For Beauty Passed Away

A Channel 5 news special about facially disfigured people, reported by Carol Marin.

00:09Copy video clip URL Title screen for the Carol Marin Special “For Beauty Passed Away,” produced by Don Moseley. 

00:35Copy video clip URL Special begins. Camera opens on a fire. Voiceover, Gertrude Miller speaking about being burned in an apartment fire. Marin speaks to Miller’s daughter about seeing their mother in the hospital. Marin and Miller talk about the facial disfigurement from the burns. Low video quality briefly. Marin speaks about disfigurement as a handicap. Cut to black. 

4:44Copy video clip URL Footage of Miller getting ready. Voiceover of her speaking about how her life changed after the disfigurement. Miller talks about going back out into the world, and the prevalence of suicide in those with facial disfigurements. Marin talks to a psychiatrist that specializes in working with people who have been facially disfigured. They talk about the “hibernation” that many disfigured people choose to undergo instead of interacting with the world.

12:35Copy video clip URL Marin visits the burn unit at the Cook County Hospital. She speaks with a patient who was caught in chemical fire about the desire to hibernate. She speaks with another patient about really looking at himself after the accident. The psychiatrist talks about what it takes for a disfigured person to recover emotionally.

16:30Copy video clip URL A disfigured woman, Carol Ann Roscoe, reads her poetry. Marin speaks to Roscoe and her physician about the disfigurement she has suffered. Roscoe describes the accident and speaks about dealing with the pain. Marin talks about social standards of beauty. She describes Chicago’s “Ugly Ordinance.”

25:10Copy video clip URL Marin continues to report on the beauty expectations that society has for faces. She speaks with the psychiatrist about the importance of the face and his sculptures. Footage of painted portraits. Marin talks about what beauty is. Marin speaks with the burn unit at the University of the Chicago about a burn mask that can help prevent scarring. They talk about the dehumanization that comes with the mask. Marin talks to a man who wore the mask for months, and he describes the way people reacted, including calling the police on him. Marin speaks to his parents about their experience watching their son face the world as a disfigured person.

35:42Copy video clip URL Marin talks with a plastic surgeon about how victims of facial disfigurement can lose their identities. She speaks with a doctor in the facial reconstruction unit of the University of Chicago about reconstruction of the face, and the doctor shows her models. Marin speaks with a paralyzed man who must wear a brace on his head, and they speak about how this can constitute as disfigurement. 

40:15Copy video clip URL Marin talks to a four-year-old, Joel, who was disfigured in a car accident. She speaks with Joel’s parents, and how they’ve had to explain the accident and the changes to him. They talk about how people react to Joel and the way their family has changed. Marin talks about the unexpectedness of disfigurement. Cut to black.

46:56Copy video clip URL Miller interacting with her family and in the grocery store. Marin talks about “social death” that some disfigured people experience. She speaks about this concept with the psychiatrist. Marin tries to find organizations that aid disfigured people, but does not find much support. Marin talks about societal acceptance for those who are disfigured. She speaks briefly with several of the same victims about how they see themselves now.

56:14Copy video clip URL Credits.

57:19Copy video clip URL Tape ends.