This song would be just about brilliant for the Illusionists docu soundtrack! The Care Bears on Fire is a band from Brooklyn, NY: Sophie (lead vocals, guitarist, 13 years old), Izzy (drummer, 13 years old) and Jena (Bass, 15 years old) are my new heroines! I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.
Last night I had dinner with a couple of friends. Christine, one of them, had just returned from New York and brought me back a book called “Body Outlaws – Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and Body Image,” a collection of frank, powerful, and sometimes humorous essays about self-image.
I started reading passages from it on the subway on my way home. Carolyn Mackler’s “Memoirs of a (sorta) Ex-Shaver” – about women’s travails with body hair – made a strong impression on me, because the ultimate message is very close to the thesis of The Illusionists.
Here’s my favorite passage:
Why had body hair become such a nemesis for women? It poses no health risks. It is not hygienic to remove; it is not cleansing to shave. Rather, the complications arise during the eradication: cuts, infections, rashes, ingrown hairs, dry skin, burning. Is this hairless ideal yet another variation on the tune of ‘let’s take the best (boobs, curves in some places, hair in very few places) and leave the rest (hips, curves in other places, hair in lots of other places)’? Or is it: ‘Let’s make women look like 8-year-olds so we can treat them as such’? Or is it: ‘If women can fill up their extra hours shaving and obsessing about their bodies, then they won’t have spare time to plot world takeover’? Or maybe it’s: ‘Women are so grossly overpaid and just don’t spend enough on pads, tampons, pantyliners, Ibuprofen, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, that we should coax them to buy razors, waxes, creams and bleaches.’ A-ha, it’s probably: ‘How about setting another unattainable ideal for women so they will always fall short of the mark.’ I mean, what are women if they’re not feeling insecure about something or another?
The Illusionists is one year old this week. So many positive things have happened since its start… Which I will write more about soon…
For the time being, here is a walk down memory lane: one of the first blog posts about the film project, when I had yet to start the bulk of the research…The amusing thing about it, is the fact I have met/spoken with almost all of the women mentioned in that post – who have all been incredibly supportive of the project, generous in their offer to help, and a delight to talk with.
Where am I today? I’m about to complete the second draft of the film’s script and things on the development side are also looking up.
The other big announcement of the day? I’m seriously thinking about starting a non-profit organization – aimed at enhancing women’s self-image, and shedding light on issues such as wage gap, and gender inequality.
One step at a time. But as Lao Tsu wisely said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Madison Avenue is scrambling to adjust to a new era, when the most admired people in America are a black family. To reflect this reality, talent scouts are on the hunt for models who look like the Obama children, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10.
[...]
Marlene Wallach, president of Wilhelmina Kids & Teens, says the First Daughters are tough subjects to match. “It’s a very specific age and a very specific ethnicity, so there aren’t that many girls that would necessarily fit the bill.”
On the one hand I’m deliriously happy to see that thanks to Barack Obama’s election racial minorities may get more visibility in the media – it’s about time!!! During my research for the docu “The Illusionists” I was positively surprised to see, in women’s magazines from the 1970s and the early 1980s (Vogue, Cosmo, Mademoiselle), lots and lots of black models in fashion/beauty photo shoots, advertisements, and on magazine covers. Why had they disapperared all of a sudden? The fashion industry had seemingly turned racist in the last 15-20 years. So: visibility of racial and ethnic minorities: awesomely positive.
On the other hand, though, I’m saddened that such a moving, historic milestone (the first ever black family in the White House) may get immediately mixed up with the usual base commercial interests – Sasha and Malia dolls with already developed breasts, photo shoots with Sasha and Malia lookalikes – to sell products. On top of that, the article above highlights a desire to see more Obama girls lookalikes – not more black children in fashion / advertising / mass media.
Back in Paris after two incredible weeks in Boston, MA, where I met up with many authors and experts that I will interview once the film is in production.
The amount of support and ultra-positive feedback I received was astounding – which makes me even more motivated to work on this film. I will write more about that in the upcoming days…
I cannot quite believe it, by looking at the calendar, that I’m now entering the 8th month of work on “The Illusionists.” Indeed, it all started during my stay in Italy back in early March.
It all comes down to invisible work for the time being, with nothing concrete to show, but a lot of ideas and topics and facts and numbers dancing around in my head.
For an outside observer / fly on the wall, these eight months of research and writing could have appeared monotonous. Days spent pouring over books, and articles, and staring at my Powerbook’s screen, looking for the right words to describe the documentary.
Well, far from it. These eight months have been some of the most enriching of my entire life. I learned just about a million new facts, some useful, some drivel, that I would have never been exposed to, had I not started work on this film.
With three-four books per week, for a good six months, I have now acquired the reading skills/speed of Will Hunting.
I am now somewhat of an expert on the following subjects:
– Persuasion techniques from the early 1900 to the 1950s
– The history of Barbie dolls
– Marketing products to kids ages 5 – 15
– Cellulite
– Wrinkles
– Tanning
– Skin whitening creams
– Women’s magazines and complementary copy
– Media condensation
– Economic practices brought forward by the Chicago School of Economics
– The history of Communism
– The history of the American feminist movement
– Misogynist practices in American culture
– Botox
– Liposuction
– Breast augmentation
– The history of dieting practices in the U.S.
– Airbrushing in print publications and film/video
and the list could go on and on…
There have been days when the people working at the checkout counter at my library would look at me with a puzzled expression. The most precious look they gave me was when I borrowed a Dr. Seuss children’s book (had some stereotypes about aging), Marx’s Communist Manifesto, Hating Women, Fat History, and a copy of Seventeen magazine.
These days, now that I am somewhat done with the research / writing part of the film, I am pitching the project to production houses and contacting prospective interview subjects.
With all the filming material already at my disposal (HD camera, 35mm adapter, lenses) I could already be filming. But the project is so important that I want to have a serious, solid team/backing in place.
So, I’m now jotting down ideas for a parallel project that I could be doing on my own, with simple means. Will keep you posted on that.
This site, hosted by Tumblr, used to be the main repository of articles / quotes / updates regarding “The Illusionists” – in the early, research/writing stages of the process.
