Spending thousands of dollars on an invasive procedure of prodding, poking, cutting and reshaping their delicate eyelids, hundreds of thousands of Asian-American women undergo cosmetic surgery each year in hopes of achieving a subtle crease or "double eyelid," Medscape, an online medical news Web site, reports.
Regina Park examines the cultural, historical and gender aspects of the procedure throughout her documentary, "Never Perfect," which follows the life of 27-year-old Mai-Anh and her experiences as she undergoes double eyelid surgery. In honor of Women's month, Park visited Virginia Tech Monday night to screen her film and raise awareness about double eyelid surgery.
Park met with the Collegiate Times on Monday afternoon before the screening to discuss the film and her tour.
CT: You have been traveling to college campuses with the film recently. How has that been?
RP: Yes, well the main bulk of the tour was last year, but I'm still going to screenings and film festivals this year as well. It was probably, at last count, about 25 college universities across the country... It was my goal to be able to use the film as a springboard for discussion, so it was really important for me to be able to do that outreach to young audiences and college students within the Asian-American community...but also to open it up and bring non-Asians and students into the subject, as it pertains to gender dynamics and power differentials in our society.
CT: I've noticed a number of students being exposed to double eyelid surgery for the first time when they saw your event on the calendar and your posters on campus - already, it seems you have had an influence.
RP: Excellent, excellent. I'm really excited about that. ... It's really interesting seeing what the reaction is depending on what university I go to, what area of the country, what their Asian-American population is. ... The reactions can be totally different depending on people's individual experiences with beauty ideals, body image or the pressure to conform.
CT: Is your platform mostly "don't conform, be OK with yourself" and strictly against the procedure?
RP: I really appreciate that question because it gives me an opportunity to clarify. ... My intention was very much to give a well-balanced perspective on this very divisive issue because it's not just about eyelid surgery - there are larger issues at stake.
To be able to sort of condemn one side or the other, to say it is solely a manifestation of racial hatred or individual aesthetic choice, completely devoid of race and ethnicity, is too simplistic of an argument. I really wanted to show in the film that this is very complex and multilayered discussion and to be able to engage people not only of your same race but different ethnic backgrounds ...in a discussion of the issues of body image and culture and cosmetic surgery, and as we were talking about, the pressure to conform.
CT: Did you ever feel this pressure to conform when you were growing up? How much of this comes from personal experience?
RP: Quite a bit, actually. Growing up Asian-American, you are very, very astutely aware of the issue of Asian eyelid surgery, and I don't think that any culture, any ethnicity within the Asian race is unaware of it. ... I personally grew up in the Midwest in the '80s when there weren't a lot of Asian-American positive role models in the media or pop culture, and I didn't have a lot of Asian-American friends, and it really left a large imprint on my identity. ... It is a common experience among Asian-Americans to get pressure from our parents, particularly our mothers, to get the surgery.
And there is that push and pull - on one hand feeling a lot of racial pride and on the other hand feeling pressure to get the surgery. ...There is a high bar a lot of Asian parents set for their children, and a lot of the time we feel it is unattainable because the pressure is so great, and it creates a vacuum of communication within a lot of Asian families ... because of language or cultural or generational barriers and the feeling that they can't talk to their parents about things that are really meaningful to them.
Having the pressure of their mothers wanting them to have the surgery is just an added complication.
I had that same experience growing up, and I learned a lot from doing the film about my personal relationship with my mother and what her motivations were.
CT: Was your mother supportive of the film?
RP: She was, you know, in a lot of ways a very typical Asian mother in that she, like all parents, wants what is best for me, but she didn't want me to struggle ... so when I wanted to be a filmmaker we clashed heads a lot.
She wasn't exposed to the film industry and didn't really understand what it was, and she thought that freelance meant unemployed - which in a lot of cases it does (laughs) but you know, not all the time.
But I think after awhile ... seeing how passionate I was about filmmaking and being able to do what I do, especially with films with a greater social consciousness, which is very important to me, I think she finally understood.
CT: How did you come in contact with (Mai-Anh), who you follow in the film?
RP: Mai-Anh came to me by way of one of the three plastic surgeons I interviewed for the film. She was a true gift and she, in my opinion, was very courageous to go through this process and share with me and the audience her experience of growing up feeling other and ostracized and battling with her Asian sense of identity as an Asian-American, as a woman, so I really lucked out in finding her.
... A lot of people at the end of the film point their fingers and say she is superficial for getting plastic surgery ... branding her or labeling her, but I am quick to defend her because it takes a lot of courage to admit to insecurities we all feel regardless of what our backgrounds are and do it in a public manner without wanting to get her 15 seconds of fame but to help other Asian-Americans think about things in a different way and non-Asians be able to understand her experience growing up here.
CT: What was her response to the film?
RP: It's interesting; to this day she hasn't seen the film. She wasn't really that interested because this period in her life she was going through a large transition. ... It was tumultuous and she has since moved on. Watching the film would be a reminder of that particularly difficult transition in her life.
... I would be really curious to see what her response would be, but it's daunting to be shown a completely objective portrayal of what somebody else thinks you are.
I'm not sure I would want to see it if I were in her shoes.
CT: People constantly point fingers at the media and males having the "ideal image of a woman," but what do you think is the biggest influence on people for cosmetic surgery today?
RP: I think to blame it solely on one is a mistake. I think that certainly, the power of media and pop culture is undeniable and insidious and the types of airbrushed and surreal photos we see in glossy magazines is inescapable and it does have an effect.
But to blame it solely on one thing would be like saying all the violence in youth is from video games.
...Is it a factor? Certainly. But it is not the sole cause. It has to do with many different factors that go into a personal choice and aesthetic in how someone perceives oneself.
CT: What parting advice do you have for Asian-American women or any women in our community when dealing with personal identity issues?
RP: We all must demand from ourselves a high level of self-awareness. ... It is very easy to judge other people, and I have learned that everyone has his or her own story.
Particularly among women, we need support, we need to feel empowered by one another, and we need a sense of community. Judging other women by what they wear or what we think they are can lead down a very dangerous path.
...You can find a sense of community where you don't expect it if you have self-awareness and are open to other people.