e.vnexpress-Oct 4
After the government decentralized and eased regulations, allowing provincial authorities to license beauty contests, an onslaught of vulgar, mediocre pageants is causing nostalgia for the erstwhile system. Many people do not like what they are seeing and prefer the past, when two or three prestigious government-endorsed pageants unearthed exquisite beauties whose names audiences remembered and who went on to do meaningful social work or build great careers. Beauty contests are being rapidly privatized, with 22 contests being licensed so far in 2022, all with similar and confusing names and a blur of unmemorable faces who devote their youth to participating in one contest or another. One example of an emerging willy-nilly market is the recent competition for an official Vietnamese title between two brand-new contests, Miss Peace Vietnam and Miss Grand Vietnam. While the English names are distinguishable, both have registered for the same Vietnamese title, ‘Hoa Hau Hoa Binh Vietnam,’ because the ‘peace’ in the former name translates into ‘hoa binh’ while the local leg of Miss Grand International also prefers a broad understanding of ‘grand’ as ‘hoa binh’ or ‘peace.’ For three months neither side backed down, but as the award night approached on September 11 the organizers of Miss Peace Vietnam thought better of the situation, decided not to squabble further, and asked culture authorities for permission to carry out the event without any Vietnamese translation of the English title, making it the first beauty contest to be so conducted. With this and other causes for public criticism like small scale, few contestants, lax criteria, mediocre contestants, winners with damaging rumors, and even fixing of awards, many wonder if beauty pageants are becoming too cheap. Read more at:
