Director Xuan Bac: 'Many people are selling beauty contests'

At the beauty pageant inflation seminar organized by VietNamNet Newspaper, People's Artist Xuan Bac - Director of the Department of Performing Arts ( Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ) shared frankly in both roles: a manager and a man who loves beauty.

"I really like beauty queens, but I only need one, the one who stays home and takes care of my three children!", the humorous artist began his speech.

People's Artist Xuan Bac. Photo: Le Anh Dung.

From a personal perspective, he believes that the need to honor beauty is very legitimate, even in small communities with their own criteria. However, when discussing national beauty titles that represent the image of Vietnamese women on the international stage, it cannot be easy.

"We need a common measure of beauty value. We cannot let each place do its own thing, and the title of beauty queen be abused to the point of causing breach," said People's Artist Xuan Bac.

He expressed concern about the current reality, when some individuals after being crowned have faced negative reactions from the public such as: "What kind of beauty queen has such bulging eyes?", or are suspected of "buying the award". According to him, it is the leniency in criteria and organization that makes the title that is respected become a pastime for social networks.

Need to amend legal corridor soon

In his position as Director of the Department of Performing Arts (DPA), People's Artist Xuan Bac said that the management agency has received instructions from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to urgently review and amend Decree 144, especially the part related to organizing beauty and model contests.

"The current Decree has revealed many points that are no longer suitable to reality. We are actively consulting with experts, journalists, and organizations to create a viable legal corridor when amending, both ensuring effective management and promoting healthy development," he affirmed.

People's Artist Xuan Bac also pointed out that performing arts cannot be considered a normal commodity because it directly affects the awareness and emotions of the community.

''It's a pity that nowadays there are many people who consider cultural products that should be respected and protected to be exchanged and sold as normal goods, which is very dangerous.

In addition to the standards and criteria at a small scale such as communities and organizations, such as the Miss contest of Tien Phong newspaper, which has long been prestigious, from the perspective of state management and as people who care about public opinion and social criticism, we also have the responsibility to provide guidance.

Beauty contests cannot be drawn into a competitive environment as if they were competing for goods in the market. They must be edited, organized, and controlled to ensure suitability, creating good conditions for promotion and development, but absolutely must not loosen the role of state management,'' People's Artist Xuan Bac stated his opinion.

Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet newspaper Nguyen Van Ba presented flowers to Director of the Department of Performing Arts Xuan Bac - one of the three guests of the round table "Beauty Queen Inflation".

Who is worthy to represent Vietnamese beauty?

One of the big questions raised by People's Artist Xuan Bac is: who allows an individual to be called "representative of Vietnamese beauty" in international arenas?

He said he had questioned many times when he saw the headlines in the press: "Vietnamese beauty conquers the world", "Miss Vietnam shines at Miss... something". But in reality, many of these people were not recognized or sent by the competent authorities.

"If there is no common standard, it should just be called 'representative of company A from Vietnam'. But if one calls themselves a national representative, that person must have the intelligence, courage and cultural identity of modern Vietnamese women, and cannot be arbitrary," People's Artist Xuan Bac clearly stated.

He also believes that many current titles are "mixed", causing confusion among the public. Some organizations organize international competitions but are not legally transparent, causing distortion in the selection of representatives to compete.

"Are we 'diluting' or 'concentrating' beauty queens? If we call it 'diluting', is it diluted enough now, or do we need... 80 beauty queens per year to be diluted? On the contrary, if we aim for something 'concentrated' and valuable, we need to be clear about how many contests and how many titles each year are enough to ensure proper honor? Here, it is not about 'worshiping' beauty queens but about honoring the beauty and value of that beauty." And when society determines that those values are worthy of respect and recognition, then beauty contests will have the right meaning," People's Artist Xuan Bac analyzed.

He said that the Department of Performing Arts regularly receives documents asking for opinions from localities when organizing beauty contests. With the spirit of learning and accompanying, this agency always provides specific instructions within its authority.

"I do not blame the locality. In fact, many officers and specialists at the Department work very dedicatedly. When localities encounter difficulties in organizing beauty and model contests, they always proactively send documents to ask for opinions from the Department of Performing Arts. If the problem is within our management scope, especially related to Decree 144, which the Department advised the Ministry to submit to the Government for promulgation, we always have timely instructions. The problem is that in reality, more and more new situations are arising, beyond the expectations of current regulations. Therefore, we need to change promptly, not let things slide before handling them," he added.

People's Artist Xuan Bac believes that it is time to reorganize the beauty contest system in both legal and social awareness aspects.

"A legal document only has value when it is actually put into practice and creates momentum for development. We do not make laws to tie the hands of the organizing unit, but to guide and create conditions for beauty to be properly developed," he said.

He also said that right after the VietNamNet roundtable, the Department of Performing Arts will organize in-depth working sessions with the press, experts, and organizing units to listen to more opinions.

"I believe that if everyone is responsible and wants to move towards true values in the near future, we will no longer have to hear phrases like 'beauty queen chaos', 'beauty queens buy awards'. Instead, there will be faith in decent, methodical and worthy beauty contests," People's Artist Xuan Bac affirmed.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cuc-truong-xuan-bac-khong-it-nguoi-dang-mang-cac-cuoc-thi-sac-dep-ra-bay-ban-2418036.html