Whenever I see my childhood television crushes I’m in shock. After plastic surgery, Botox, and just about any other “youth enhancer” you can think of my love interest now look like the characters from the Muppet show.
Why did they go and get surgery? That’s what I ask the T.V. as it sits there and ignores my question. I have never understood society’s obsession with beauty, and I don’t think I ever will.
If you do watch television from time to time you get to see stars transform seemingly overnight from human to what the hell were they thinking? About six years ago I was in Las Vegas lying on my side waiting to get the most painful tattoo of my life. The guy that was delivering the punishment informed me that there might be a little commotion pretty soon because Rocky was coming in to get one of his tattoos touched up. You might know him as Sylvester Stallone but I will always remember him and refer to him as Rocky. Anyways about five minutes later I see a crowd form outside the tattoo shop and Rocky walks right pass my table. Now I don’t get star struck I really don’t care if someone is considered “famous” or not but when the Italian Stallion walked past me I did a double or maybe even a triple take.
Rocky looked like he did right before the closing credits after getting punched in the face for 15 rounds. His skin was like a catcher’s mitt and his face looked droopy. I was with my best friend and my wife and they both looked like Freddy Krueger just walked past them. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. At the time it sounded a little hypocritical to talk about Rocky’s face surgery while I was getting a tattoo. We were both making what we thought was a necessary enhancement to our bodies, although mine not as extreme.
Since the beginning of time beauty has been held in such a high regard that it has completely poisoned the definition of the word. In ancient times there have been wars started because the beauty of a woman. Growing up you learn the difference between what’s ugly and what’s not fairly quickly. I don’t know how this forms in children but I’m assuming it has a little to do with family, a little to do with television, and a little to do with what society tells us is beautiful. Have you ever gone out on a date with someone your friend thought was ugly? I know all it takes for guys is one friend saying the U word about a girl, and then all of a sudden everyone look at her like she’s infected with some rare, highly contagious disease.
I didn’t understand or appreciate beauty until later on in life. When Heidi Klum and Seal (not the sea animal the singer) got married every comedian in America had a field day. Here we had society’s version of upper echelon beauty getting married to what some people thought was a person that didn’t look better than his first name. What did Heidi see in this guy? Is she crazy? What she saw was beyond physical appearance, she fell in love with the inside, and that in turn made the outside beautiful as well.
I love the movie Shallow Hal with Jack Black. He’s this womanizer that only goes after the hottest girls despite him being well Jack Black. After a chance encounter with Tony Robbins he starts to see people for who they are inside, and not out. So the most gorgeous girls started to look ugly to him because they were shallow etc, and the ones that weren’t as physically appealing looked beautiful because of who they were as people. That’s the way the world should be. I have met some of the most beautiful ugly people on the planet. Physically appealing but after ten seconds of talking to them you immediately want to throw yourself off a building. In contrast I have met some amazing people that might not be society’s definition of beauty but are beautiful for who they are not how they look.
“Beauty has everything to do with who you are and little to do with how you look”.
AHH!! Best one yet! I love this. Shallow Hal is a great movie. In some ways, I feel it is the story of my life and hoping someone could for once see ME and not the weight. Oh how beautiful of a post is this!!!!!!
Oh, that the world would see through your eyes, my darling friend – what an infinitely kinder – and happier – place it would be. This is one of my favourite subjects, I could (and have) written volubly from every angle you might conceive. Beauty – it’s nothing to brag about. Of all the God-given traits of one’s persona, beauty is not something you can generally develop. A child with a clever mind will often work hard all their life to develop their intellect ever further, those gifted athletically will usually push themselves to their utmost limits to attain excellence – but the beautiful? The beautiful don’ t have to lift a finger. It’s a mere cocktail of genetics.
All societies value their version of beauty highly, and thus, it is usually those not born beautiful who will work to attain that facade – the diets, the cosmetic surgery, the trowelled-on make-up. Every girl in this culture knows that all one needs is to stay below a certain dress size, bleach your hair and slap on neutral coloured make-up in order to be declared a ‘natural beauty’ when, in fact, truly natural beauty is a rare thing indeed. I question how, in this world, we might all remain untainted from beauty’s curse. When a young girl sees the prettier girl receiving preferential treatment for her looks alone, it is very difficult for her not to resent that girl, though her disdain should be directed toward the one perpetrating the bias. It is difficult for the prettier girl not to become hardened and resent others’ bitter attitudes and judgments towards her, knowing that all through her life she is likely to be judged by her looks alone, no matter what she might achieve, or how kind her heart might be. Many people do not recognise the negativity that beauty itself draws.
I do sympathise with those whose looks have wielded great power, who seek to extend that power beyond its natural span by resorting to cosmetic surgery etc ; the world can be a cruel place – but I wish they wouldn’t feel the need to do such things. I went to the theatre recently to see an actress whose skills I admired. She was botoxed to the hilt – and because of this, she couldn’t act. Her facial expressions were null and void. The whole experience made me acutely aware of how the entire ‘face’ of society is changing and how much money is invested in pressuring us all to be ‘beautiful’. Amongst the women I know, I am considered ‘strange’ because I don’t spend vast amounts of money on hairdressing appointments and manicures – let alone wrinkle-filling injections! But the crux of the matter as you so rightly discern, Cornell, is attitudinal. I can appreciate beauty, but accord it no value. I have loved men who were considered ugly, though love always made them handsome in my eyes. I loved their mind, I loved their heart. Those who give preference to the beautiful, and those spending too much time and money trying to attain it would do better to nurture their souls and open their hearts. If we could all take time to reflect on how we judge others, our biases, how unconsciously we accept stereotyping – we would all be the better for it. It doesn’t take very long at all to see into the heart and soul of another person, and yet so many are foolishly blindsided by what they think they see.
Excellent blog – wonderful insights, Cornell!
Hi Cornell,
Deep post. I’m with you, people spent time and money “improving” their physical/exterior appearance but no time to improve their inner being/soul. But the minorities in charge of the world (big companies) know how to feed our egos. That is why many people are looking for external things to be happy, but at the end they keep hungry and want more. When people begin to change within them, then the world will become a better and happy place.