"Looker"

The 1981 film “Looker” directed and written by Michael Crichton, is a grabbing story that pushes the audience to think about the societal standards that causes women to change themselves and become doubles of other objects. In the film there are four super models that change their appearances by miniscule differences. The doctor asked why they wanted to change their appearance because they were already so beautiful, in response the women said that they were just not perfect enough. In one point of the film there is a scene where the doctor is at Digital Matrix, a company that scans the model’s commercials to figure out how well the models were doing on selling the products. On one of the model’s commercials, a woman from Digital Matrix said that the model began her commercial with a great score because she looked perfect. But when she began to move and act in her commercial, she lost points because while she looked perfect, when she actually moved you were able to tell that she was not actually perfect. This is a perfect example of how society pushes women to create the manufactured forms of beauty for their own benefit in order to market their products. 

Students in Dr. Mintler’s Doppelgangers and Doubles class, who are in Unit 2, “Capitalism’s Uncanny Doubles: Automata - Wax Figures – Dolls – Mannequins – Models,” should definitely think about watching this movie. It does not only help one understand how society pushes women to become doubles in order to better their capitalist needs, but it is an enthralling movie that will keep you on your toes and may make you realize a love for the classic 80’s style of film.