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According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela's recession was worse than expected.
Since 2014, the number of people living in "extreme poverty" has increased by 50 percent. Now it has been hit hard again by the pandemic, with unemployment soaring and people suffering.
According to survey data, 75% of Venezuelans have lost an average weight of 8.7 kilograms in the past few years.
In the 2019 Bloomberg Pain Index, an economic "pain" indicator compiled by taking into account inflation and unemployment data from 66 economies around the world, Venezuela was ranked as the world's worst economy for the fifth consecutive year.
The image comes from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the author
Shortages of supplies, inflation, and soaring crime are the socio-economic environment in which Venezuelans live. But no matter how bad the real socio-economic environment is, they still maintain a nearly 70-year-old tradition of beauty pageants. (Australia's largest Internet celebrity Douyin account "Micro Sydney", take you to see the interesting things about Australian life!) Essential for studying abroad travel immigrants! Please search for "Micro Sydney" on TikTok, we are waiting for you here! ）
Over the past few decades, the country, with a population of less than 32 million, has produced the most beauty pageants in the world: six Miss World, seven Miss Universe and seven Miss International.
Image from the documentary "Beauty Pageant Kingdom, Secrets of South America"
In 2005, the live broadcast of the pageant was interrupted by the president's speech for 15 minutes, and the audience was angry, some people smashed windows with shovels and shovels, and others shot in the air in protest.
The image comes from NetEase Viewer, and the copyright belongs to the author
Venezuela has been mired in an inflation crisis since 2013. Data show that the CPI in Venezuela was as high as 65374% in 2018 and 19906% in 2019.
But even so, on September 24, 2020, in Caracas, the beauty pageant still appeared in bright clothes and shiny.
The stage is brightly lit and lively, and the epidemic under the stage is full of mud.
Everyone knows that the actual commercial value of this world-renowned beauty pageant is far greater than the competition itself.
The image comes from Baidu Tieba and the copyright belongs to the original author
In Venezuela, the plastic surgery industry, model economic training and cosmetics consumption spawned by the beauty pageant industry have achieved a rapid flow of capital, while on the other hand, the Venezuelan miss born of the competition is famous all over the world; most importantly, the women who grew up in the slums and their families have since escaped poverty, achieved upward mobility, and have a stable future...
1. Beauty pageant is a "life-sustaining medicine" for the identity of poverty alleviation caves
In the mid-16th century, after Venezuela was ruled by Spanish colonists, the land was inhabited by Indians, Europeans and Africans, and mixed genes formed an innate beauty pageant advantage, which also made Venezuelan girls unique temperament.
Screenshot from the documentary "Becoming a Beauty Pageant"
The popularity of beauty pageant culture originated from an international baseball game that had nothing to do with beauty pageants. The city of Caracas once hosted an international baseball game that required beautiful women who could stand on stage. Thus, the place began a contest for "who is the real beauty queen".
A contestant from the upper class was decent and decent, she was supposed to be the best candidate, but another girl with a simple temperament and from the slums won the crown. The public cannot question the outcome of the championship by means of a public vote. Through this incident, everyone learned the importance of democratic elections.
Susana Duijm in 1955 was the first to win the Miss World laurel for Venezuela, copyrighted by the author
Since then, beauty contests have become an important part of Venezuelan culture.
The image source is NetEase Viewer, and the copyright belongs to the author
For these girls born at the bottom of society, beauty is the most effective way to change their destiny. Many girls are eager for the championship, because the winner of the crown will stand on the domestic podium, and this highlight moment has laid the foundation for the super high exposure and huge prize money in the future. This is enough to make it easy for the beauty pageant to achieve upward mobility and drive the entire family to "get rid of poverty and get rich".
In 1981, Miss Universe, Irene Seth of Venezuela once said: "Brazil is represented by football, and on behalf of us Venezuela is the beauty." We believe in the power of beauty. The girl, who was known to the public for her beauty, later chose to enter politics and went all the way to governor.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and gifts, real cases that changed lives, made countless girls born ordinary fascinated.
The 20-year-old farm girl Laran gave up the opportunity to go to college and resolutely stepped out of the farm and ran to a brighter stage. She clarified people's prejudices about the industry, and many viewers felt that models only needed to laugh, which was far from the case.
"You have to starve, you have to have a golden ratio of stature, you have to have the talent and temperament to attract the godfather of beauty pageants, and even when your appearance is flawed, you have to invest 40,000 yuan to get a facelift." 」 Laran said.
A girl undergoes a body contouring surgery at a beauty clinic to reduce body fat. The image comes from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the author
Of course, there are very few models with 90cm hips, 60cm waist and 90cm bust, and most need to be filled with hips and breasts to achieve perfect figure.
Beauty Pageant Miss Mel lives in a slum where her brother was killed by thugs, so she is determined to leave the dark slum with her whole family.
Mel knows that participating in this competition will bring a more stable future to the family, but the premise is that parents must get up early and earn 40,000 yuan, "we participate in this competition, we must spend a lot of money to pay for plastic surgery and clothing costs."
Mel has a hooked nose and flat chest, which is already worse for slum parents.
In order to have a good figure in the golden ratio, Mel sewed a mesh on his tongue, and only by forcing himself to eat liquid food could he lose weight faster.
Meier wears a $50,000 dress with five thousand Swedish crystals hand-sewn on it. The transformed Mel won the title of Beauty Queen with her elegant temperament and outstanding appearance.
Image from the documentary "Beauty Pageant Kingdom: Secrets of South America"
Melrong returned to the slums, and everyone looked at her with envy and embraced the Venezuelan lady who no longer belonged here.
