Synopsis: A revealing look at America’s favorite body part.

We call them by a hundred different names: boobs, knockers, jugs, hooters. We wonder if they’re real or fake, too small or too big, too exposed or too covered. And every year Americans spend millions of dollars on breast enhancement, from push-up bras to surgery. Boobs: An American Obsession is a revealing, humorous, often poignant investigation involving everyone from anthropologists to porn starts as we explore our culture’s fascination with breast.
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Boobs: An American Obsession 6.5

I was hoping that this film would explore the subject in a way that helps us understand the psychological impact/pressures on women and the allure of breasts in general in North American society. After all, we have a pretty unhealthy fascination with them here and it would be interesting to understand its root causes.

Turns out that this film was, for the most part, focused on breast surgeries. There was some contrast between augmentation and reduction, but the accent is mostly on B-I-G. They even showed an extreme example: a woman with fake breasts so massive that her whole abdomen is stretched out to freakshow status (enough so that she isn’t comfortable leaving her house).

Sigh… I almost wept watching a pretty young thing going under the knife. Especially since she looked marvelous au naturel. Très triste…

But then they showed a few more, and I didn’t know what to think and feel anymore .

Sadly, many of the (completely unrelated/unconnected) women featured in this doc kept repeating the same mantra: they wanted “Hollywood perfect”.

Doesn’t that give you pause for a second?

The worst thing in all of this were all those women who want augmentations as their graduation present. Apparently, this is a commonplace in more conservative states, like Texas. I mean, really… that just broke my heart. What are they thinking over there? (“C’mon, honey, pass all your classes and I’ll buy you some boobs!”)

As a guy who knows three women who preferred to get their large breasts reduced rather than keep them, I think I may have a really skewed perspective. Clearly the stats show that not all women would be so brave. But, seriously, considering how one’s health is affected, who would choose BIG…?

Frankly, I was grossed out by all the round, rock-hard breast on display. I never liked those anyway, but more than ever I would have liked a little bit more balance. At least I would have liked to see fake ones that look real!

To think that all these women were happy with the change! Some were even considering making them larger. Sigh…

Anyway, the filmmakers took a few breaks from the surgeries, but there were only a little bit of cultural or historical context and no real conclusions. Their exploration is massively incomplete.