Billie JD Porter travelled to Venezuela for 6 months to follow the girls in the Miss Venezuela process, meeting the main main behind it all Osmal Sousa, and some of the contestants themselves, and I have to say it was a very interesting watch. I've never really agreed with beauty competitions, I find them quite degrading and it upsets me when I see young girls competing in it. However, this competition takes it to another level. Osmal basically dictates what the individual girl needs to be "perfect" and this could be anything from losing weight to having a nose job, obviously a very life changing decision. I don't think it is wrong to have plastic surgery, its a very personal decision, but the way it was portrayed in this documentary was shocking and upsetting.
Having disagreed with most things this girl had done to get to where she was, I was surprised to find myself teary when she was one of the five finalists! As a girl from a barrio, it was such a massive achievement for her to have got so far into the competition. Whilst she didn't win, it was undeniably going to change her life forever, hopefully giving her and her family the money to escape the dangerous place in which they lived, especially after her brother had been shot dead at 18.
The documentary was definitely interesting, and I could see the positives of it, in the fact that the police said that there was less crime on the streets when the programme was on. However, I do think it was upsetting that many young girls only had these "Misses" to aspire towards, and the fact that they basically HAD to have plastic surgery to be in the final was quite upsetting as well.
What do you think of beauty pageants? Do you agree with Osmal's suggestions about the girls having plastic surgery?
I've seen this twice now and it astounds me the lengths that these girls go to and saddens me that this is their way to help their families.
ReplyDeleteI know - they really let it take over everything don't they? It saddens me as well, but I guess you'd do whatever you could for your family! xx
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