Are beauty ideals influenced by

race, history and geopolitics?

In 2006, there were 11 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures performed in the United States which constituted an $11.4 billion industry.  We have seemingly reached a celebrity- and media-obsessed saturation point where the popularity of lifestyle/physical makeover reality television programming such as “Extreme Makeover,” “The Swan” and “I Want a Famous Face” or the paparazzi snapshots of (in)famous celebrities such as Michael Jackson relay confusing and potentially damaging messages to its viewers.

As popular media moves towards a generic and idealized notion of beauty in our obsession with the cult of the celebrity, women all over the world battle the myriad influences affecting their body image and self-perceptions in the race to achieve “perfection.”

Most Asian women experience particular cultural and social pressure to strive for extremely high standards of achievement and flawlessness. Among ethnic patients, the number of Asian-Americans seeking plastic and cosmetic surgery has risen 55% from 2004 to 2006.

NEVER PERFECT explores the complex journey of a young Vietnamese-American woman’s struggle with popular perceptions of beauty and body image as she fights the stigma of racial self-hatred in her decision to undergo cosmetic surgery.

In 1982 her family left behind a tight-knit Vietnamese community for the suburban sprawl of California , U.S.A.

Now 27 years-old, having been reared amidst a backdrop of American malls, movies and magazines and living in the same suburban house in which she was raised, Mai-Anh challenges her self-diagnosed “quarter-life crisis” by way of “new location, new lifestyle, new look.”

She begins a literal and symbolic transformation and reinvention of herself: a relocation from quiet suburbia to the heart of urban Los Angeles, a new lifestyle defined by living on her own for the first time, and finally, a new physical makeover: double eyelid surgery only days after starting her new life.

But will she find the answers to her crisis on the operating room table?

There is a question why more and more women subject themselves to time-consuming, expensive and sometimes painful processes in their quest for physical perfection. Yet this constant striving to reach a beauty ideal to accompany their other academic, career, material and personal achievements is steeped in a profoundly fundamental question of identity and is not simply a matter of an individual’s personal aesthetic choice.

As she travels through this journey of self-discovery, Mai-Anh articulates how she defines herself not only as an Asian-American woman, but as the daughter of a mother whose critical eye constantly shines down on her, a driven, young woman looking for the upper hand in a competitive culture and ultimately as a human being searching for a deeper meaning to her life, tempted and taunted by promises of happiness through physical perfection.

Traversing historical and contemporary notions of beauty, stereotypes and iconography within Asian and popular cultures, NEVER PERFECT incorporates a rich selection of archival footage and commentary from numerous voices which ignites lively debate on the phenomena as they pertain to race and gender identity .

Race and identity. Sexuality and power. History and culture. NEVER PERFECT unfolds the dramatic emotional and psychological complexities of what it means to be an ever-evolving, multi-faceted woman living in today’s global society.