America the Beautiful, Darryl Roberts' documentary about modeling, the health and beauty industry, and self-image, is a wake-up call - even for people to whom the information is not new. The 105-minute film takes a hard look at our societal standards of beauty, and the roles that certain industries play in setting that image.

"The film also follows the career a Gerren, a model who walked runways for Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs and Richard Tyler when she was 13, but was told she needed to be 'more skinny' by Parisian casting agents and had a meltdown before she was 15."

Editors from some of the top teen magazines are interviewed in the film, as are grade-school girls, who are asked how they feel when they see the "perfect" models on magazine covers. (Most of them answered that they feel "ugly.") America the Beautiful takes a hard look at the price we pay for "beauty," and asks hard questions about whether the result is worth the cost. Source: Jezebel.com

Labels: awareness, documentary, media_influences