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INTERVIEWFilmmaker explores pressure of Korea's rigid beauty standards

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A scene from the film
A scene from the film "Mirror" / Courtesy of Christina Yoon

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Director Christina Yoon's short film "Mirror" explores Korea's "unrealistic" beauty standards which make women desperate to achieve aesthetic perfection. Although the movie is about Korean women, Yoon said the topic she deals with is a universal problem that anyone can empathize with.

The 12-minute film tells the story of Yeona Song (played by Spring Kim), a female Korean immigrant who is self-conscious because of a large scar on her right cheek.

She wears a face mask to hide the scar. At the height of insecurity, she decides to visit an unlicensed beauty clinic in Queens, New York, to remove the scar. However, she is encouraged to consider changing her entire face, and she faces the dilemma to either undergo plastic surgery or to accept the skin she's in.

Yoon explained that she has always been fascinated by the masks people put on for society, creating a dichotomy between one's inner self and outer appearance.

"As a Korean American woman, I felt this on many levels as a teenager ? feeling outside of both Korean and American beauty standards and feeling 'other,'" she said in a recent email interview with The Korea Times.
Kwak Yeon-soo yeons.kwak@koreatimes.co.kr


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