This is part 1 & 2 in a film discussing the Asian

This is part 1 & 2 in a film discussing the Asian American opinion on female body image, beauty standards, eating disorders, and unspoken pressures to be thin in both American and Asian cultures.

An otherwise taboo subject to talk about among specifically Asian Americans, students at Columbia University are now tired of keeping mum about the issue and are speaking out.

This video does not aim to cover every single ground regarding the topic; instead it seeks to begin dialogue with a generalized approach to the problems as a first step. We want first to show that Asian Americans are like any other American struggling with issues of body image while at the same time facing pressures coming from their own respective cultures.

This video certainly focuses on the former point; We hope that the latter will be explored more in the future.

We also must reveal the contradiction of how Asian American girls are pressured in this society to look both “western” and “Asian.”

This includes pressures on how many Asian American girls are supposed to play up this well-known image of looking innocent, weak, and petite as “attractive”, but at the same time mainstream media depicts Asian American females as alluring, “exotic,” and sexy.

We hope that the people in this video will inspire others around the world to undertake similar projects that would focus deeper into these issues regarding body image and perhaps more specifically Asian American body image.

Therefore, this is only the beginning.

***WINNER of the audience favorite “One to Watch Award” in the longest running Asian American film festival in the world; the 30th Annual Asian American International Film Festival!!!***

Produced by Aretha Choi & Marilla Li.

Directed & edited by Calvin Sun.