In this NFB short, beauty (and horror) is in the eye of the beholder
Forget about glowing skin and flat abs — this might as well be the new standard of beauty
Of all the old Twilight Zone reruns, there's an episode about a plastic surgery patient that's one of the all-time classics. The heroine's just had some kind of major reconstructive procedure, so we never see her face for most of the episode, but when the bandages come off for the big finale...she's a freak! She has blonde hair, dewy skin, a button nose — the generic pretty girl looks that could land her a catalogue modelling shoot any time. But it turns out the story's been taking place on planet of bat-faced humanoids the whole time, and per the moralistic title of the story, "Beauty is the Eye of the Beholder."
There's a new satirical NFB short called "Caterpillarplasty" that plenty in common with that classic sci-fi story, though the 3D animation alone is more mind-bending than any Twilight Zone twist. We'll be airing a few clips on the new episode of CBC Arts: Exhibitionists, and the film by Montreal-based animator David Barlow-Krelina is fresh from the Vancouver International Film Festival, where it appeared earlier this fall.
What's it about? Here's Barlow-Krelina's short synopsis: "It's about this institution that's selling a dream to become this perfect thing" — a futuristic plastic surgery clinic that glows with the white healing light of a divine temple (or Apple Store).
There's no real truth as to what beauty is.- David Barlow-Krelina, animator
There's something going on under the surface, he says, but it's not clear what. And as for beauty ideal that everyone's nipping and tucking themselves to achieve? That's the biggest mystery of all, but it'll be revealed at the end of this five-minute journey, as we tag along with a prospective patient and his perma-grinned surgeon, a dude that hopped right out of Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy."
Watch David Barlow-Krelina's intro video:
Barlow-Krelina, 30, says that the project turned into a story about plastic surgery because he was hung up on the subject of beauty.
"Like, notions of beauty — aesthetic beauty in art, or in the way we present ourselves with our bodies, the clothes we wear, stuff like that," he says. "The things we think are beautiful or good looking, appealing — whatever — are arbitrary. Or in different parts of the world, they value other things." Even if you just zero in on one country, the beauty standard differs region to region. Last year in the U.S., for instance, breast augmentation was the No. 1 request in Western states, but in the Southeast it was all about butt implants. No one, however, was signing up to achieve the gooey, KY complexion of a "Caterpillarplasty" character — but tastes, by definition, change, and that suggested something intriguing to Barlow-Krelina.
"Why a culture would gravitate toward certain looks over others is, to me, interesting, but also, it feels like it's done on a whim. There's no real truth as to what beauty is."
The animator says he started researching the topic because it's so connected to what he does, every day, as an artist. "It's very much, for me, related to the work itself, visual art, and my own pursuit of creating the perfect work of art, or mastering a certain style."
"There's this goal as an artist to want to create something that communicates beauty to everyone, but then, people will always see what they want in it. It's all so frustrating, because it's never going to appeal to everyone."
"The plastic surgery thing was kind of a starting point to take this idea."
Watch a few clips from the film.
Stream CBC Arts: Exhibitionists or catch it on CBC Television, Friday nights at 11:30 p.m. (midnight NT) and Sundays at 3:30 p.m. (4 NT).
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