Barely Scratching The Surface

Today MSN has an article from Newsweek titled Brush With Perfection, which is basically like a two page ad for Alex Kuczynski's new book Beauty Junkie: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery.

I don't know what the book is like, but the article is disappointing. Kuczynski seems to rehash the same hypothesis on why more and more Americans are going under elective cosmetic surgery: the media makes them do it! Ironically, this is the most popular idea in the main stream media right now. But it's far from self incriminating. Kuczynski blames Hollywood for surrounding us with images of unattainable youth and beauty and that these images become the standard of perfection.

However, pretty people have always been in pictures, and good looking folks have had a long history of advantages over the more homely. I think that America's obsession with looks and beauty is much more complicated than wanting to look like Angelina Jolie. America is a consumeristic democracy that pines for quick fixes.

Makeover shows of all varieties are immensely popular right now. Makeover your face, your house, your food, your life by buying the right things, looking the right way, and putting tastier food in your stomach. We want it all, and we want it all right now. Overweight? Get liposuction. Depressed? Go shopping. We want what others have, even if it's an illusion.

This translates into a somewhat dismal message about our bodies, and women's bodies in particular. Makeover shows like The Swan and Extreme Makeover both contribute and reflect our current cultural obsession with changing outer selves, before we tackle the inner. Instead of trying to change our unhealthy eating habits, we get stomach stapling. Instead of trying to break down stereotypes about ageing, we get botox.

The Newsweek article was short, so I don't know if Kuczynski explores these topics, or if Newsweek was just picking the most palatable angles to cover. I don't feel hopeful though. Despite this bleak opinion, the book will go on my reading list(or at least my skim in the bookstore list) because you shouldn't judge a book by press junket cover.