According to the film America the Beautiful, more than $1 billion is spent on advertising in America annually. And many times the ad that's featured doesn't even show the product that's being offered for sale. But what is shown in the majority of ads is sex--whether it be a woman in a tight fitting dress, advertising a computer component, or a young lady, legs straddled, wearing stiletto shoes advertising a watch--the word is out, sex sells!

Chicagoan Darryl Roberts' movie, which is a documentary about the state of America and how its citizens view themselves, is chockfull of issues, all of them coming full circle back to one's self esteem and what many people, both young and old, Black and white, perceive as attractive or, as the title suggests, BEAUTIFUL!

One such young lady in the film Gerren Taylor is first shown as a 12-year-old model, who's taken the industry by storm. She's propelled, pushed, cajoled, manipulated into the business by an overbearing mother, who had a short modeling career herself at one point. It's so sad to see young Gerren used by the industry, pouting and pouncing her way through prominent modeling gigs dressed up as if she was in her late teens or early twenties. Mind you, the kid was just twelve, when she started out.

Both she and her mom become consumed by the glamorous life and, of course, the money that's being made literally on the "ass" of young Gerren.

Roberts juxtaposes his exposé on Gerren with interviews from people from all walks of life about what they think beauty is or why it's so important that others see them as being beautiful. And it wasn't just women who were interviewed; men were brought into the fray, also.

One man in a "buddy" group admits that he probably couldn't get many dates with beautiful women if they knew he had a small penis. Another admits that he's buying his girlfriend a breast augmentation and that, in turn, buys him more time with her.

But back to young Gerren: she lands top modeling gigs in California and, at the displeasure of her school principal, is subsequently whisked off to New York, to do fashion week there, also.

Her mom figures that the principal "must have been fat as a kid," because she couldn't figure out why the school administrator was hesitant to grant clearance for the young lady to be out of school.

What transpires is Gerren's short-lived foray in the modeling world, where she experiences runway success and coverage in top modeling magazines, until she bottoms out around age 14, after being told that she was getting fat, albeit she must have been a lanky size 4 at this point.

Gerren is forced to start a new school, after having been kicked out of her original school upon her return from her modeling hiatus. In a scene around this time, Gerren thinks that a padded bra will make her fit in better with her new bunch of friends. Her mother seems upset and puzzled as to why Gerren wants the enhancement that a padded bra would give. Can't her mom see that she's responsible for much of what Gerren perceives as beauty, since she's the one who paraded her throughout the states and Europe, lapping up after the all-mighty dollar?

What a travesty! And I blame none other than her mother for the pain and insecurity that Gerren felt after being used up and tossed like an old rag. But that insecurity is to be short-lived. Gerren and her mother have been cast in BET's Baldwin Hills, a show about what else?--young, beautiful, rich, Black teens living in the "bourgie" part of town.

Of course, America the Beautiful wasn't just about the trials of Gerren; it delves into what America thinks about the need to be beautiful at any cost.

Roberts investigates the issues with advertising and fashion professionals, health care workers and just regular folk. In a print interview, Roberts says recurring themes he found while shooting America the Beautiful throughout Chicago, New York and Los Angeles were "tall, slim and blonde." But how many people are actually, naturally blonde? And where does that leave the short, healthy, black-haired sister? And if waif-sized Gerren can feel rejected at such a young and thin age, what about older women--let's say 30--who are average-sized?

Roberts also interviews parents who have lost young girls to eating disorders and plastic surgeons. The lack of regulation in the industry is also explored. A recent New York Times article revealed how dermatologists in California are offering their "Botox" patients better waiting rooms, wait times and amenities, compared to their regular dermatology patients, who might seek insurance-covered services such as mole removal. Here it is again, preference for beauty!

Roberts finally offered that he'd like young girls to take away from the film that they should take charge of their own self-esteem and not rely on the more than 2,000 beauty images they see everyday to influence how they present themselves.

Elaine Hegwood Bowen is a writer, editor, journalist and film critic in Chicago.