Areas of Unrest

11 April 2004 - Swan Song

I don't watch a lot of television, so I tend to be somewhat behind the curve on popular culture. That means I usually end up all the more shocked when I do notice some disturbing trend. A few weeks ago, on a business trip, I was randomly flipping channels and saw part of "Extreme Makeover." I didn't watch enough of it at the time to grasp that much of what made it "extreme" was surgery. I was vaguely under the impression that most of what they did had to do with makeup and hairstyling and clothing and the like - sort of a television version of what we used to see in Glamour Magazine when I was a teenager.

Then, this week I put on the TV more or less at random because I wanted something to listen to while doing some housework and I saw "The Swan." In case you missed the premise of this, they take two women each week and show a three month transformation of them. At the end, one is judged transformed enough to go on to a beauty pageant they'll have at the end.

What struck me is that the emphasis in the transformation was definitely on plastic surgery. There were also entirely unrealistic weight loss goals. I don't care what miracles you want to claim, but it is physically impossible to lose 35 pounds in one month, as they claimed one of the women would have to do. And to be dealing with semi-starvation and intensive exercise while recovering from fairly extensive surgery hardly seems healthy to me.

The most disturbing part was that the families (and husbands or boyfriends) of the women were all so proud the "hard work" they'd done in the transformation. I'm not claiming they didn't go through a lot, but the hard work they needed was psychological. I don't have anything against people choosing even extremes like surgery, but they should be resolving the self-esteem issues first.

I find myself wondering if this is just Hollywood or if the ideas that are behind these shows have become mainstream. Is everybody supposed to have the same face and figure now? Are we supposed to cut away our flaws instead of emphasizing our good points? Have we lost the ability to appreciate ordinary people and see the beauty in them?

On a less disturbing note, the biggest beauty move I plan to make has to do with getting more sleep. That's a hell of a lot safer than slicing away the bags under the eyes. It is, however, surprisingly difficult. The Red Sox did not help at all, as their game in Baltimore was televised Thursday night. If they're going to keep me up to midnight (extra innings and all), they should at least have the decency to win.