Monday, January 21, 2008

Koreans Put Plastic Surgery into their Movies

While American, British and Australians are fascinated with T.V. plastic surgery programs, Koreans like to go to the movies for their plastic surgery entertainment.

If you’ve followed our blog, you already know about 200 Pounds of Love, a Korean rock ‘n’ roll movie that used plastic surgery as a plot device.

Three Hankies

Now, for a three-hanky review! Star-crossed lovers deal with, not demanding families and feuding gangs, but plastic surgery and appearance.

The latest is Time, now playing on the Sundance Channel. The flick has a Korean sound track with English subtitles. Read more about the film.

While it’s a touching love story, it shows something American, British and Australian plastic surgeons (and probably many others, worldwide) would, and should, not do: provide plastic surgery to a person who wants it for all the wrong reasons. In this case, a patient is afraid her boyfriend will tire of her looks.


Take a knife to this face? Are you kidding?

Here’s what happens:

She-hee, the already gorgeous young woman above, becomes insecure about her appearance two years into a serious love affair. Her solution? Plastic surgery.

While a surgeon tells Seh-hee he can not make her any more pretty, she insists on having a surgical makeover. Afterwards, she splits on her lover, Ji-woo, while her face heals. The poor guy is heartbroken and searches everywhere for her. After six months, Seh-hee returns to him with a new name and is unrecognized. They start seeing each other again.

Another Plastic Surgery

Eventually, the boyfriend catches on and goes in for a total surgical facial makeover, too. Now it’s Seh-hee’s turn to go searching. Because she knows Ji-woo has a new face, she stops many handsome guys but the only way she can tell if a guy is really Ji-woo is by how the guy’s hand fits into hers.

I won’t give away the ending but it involves one more plastic surgery by one of the main characters, again for all the wrong reasons.


Seh-hee and Ji-woo before plastic
surgery.



The 98-minute movie is also worth seeing because South Korea looks modern, clean, uncrowded and with delicate Asian touches everywhere. As you might have guessed, the nation is also becoming a plastic surgery hot spot.

To read more about the right reasons for having plastic surgery, try the following article about choosing a plastic surgeon -- and why a plastic surgeon just might send you on your merry way.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

My name is Kerren McKeeman, I am a Junior Editor for Cool Hunt, an editorial press agency based in Los Angeles.

I'm currently doing a project on Korean girls' beauty culture, more specifically, on the intentions and opinions behind cosmetic surgery and image-altering investments. The article will be published in China's branch of SELF Magazine.

You all have some pretty interesting perspectives-- do you know anyone in Korea who would offer their side of the story? I would like to include several interviews in the article.

Anyone who would be willing to answer a few questions would be great. Please contact me at editorcoolhunt@gmail.com as soon as possible.

This should be a great opportunity to give Chinese readers some insight on the Korean craze for good looks!

Thank you, I truly appreciate it!
Kerren McKeeman
Cool Hunt Junior Editor