Everyone knows the law of money behind this beauty pageant dream. As Sociologists in Venezuela believe: "Success through the innate way of beauty shows women new shortcuts to getting rich quickly." At the end of the day, money is the real dominant factor behind this beauty pageant. ”
2, Venezuela's "godfather of beauty pageants" promotes "artificial beauty"
In Venezuela, people are targeting the "empowering value" of the annual beauty pageant.
The pageant was broadcast in more than 20 countries, attracting thousands of women to participate, and the winner who eventually won the crown would be the spotlight.
Therefore, "beauty" has become the most important criterion for measuring women.
In this environment of beauty culture and "functional" promotion, women believe that beauty is the shortcut to change their destiny. Parents will send 5-year-old girls to beauty pageant schools under the banner of "I hope you make more friends".
Image from the documentary "Becoming a Beauty Pageant"
With hundreds of girls, little girls learn cat steps and makeup.
By the age of 6, if the girl is very short, she will be taken to the hospital for hormone injections to keep up with the girl's leg development.
After that, raise your nose to make your facial features more three-dimensional, inject your buttocks to make it look more upturned, and the doctor will also remove part of your intestines and reduce your small belly, so that you can have the A4 waist line.
However, the little girl Ellie, who was poisoned by the beauty pageant culture, faced the floor mirror, and became more and more addicted to her appearance, she watched the beauty pageant competition from childhood, but she would have inferiority, found that her breasts were too small, and went to augment her breasts.
Many children like Allie are obsessed with plastic surgery and die as a result, and parents begin to complain that the child died of plastic surgery.
Why do so many girls die during cosmetic surgery?
The reason is that the plastic surgeons here are not from the class, the qualifications are not enough, but they saw the huge profits of the plastic surgery industry, so they turned to the plastic surgery hospital, which directly led to the medical accidents in the plastic surgery hospital in recent years, and the news that plastic surgery caused the death of women.
Caracas is a city with 35 children's modeling training schools, and many little girls have given up school to take modeling classes here. According to the children's appearance and body shape, the teachers divided them into three, six, nine and so on.
After years of accumulation, many training teachers can tell at a glance whether this child can have a big difference.
But parents wanted to give it a try, and the teachers paid for it.
The head of JH, the best model agency, promised that when the children were 16 or 17 years old, they would be taken to the Miss Venezuela Mansion for a private audition by the godfather of the beauty pageant, Sousa.
"It's a bit plump, and the nose is not upturned enough."
"Open your mouth... Your teeth ——— my God, we have to do something. ”
An old man looked at the beautiful woman in front of him from head to toe, and then commented on his feet, and the other party was completely respectful and listening.
These beautiful women who want to "become famous than beauty" know that as long as they are favored by the "godfather of beauty pageant" Sosa, there will be a "walk of fame" ahead.
The godfather with eagle-like eyes is a globally recognized "beauty czar", "he can accurately judge your facial features and temperament when he sees you, whether your facial features and temperament will dominate your going to the international stage." ”
However, to meet the godfather of the pageant, the model must go through many tests. First of all, some coaches tell some models whose faces are not good enough: such a face godfather will definitely not like it, and I will let the surgeon give you a facelift.
Then, all the models will go through the first round of elimination, and the experts in white coats will conduct a second round of elimination selection based on your various indicators.
The models sent to the godfather of the pageant are already of very high quality. But the godfather will still ruthlessly eliminate some, and will create the exquisite models left behind, make them perfect, and become a senior model who can go to the global stage.
According to Sosa, he had ADHD as a child, and in order to overcome this, he quieted himself down by focusing on painting portraits of women.
He then slowly convinced himself: "The beauty is painted to escape the ugly face of a woman." ”
I went into the beauty pageant in the hope of seeing a positive shift in women, even if it would cost a lot of money and a lot of money.
Image from the documentary "Becoming a Beauty Pageant"
On the other hand, many people oppose this kind of beauty contest, and they strongly oppose the idea that only beautiful women can gain social respect.
Sosa explained that we are not shaping astronauts, we are "making stars."
Writer Francisco Suniaga wrote in his revealing novel Goodbye, Miss Venezuela: "For decades, a dark cloud has hovered above this country, reality has been polluted, what was once beautiful has become obnoxious, and morality has been lost." Miss Venezuela is no exception, it can no longer escape this plague, nothing can be saved. ”
But for slum girls who are depressed, poor and profiteering, beauty pageants change their fate.
This kind of beauty pageant culture has its hotbeds for growth and development, and it is impossible to comment on whether it is good or bad.
Some people through the beauty pageant, life to infinite glory.
For example, when Miss Dayana Mendonza of Venezuela won the championship and received a $390,000 prize, the whole family had the right to control their lives; Irene Sáez entered politics after winning and was elected mayor many times, and the beauty pageant made women dignified, and they used beauty and wisdom to change this troubled city...
The image comes from the Internet
At the same time, some people have lost themselves in the process of fantasizing about the dazzling crown, and they can't become a girl who can't become a beauty queen, and finally only leave a high loan, and spend the rest of their lives wandering the streets and sloppily living... (Australia's largest Internet celebrity Douyin account "Micro Sydney", take you to see the interesting things about Australian life!) Essential for studying abroad travel immigrants! Please search for "Micro Sydney" on TikTok, we are waiting for you here! ）
Still, countless girls burst into tears as they walk onto the star-studded stage. Because this game carries the faint hope of countless people to get rid of their fate.