Knives slicing through the skin, excess fat being suctioned from the adipose tissue, a glorious concoction of dark red blood, pale white skin and creamy yellow fat swirling out from the depths of the human body, tools deftly sculpting the perfect bone structure… and this was only the first five minutes of TV3’s new six-part series 'The Cosmetic Surgery Show', a show which claims to “take an in-depth look at cosmetic surgery in Ireland”.
The familiar face from RTE’s, shall we say, less controversial show, 'Off The Rails', Caroline Morahan stands aside the star of 'Dr 90210', Dr Robert Rey, in a simple studio setting and presents a fly-on-the-wall show that does not shy away from sharing the most intimate of thoughts and body parts with the nation.
Although I did finish my ham and pineapple pizza, it was hard to prevent my, at the best of times slightly erratic, imagination from relating any of the above-mentioned colours to the tomato sauce, cheese and ham on my plate. A man confides to the camera about the bump on his nose that he cannot stand to look at, not even in his wedding photographs. It is literally a problem that he cannot hide. So he decides to become a part of the exclusive crowd that choose to alter the way they physically look and go under the knife, whilst broadcasting it to the nation. Am I being irrational? Should I be happy that the Irish people have joined the masses and are now truly in the 21st Century?
I am in no manner against all forms of cosmetic surgery, I am sure there will be some temptations when I look in the mirror in thirty or forty years time and I suddenly notice that my lips aren’t quite as full as they used to be, my eyes have become framed by a network of wrinkles and the years of late nights as a thriving socialite, scorching beach summers relaxing in the Caribbean sun and fume-filled days in the major city base of my successful career haven’t been all that kind to my skin. Ireland does not seem to be against all forms either-90 percent said “yes” to considering cosmetic surgery on TV3’s online poll.
However, it is when I watch such shows as the All-American 'The Swan' and 'Extreme Makeover’ that I fear for the future generations of Ireland. We may, as a country, be moving quickly towards the trends of lunchtime Botox sessions and we may be planning more ‘Cosmetic Surgery parties’ than ‘Tupperware parties’, but it will not be long until we will casually dismiss the miracle of what our parents’ genes created and stride into a cosmetic surgery branding a portfolio of our chosen celebrity, the ‘Chosen One’, the one we want to look like, the one we want to be.
There is a very fine line between adjusting the bump on your nose that was the catalyst of playground taunts and reshaping the nose entirely to look like that of Carmen Electra’s. It is so easy to become caught up in the world of striving to be physically perfect. As if the airbrushed models on billboards, the L’Oreal goddesses on television, the slim, attractive people in sitcoms and the immaculate girls in magazines weren’t putting enough pressure on the youth of today to look physically perfect, we are now bombarded with television programmes following the “ugly duckling” and their eventual road to “success and happiness”, now that they look like Angelina Jolie or “that one from the O.C”.
Maybe I am not giving my country enough credit, perhaps it will take more to change the Irish mentality. Caroline Morahan herself seemed to stand back in disbelief as she listened to Dr Robert Rey describe the “easiness” and “painlessness” of undergoing plastic surgery to look like your favourite celebrity.
It is absolutely compelling to watch. It is like reaching out for that third muffin or agreeing to go out for a fourth night in a row-it will by no means kill you and it isn’t necessarily bad for you, but you’re interested as to what it will be like, and you want to try it, to do it, to watch it.
Will it be a successful show? I honestly do not know. What I do know is that these shows have the power to influence the vulnerable or easily-led, they portray cosmetic surgery as the route to success and the end results have the ability to tip even the most confident towards re-sculpting their body.
What I also know is that next week I shall change my choice of dinner. Or wait, maybe I am still being irrational…
DC
Excellent argument DC, however I think some shows one such as this are vitally important to the media audience. To give the viewer an in-depth look into something that they might have otherwise blindly ventured into.
ReplyDeleteAs encouraging as it may appear to some, for others it has turned them away from plastic surgery for life. The faint-hearted, those with a fear of needles or blood may have caught glimpses of the bloody operations and decided that they could never bring themselves to go through with it.
For this reason, I applaud the documentary makers. As we all know media messages are interpreted in a variety of ways by different groups of people depending on their circumstances and that sometimes programmes are constructed in such a way that they deliver ambiguous meanings. This show is one such example.
DA
Great post...
ReplyDeleteI understand your fears about people becoming obsessed with cosmetic surgery. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to make it necessary to see a psychologist before being given the final go ahead to have the surgery. That way we could be sure people aren't being irrational or that they don't have body dysmorphia or something similar. Because I do agree this kind of surgery can easily become an unhealthy addiction. Pete Burns, anyone?
NK
I've seen the show- oh so graphic! I too don't relish the idea of unessecary cosmetic surgery. That said, we all might think differnetly when we hit our sixties and everything goes south?
ReplyDeleteJM