Body Beautiful, The

Multicultural Education, Summer 2002 by O'Neill, Nancy

THE BODY BEAUTIFUL. ONWURAH, NGOZI. 1991. NEW YORK: WOMEN MAKE MOVIES. 23 MINUTES, COLOR. RENTAL: VIDEO, $75.00, FILM, $100.00. VHS PURCHASE: $295.00.

The Body Beautiful challenges notions of gender, race, identity, body image and beauty through the story of the filmmaker's mother, Madge Onwurah. In the 1950s, Madge Onwurah embarks upon an interracial marriage and eventually faces pregnancy, migration, single motherhood, breast cancer, arthritis, and aging. In the film, Ngozi Onwurah reveals how she bought into the very cultural ideals that rendered her mother invisible.

Importantly, Onwurah takes on issues of invisibility through a visual medium; the story would not be as powerful, or as challenging, otherwise. Madge Onwurah plays herself. The first half of the film constructs scenes from Ngozi's childhood, involving her mother's bouts with breast cancer and arthritis. The second half reveals Ngozi as a teen-aged fashion model. The film's narration switches from Ngozi to Madge to disembodied male voices representing the medical and fashion industries, and these moments contrast powerfully with the visual images.

Early on, the camera pans across a mantelpiece displaying photos and other artifacts from Madge's life. A male voice intones, "It's important for you to realize that you're far from being the first woman to face the prospect of losing a breast." Madge, in voiceover, describes how her cancer goes untreated while she sees a pregnancy to term. Doctors remove her breast days after she gives birth. Mastectomied, arthritic, and aging, Madge fantasizes about men but uses her maternal identity to shield her from rejection. She watches as her daughter comes to epitomize heterosexual male fantasy. "Curves are back!" a fashion industry voice proclaims, and Madge notes, "I watched as she joined that elite breed of women, penciled in by men, who define a sliding scale of beauty that stops at women like me."

Later, Ngozi begs Madge to go to a sauna, noting "even 90-year-old grannies go!" There, Ngozi watches as women stare at Madge in shock, revulsion, and pity after her towel slips down. Thus Ngozi begins to understand (1) the discomfort many individuals have with illness, aging, and "imperfect" bodies; (2) powerful, culturally constructed notions of beauty; (3) the industries, from medicine to fashion, that produce these notions; and (4) visual definitions of race that would have most people miss the bonds between a white mother and her "black," multiracial daughter.

The pedagogical key to this film is how it can move viewers from the shock and revulsion revealed in the sauna to the awareness and sensitivity that Ngozi embraces. It would be appropriately included in discussions of any of the themes present, from beauty to ageism to multiracial identity to sexuality and notions of motherhood. Facilitators would be remiss, however, in limiting discussion to any one theme, for this goes against the film's intentional complexity.

One caution-viewers who are cancer survivors or have ties to individuals with cancer could find the film difficult to watch and discuss. It is important to preface a screening and anticipate potentially strong emotional responses. Facilitators themselves should also feel comfortable with the film and the issues before using this affirmative film with others.