Ban is obsessed with elephants. I suppose I cheated a little and did a little bit of reading on her. Her thing with elephants stems back to when she was a child and had an elephant figurine that she cherished. It became a symbol for her for peace and safety. From her own words, Ban explains that elephants and the underpants that she portays in her art are comforting for her that help her deal with the fear she possess that she will die someday. In my readings I have not found an explanation for the colorful poop that also accompanies her art with elephants. Perhaps they are there because poop is a fact of life.
In this picture I can see the sense of childishness, the playfulness of the baby elephants with a bigger (I suppose adult elephant) and how this can relate to the kawaii culture of not wanting to grow up and live in innocence for as long as possible. Then I feel that the underpants on the elephants represents protection fromvthings in everyday life. As if the picture is saying, go ahead and play, just be prepared for the necessary things in life too. As much as the people in the kawaii culture want to be carefree, they can't ignore the fact that they still have to be protected from certain things. Some things in life are unavoidable. I think this is the kind of emotion that the artist is trying to show.
Cute Post
So I hope that this counts as the "non-art" portion of this project. I can't remember the website I got this off of and therefore can not remember if it is sold by Sanrio or not, I'll see if I can find it again. It is one of those toys that immediately make me think that it's adorable, until I realize it's about cooking food with faces on it. Then I feel like I'm cooking something alive. But aside from thinking about it disturbingly like that, it made me think about what I read in the "Cuties in Japan" article in which she identifies the cute things that exist in Japan. This toy is one of those cute things that while it has appendages, they are small and rounded. the objects are rounded and that's whta makes them cute. Then it made me think about how the Japanese can incorporate cute into other aspects of their lives, including food. The article suggested that cute can be found in bakeries and sweet shops but apparently cute can also be found in regular cooking food. Kinda like the Fisher-Price kitchens we sell for children here. But I think this toy would be sold to anyone of any age and wasn't meant specifically for children.
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