Two women fall into a cycle of changing their appearance in order to find happiness.

Director’s Vision for ‘I Want to Be Like You’

The subjects in this film are close to my heart. Especially working as an actor in the film industry, I felt the pressures to look a certain way. Speaking to other women, in and out of the industry, I started to realize the profound community of women that these pressures touch. They start as exterior media and/
or social media driven beauty standards, focusing on looks rather than intellect. They soon begin to shape the individuals thoughts of self-worth based solely on appearance. This film explores two of those women at the height of their feelings of inadequacy in a world so focus on female beauty. The irony of this short is that each woman sees beauty in the other. This is something I noticed talking to other women; many focus on the beautiful aspects of other women, while they can’t see the beauty in themselves. This is the harsh critical voice the media has subtly placed inside women’s (and men’s) minds – through advertisements of exercise programs to weight loss pills to skin cream that makes wrinkles disappear – it all screams “you aren’t enough”. The awful thing about the women changing themselves is that it will never enough. It is a cyclical mindset that we can only escape once we know where and who the pressures come from.

This community of women and this bizarrely accepted negative mindset is important to change. I hope this short film sheds light on the demons inside our minds when forced to sees the negative instead of the positive. I hope this short can inspire women to focus on talent, ideas, creativity, and intellect instead of external beauty that will fade or never be good enough.