Blog 4
Pearl had me from the moment we looked at her creators’ sheet in the online presentation. Relating to the theme of personal identity, the graphic description of Lyndsay Myhal’s character made it easy to illustrate a vivid picture of the 50-year old south-side woman, whose identity revolves around trying to keep a youthful appearance in my head. Reinforcing said image with the fact that Pearl is located in Florida, US: The city that embodies sun-kissed beach goddesses and plastic surgery in order to achieve a certain beauty ideal. Lyndsay also describes how her characters’ wacky, rather self-indulgent lifestyle has affected her physical health as well as her distorted perception of herself. The leathered out, sun-bronzed skin, deformed breast implants, her throaty smoking-voice and the failure to accept her own age clearly express Lyndsay’s intentions she successfully visualized in her concept.
In today’s day and age and especially in a westernized, capitalist country like most of Europe and the US, keeping up with beauty ideals for most women is, sadly, a big part of their identity. This is attributable to modern-day media that depicts women in a specific way, portraying beauty on a small frame. The inside struggle Pearl faces is one that countless women encounter, trying to fix internal doubts and dissatisfaction through external alternations and living pretentiously lying to oneself in the hopes to achieve emotional satisfaction. Plastic surgery has become more accessible and more common than ever, seeming like the solution for low self-confidence, however, it is often a cover-up for the real social issue.
As Steven Solomon pointed out when looking at Lyndsay’s sheet, if she was to read her description of Pearl to an actor, he would on the spot know how to perform. I think it would have been exciting to see how Pearl could be put into practice, creating her over-plumped lips and wrinkly skin. Perhaps one of the first lessons we had could be useful in terms of achieving the look of loose skin and dark under eye circles. Regardless of which technique would have been the most suitable, Pearl would have been a believable and effective character.