Title: “Beauty canons, an impossible goal”.
Author: Silvina Carrasco
3 Characters:
- Melina: Teenager of about 16 years old. She has the appearance of most girls her age, but the extreme demands of television regarding feminine appearance make her feel that she is not beautiful enough.
- Laura: Melina’s older sister, about 18 years old. She watches her intrigued without understanding what it is that worries her so much.
- Voice-over: Voice of advertisements that simulate coming from the television.
ACT I
Characters that intervene in this act: Melina, Laura and voice-over.
Scene: On the left side: a television, a sofa, a small table and objects to exercise (a mat/mat, dumbbells/small weights, etc.). On the right side: a table with chairs.
Melina watches TV in deep concentration while exercising and talking to herself. Laura studies at the table.
-Melina: (While doing localized exercises on her legs) 48 kilos?! (She makes calculations with her fingers) If I lose 300 grams per day, in a week that’s… seven times three twenty-one, more or less two kilos… (Worried) I still won’t make it.
-Laura: Mel, are you talking to me?
-Melina: (Seems not to hear her, keeps talking to herself) Maybe if I drink two glasses of diet soda to fill my stomach, I can eat less food and lose more grams per week….
(Melina keeps on exercising and Laura keeps watching her)
Voice-over: ¨ You want to win him over, your smile is your best weapon of seduction. Smile guarantees you whiter teeth from the first use…¨.
-Melina: No soda, soda stains your teeth.
Voice-over: ¨Silhouette is a cutting-edge European treatment that uses electrode technology to reduce body fat and guarantees a reduction of 3 to 4 centimeters in the abdomen in one month…¨.
-Melina: That’s it! I have to concentrate on the centimeters not on the kilos (Looks around) Something to measure my waist, something to measure my waist (While looking for something to measure, she leaves the scene talking) Three centimeters per month would be… one and a half in two weeks… then in one week…
ACT II
Characters that intervene in this act: Melina and Laura.
Scenery: The same scenography of the previous act.
Melina is on the sofa with a bowl/bowl on the small table.
-Melina: (Takes the bowl in her hands) Chamomile to rinse, avocado (peanut) to moisturize, egg white for growth and mix (Mixes with a spoon.)
(Laura enters the scene)
-Laura: Yuck! What are you going to do with that?
-Melina: It’s a hair treatment.
-Laura: What’s wrong with your hair?
-Melina: Nothing, but it doesn’t look like the girls on TV.
-Laura: No hair in real life looks like TV girls’ hair.
-Melina: (Looks at the bowl with disgust) All for the sake of beauty (With a disgusted expression she puts her hand in the bowl).
-Laura: (As Melina brings her hand full of the mixture to her head) Don’t do it, you still have time to regret it… Yuck, disgust!
(Melina starts to put the mixture on her hair and Laura stares at her)
ACT III
Characters that intervene in this act: Melina and Laura.
Scenery: The same scenography of the previous act.
Melina watches television with a brown clay mask scattered on her face.
Melina: (Answering the TV) And how am I supposed to be tanned at this time of the year, spring has just started, there’s no sun… (Annoyed) No, I don’t have that color, I’m white, what’s wrong with my color?
(Laura appears)
-Laura: I hear you arguing from over there, are you fighting with the TV set?
-Melina: Look at that girl’s tan, apparently that color is sexy and my pale color would be like someone who is sick.
-Laura: And what did you put on your face, you’re so weird! What’s got you so angry and worried and putting sticky stuff on your face and hair? You look like a freak doing all that and fighting with the TV.
-Melina: I tell you the truth, I give up. In these hours I’ve been watching TV I’ve only seen perfect women and products to be perfect that I can’t afford.
-Laura: But you’re very pretty. Besides, you’re sixteen, why would you need face masks?
-Melina: I don’t know, according to the TV I have too much here (touches her abdomen), too little here (touches her chest), I have to harden here (touches her legs), whiten here (touches her teeth), darken here (touches her skin)… It’s impossible! According to the TV I would have to be born again to be beautiful… Don’t you worry about these things?
Laura: I’m more worried about the ice-cream shop closing. Shall we go for an ice-cream?
THE END