About
the Film
'do is a documentary about people and their hair, from mousse to gel, from the perm to the buzz. It's about your favorite product, the worst cut you've ever had, and how much time, effort and cash a person will spend to create a look. But what does that look mean? What assumptions do we make when we meet a black man with a shaved head and two earrings, or a white man with a mullet? What is a woman with her dark hair cut short like a boy trying to tell us about what she does for a living or what she considers attractive verses one who wears her blond hair in long, unruly curls? Hair is the lens 'do
uses to look more closely at the complex relationship between appearance
and identity. Following a diverse group of five New Yorkers through five
years and fourteen hairstyles, the film looks at how the changes they
go through on the outside reflect inner transformations and choices about
who they would like to be. |
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As an out gay man who doesn't have the perfect body, Doug uses his hair to make himself "feel a little more interesting" - until he realizes that that might get in the way of his moving up the corporate ladder. |
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Peggy struggles to reconcile the conflict she has always felt between being feminine and feeling empowered, gradually learning to take an interest in her appearance as part of taking an interest in herself. |
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Through these personal stories, 'do explores issues of race, gender, sexual preference and socio-economic status, encouraging the audience to examine their own ideas about how we define ourselves - as feminine or masculine, banker or artist, gay or straight, black or white - through how we look. |