Sad state of affairs

Many young Koreans, women particularly but not exclusively, desire to have a certain look.  I guess you could say that about young people in general, but Seoul is a 'can do' kind of place, so the young people here often do something about it. 

What they do is change their looks.  And what is favoured is the western look: paler faces, bigger eyes, larger noses and pointier chins.  So that means cosmetics to bleach the skin, and surgery to do the rest.  I find it sad to see so many doe-eyed sprites that are trying to look like the Hollywood actresses they see in the movies, or the models they see in magazines, or the wealthy Caucasians they see on TV.  And I find it even sadder to see cosmetic surgery advertisements on the metro, and to hear that parents often give their daughters (and sons?)  a graduation or wedding gift of new eyes or chin. 

Of course if they really do feel that altering their appearance will make them happy I have no problem with that.  But when it's a rejection of who they are, their cultural and genetic selves, in favour of an ideal that is from without and that is also impossible to attain, and to pay large sums of money for it, then I do feel that their society is letting them down.