In this ventriloquism metaphor, Christie's still-flawless California good looks are the dummy, and the hand of "keeping up appearances" is far, far up Christie's behind. Indeed, she is very rich, and even though she hopes to take up surfing and get back into "shell painting," it's sort of hard to believe that anyone's American dream involves your husband fucking a teenager in your new Hamptons home.

Which brings me to Gerren Taylor, who still dreams of being a Christie Brinkley one day. You see, Gerren made a big splash when she hit the catwalks for the first time at age 12. That year, she walked for Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Betsey Johnson and Tracy Reese. She became the first African-American to book a Marc Jacobs campaign, and according to the L.A. Times, everyone expected Gerren to be the next big thing. Except then she grew. The next year, "She went to Europe to try her luck at the fashion weeks there, but was told by booking agents in Paris that 38-inch hips on a pole-thin 6-foot frame made her too big to model. (They wanted her to diet down to 35 inches.) In less than two years, her career had come to a halt."

Gerren is now 18, and there's a documentary about her brief foray into modeling called America the Beautiful that premieres in L.A. this week. "In 2005, when Taylor returns from Europe humiliated, we watch her hit rock bottom," The L.A Times reports. "Agonizing over the flaws she perceives in her pancake flat stomach, her flawless face looks straight into the camera and she says, 'I'm ugly.'"

Gerren hoped to at least have enough money from her modeling days to pay for college, and she didn't even come away with that. After I read the piece, I initially felt bad for her. It sucks that she was made to feel bad about looks, and I imagine part of why she was encouraged to be a model by her mother was so that she could make money for college. But then I thought about it for a while, and I stopped feeling that bad for her in particular. Hundreds of thousands of shorter, less genetically blessed American women are having trouble paying for college. Many of them have to actually work retail jobs (the horror!) or rely on academic scholarships and loans to get an education, and the financial disadvantage sucks for everyone. Why should Gerren get a free pass because she's beautiful? And furthermore, why are there so many goddamn articles about aspiring models? Aren't there young women out there doing anything more interesting with their time?

It's time for some real talk. I don't care what Tyra Banks tells you, but not all women are meant to be models, and if you need to have an eating disorder to be model skinny, get another career. And as Christie Brinkley and her flashing veneers prove, even if you are a wildly successful model who remains strikingly gorgeous into your 40s, your life can be just as big a hot mess as the average lady on Maury. Of course, it's human to be fascinated by outlandish beauty. That's what photographs are for. I'm just over so many words being spilled on those image makers.

This Year’s Model [New York Magazine]
Model Gerren Taylor's Short But Stunning Fashion Career Seen In 'America The Beautiful' [LAT]
Where the Only Hiking Is Toward the Runway [Washington Post]

Roberts packed a lot of material into the film (he says he had 900 hours of footage). Some memorable moments: Seeing Seventeen, ElleGirl and CosmoGirl editors explain why they only use thin, pretty models. Grade-schoolers looking at images from magazines, music videos and skin cleanser commercials and proclaiming that the "perfect" women make them feel "ugly." The sequence about dogs getting face lifts. An interview with a perfume producer claiming that phthalates — known carcinogens — do not get absorbed into your body when you spray yourself with fragrance was intercut with a scientist proclaiming, "Bullshit." Eve Ensler saying something about how a woman shouldn't get plastic surgery to "tighten" her vagina (Eve: "Get a bigger dick!"). The news that there are about 600 substances found in cosmetics that are banned in Europe but allowed in U.S. products. Oh, and then there was the part where the filmmaker called the American Board of Plastic Surgery and found out that all three of the doctors from Dr. 90210 were not board-certified, but had been performing cosmetic procedures anyway.

And then poor Gerren, such a bright beam of light in the beginning of the film, becomes convinced that she is obese and needs breast implants. Part of that was on the Today show this morning:

In any case, the reviews are mixed — some of the complaints seem to be that "there's nothing new" in the film. But when you compile all of the evidence together in one 105 minute oeuvre, you see that our society is literally sick. Roger Ebert says the film carries "a persuasive message" and is "filled with astonishments." I only wish that it didn't have an R rating; every teenage girl in America should see it. Roberts says he'll make an "educational" PG version for schools when it comes out on DVD; until then, if there's an under-17-year-old in your life, take her (or him!) to watch it. And start a discussion.

America The Beautiful opens today in New York.

America the Beautiful [Time Out New York]
America the Beautiful [Variety]
America the Beautiful: A Well-Intentioned, Scattershot Look at the Image Conscious [Village Voice]
America the Beautiful [RogerEbert.com]
Gorgeous, Tall And Age 12 [NY Post]
America The Beautiful [Official Site]