Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen

I thought this was so interesting to watch. Even after seeing it once, I continue to tune in whenever it is on. There's something captivating about it. I can't believe some of these poor girls. I figure maybe, some of the kids want to do it and it does look fun, but they have pageants that involve newborns. They obviously don't pick this life. Parents need to understand that they've lived their lives and it is their obligation to let their child do the same. Parents should do whatever they can to preserve individuality and the mothers that force their kids into this strip all of that away. It's was sad the way Swan's mother just yelled orders at her all the time, but a few years after the documentary aired, she and Swan's father died. So as much as I was feeling.. wow what a terrible mom, at least she had one. Poor girl.

One will want to change the channel, yet feels compelled to continue watching. The beginning shows a lower class woman who browbeats and psychologically tears down her (yes adorable) five years old child, Swan, as she prepares her for the child beauty pagent ring. Her constant demands and critical commentary on Swan's preformance continually appear to wear the child down, as ninety % of the film, her bewilderment, weariness, and constant strain of preforming like a circus animal show on her face. The other part of the film features the daughter of a gay man, who along with his partner, have made a fortune preparing these children for the pagent circut. The daughter, Leslie, is a little older, and the contrast between the two children is sad. While Leslie is supported by her father, Swan behaves like a beaten dog trying to win the approval of a cruel master. The gay men seem to enjoy the children, and the process, yet the mother of Swan is forced. She guilts the child by saying things a five yr. old can't fully understand, i.e., 'I am taking a 3rd mortgage on my house for all of this, I am getting a third job, etc. Her other three children are in stark contrast to Swan- a troubled teenage boy who is in jail, a sixteen yr. old girl who is slightly overweight, and a virtually ignored three yr. old son. The entire film is troubling, and leads one to wonder how the subjects themselves felt after watching it, and if it changed their attitudes any.

After viewing Living Dolls, I am now aware of how femininity is a performance. The little girls featured in this documentary showed how certain characteristics of femininity are learned and then performed. During this performance at beauty pageants, little girls are taught to be erotic and are sexualized in order to promote what is called `the total package'. The film exposed the way it could be seen as the parents of these contestants promote the commodification of their children. Watching the actions of the girls participating in the pageant, we can identify the ways class, race, and sexuality intersects in the production of the `total package'.

The girls are objectified then and then play into the notion of being surveyed by the male gaze, where you become a spectacle based the male perspective. But they are not only viewed on the male gaze, we take note how other females also survey each other. The main goal of the contestants in the pageant is to achieve the total package, consisting of modeling a well fit dress, heavy use of makeup, personality based on how they react to the judges. Families will go out of their way to achieve this goal by having fake teeth made to cover where the girl may have lost her tooth, and custom make outfits. The girls learn the value of competition by watching tapes of their rivals performing and criticizing them. By doing so, they learn what to do and what not to do once on stage. This shows how the girls are constructed and splits to be a surveyor of her by looking at herself from a male perspective. The girl begins to internalize herself. The girls are taught to be sexual at such a young pre-sexual age. With practice, they develop the skills to relate erotically to their performance on stage. Stage outfits consist of flashy apparel and slits in the costumes. For the actual performance, the girls are sexualizing their singing and learn how to dance in such a manner. Their routines flaunt erotic and sexualized characteristics, which help them to achieve the total package. Race, class, and sexuality are clearly depicted in the pageant. The majority of these contestants have blonde hair and blue eyes. The maturity of speaking, vocabulary, and diction of the children identify them as being in a particular class. It is also apparent through the clothes the girls model and the stylists that come to the pageants that they must be of a middle to upper economic class. In contrast, educationally, one would put them into a lower class. This is evident from their inability to understand what they are doing to their children. Sexuality is represented when they cut the talent portion of the pageants, yet the modeling portions and the section where the lounge singer sings to the girls remained. This section with the lounge singer displays how these young girls masquerade their femininity on stage. Eroticism is depicted when she sways seductively to the music, smiles invitingly, and the batting of her eyelashes towards him.

This whole segment shows the adult sexualization of these young contestants. The film reproduces existing stereotypes of femininity. This is a performance that is socially learned. Through practice, this behavior is learned and applied to the performing on stage in the pageants, as well as other areas in life. A woman may accentuate her femininity in order to attain something she desires. For example, flaunt her femininity to receive a certain position in the work force. The concept of femininity as a performance, teaches us about gender roles and how they can be interchangeable. Since this is a learned characteristic and performance, we shouldn't assign roles. A woman can be masculine and a man can be feminine as well. The pageant shows little girls having erotic and sexualized characteristics, which help them reach their goal of wining a pageant title.

I found watching this documentary about child beauty queens quite disturbing. The mentally abusive mother, the neglected siblings and brow-beaten boyfriend who was coerced into giving up his retirement money to fund glittery costumes and adult makeup, the creepy pageant presenter crooning at little girls who are painted up like 25 year old women going out on a Saturday night, five year old girls using "come hither" looks to influence the judges, eighteen month old babies getting hair plugs...yes, very creepy.

However, what I found quite disturbing is the at the beginning of the film there is a claim that these pageants are a "way of life" in the south. Absolutely not true! I grew up in Alabama (not in a trailer by the way) and never saw anything like this. Please do not think this is common in that region..only among a misguided few.

In this film, there is documentary style depictions of people involved in beauty pageants. It presents views of the beauty pageant world as generally conforming to a stereotypical pattern of beauty. In many ways, the girls are shown as beautiful only by their conformance to social norms rather than based on character. There are quite a few examples in this film that portray the necessity to achieve to sexual norms in order to be successful in beauty pageants. Also, the film depicts many girls' ways as needing to show off their femininity, as though the central element of female desire for beauty is to show off their beauty and to be recognized as beautiful. Keep in mind that the nature of beauty is being shown here as a creation and a presentation rather than an inherent aspect of the girls in the pageant. The femininity of the girls is being presented for the viewing of society rather than a natural product. The coaches and/or parents are seemingly encouraging the viewers under the guise of success in the beauty pageant world. In general, the primary element that the documentary portrays is that society is dictating norms of behavior and appearance, not the individuals. These `norms' are suggested to be essential to being beautiful leading the girls to believe that if they do not fit the stereotype then they are somehow inferior, hurting their self-esteem as well. The beauty pageant just reinforces female subservience to men, since the girls are presenting their beauty for a generally male oriented viewer, this creates the suggestion that women are meant to display themselves. Overall, this documentary shows the harsh reality that society places enormous pressure on exterior beauty rather than interior.