200 Pounds Beauty

200 Pounds Beauty

Released: December 14, 2006

Directed By: Yong-hwa Kim

            200 Pounds Beauty is about a young talented girl, Kang Han-na (Ah-jung, Kim), who is a voice cover for Ah-mi (Seo-yun, Ji). Ah-mi cannot actually sing, but she has the visuals of singer. On the other side of the spectrum, Kang Han-na has the voice but not the beauty. The director, Sang-jun (Jin-mo, Ju) of both characters seems to lean more toward Kang Han-na. In the opening scene, Kang Han-na is singing a voice over for Ah-mi. Kang Han-na begins to dance her stage, which is made of wood planks. She falls through, cutting the audio for Ah-mi. Sang-jun is then seen frantically calling for Kang Han-na, who eventually pulls herself up.

            After this event and several others in the film, Kang Han-na begins to feel she could be better. She visits some plastic surgery doctors, before finds the doctor, Lee Kong-hak (Han-wi, Lee) called her about advice on his wife the day she tried to kill herself. Kang Han-na even recorded the message and brought this to him. Kang Han-na ends up getting plastic surgery from him and she transforms into a new person. The film is very emotional; however, the message of the film is somewhat sad.

            There are a lot of plastic surgery business in South Korea and some may be cheaper than others. The film seemed to not only entice plastic surgery, but even in the film, the doctor’s business began to bloom. When you go from someone thinking they are “ugly” to what one thinks is “beautiful,” it definitely felt like the person was not comfortable in their own skin and did not have the courage to be confident. It truly is sad, to see a film, with such a powerful statement on how many South Koreans go to plastic surgeries, but also it gave the message that if you look like Kang Han-na looked, it is okay to get plastic surgery.

Compared to Western beauty standards, people use makeup to look older. South Koreans want to look younger. These are two very different images. People will use makeup to cover up acne or blemishes on their face, while other people do not care what they look like. In South Korea, it seems to be more opposite. At a certain time, parents are encouraging their kids to get plastic surgery, when more on the Western side, kids are asking their parents to buy makeup.