Beauty in a Jar

• Genre: Culture & Society
• Movie Type: Sociology, Beauty & Fashion
• Release Year: 2003
• Run Time: 100 minutes

Plot

Any viewer interested in the social, racial, sexual, and political history of American beauty culture is sure to be fascinated by this documentary focusing on the $39 billion dollar-a-year industry dominated by such powerful make-up juggernauts as Revlon, Max Factor, and Estee Lauter. In addition to exploring how advertisers draw on hidden desires and fantasies to pitch a product, the filmmakers also examine how the American concept of beauty has evolved over time by speaking with the very icons behind these massive fashion shifts. Conversations with Charles Revson, Helena Rubenstein, Madame C.J. Walker, and Elizabeth Arden, as well as industry insiders like former model Iman, The Beauty Myth author Naomi Wolf, and Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown provide deeper insight into the perpetually shifting concept of American beauty than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide