The term `plastic surgery` is an interesting one. It can be taken a couple of different ways and, indeed, probably in some sort of slippery semantic sense both ideas are implied. Referred to here is both the sense of plastic as an actual material produced by the chemical industry, but also plastic in the colloquial sense as fake, artificial or even phony.
Generally of course the chemically based material called plastic is used for such surgeries. All else being equal, though, it is not the preferred element. Skin grafts from other parts of the body provide a far superior effect. Calling plastic surgery by this name, in this sense, then can be a bit misleading.
And, as to plastic in the aesthetic or ethical sense, the truth is that most reconstructive surgery is not even cosmetic. But there is something about the association of such surgery to the celebrities trying to hang onto their glamour and appeal that leads so many of us to thoughtlessly let the description roll glibly off the tongue. Perhaps it is something like this subtle disapproval of the celebrities that use it that explains the widespread fascination with examples of celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong.
We are so intrigued by the image of the great who have fallen; the rich who apparently couldn't find a competent surgeon; the beautiful who paid the price for their devilish deal with the surgeon`s scalpel. It's almost as though ee gain some payback for the years of our inferiority-in-admiration, to coin an awkward phrase, when the tables are suddenly turned and those whose beauty once made us look like munchkins now has them looking like the frogs. Indeed, princes and princesses into toad, the fairy tale in reverse for celebrities, would seem to be the moment of redemption and vindication for many of us.
Or, to put it another way, slightly more stylized, those who live by beauty, die by beauty. Metaphorically speaking, of course! It may be the ultimate poetic justice.
Consider though an even bleaker possibility: something more sinister yet may lie at the heart of it all. This prospect came to my attention recently in recalling that popular FX television show, Nip/Tuck. If you don't know it, you should. It was the story of a pair of superstar plastic surgeons, serving the rich, famous and beautiful. A fascinating fact though is that the pilot episode was not actually focused on the rich, famous or beautiful. Rather its story revolved around a mercy surgery to relieve a man with a horribly disfigured face.
The punch line, if you will, was that it was only after the surgery was complete that the surgeons learned that their patient was in fact a pedophile. They had unwittingly eliminated the one obstacle to his capacity to lure innocent children into his devices. It was an interesting choice for a first episode in a series that would primarily indeed focus on the rich, famous and beautiful clientele.
Does that story capture a more primordial suspicion about plastic surgery: that maybe it`s hiding something dark? Something sinister? Perhaps the fascination with celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong actually taps into a suspicion that something true has been revealed. That a disguised ugliness has been unveiled. That the princess or prince was always secretly been a frog and only now we finally see the truth.
Am I making too much out of this? Possibly, but I think it's something worth reflecting upon. That the fascination with celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong says something about the very concept of celebrity and about us.
Generally of course the chemically based material called plastic is used for such surgeries. All else being equal, though, it is not the preferred element. Skin grafts from other parts of the body provide a far superior effect. Calling plastic surgery by this name, in this sense, then can be a bit misleading.
And, as to plastic in the aesthetic or ethical sense, the truth is that most reconstructive surgery is not even cosmetic. But there is something about the association of such surgery to the celebrities trying to hang onto their glamour and appeal that leads so many of us to thoughtlessly let the description roll glibly off the tongue. Perhaps it is something like this subtle disapproval of the celebrities that use it that explains the widespread fascination with examples of celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong.
We are so intrigued by the image of the great who have fallen; the rich who apparently couldn't find a competent surgeon; the beautiful who paid the price for their devilish deal with the surgeon`s scalpel. It's almost as though ee gain some payback for the years of our inferiority-in-admiration, to coin an awkward phrase, when the tables are suddenly turned and those whose beauty once made us look like munchkins now has them looking like the frogs. Indeed, princes and princesses into toad, the fairy tale in reverse for celebrities, would seem to be the moment of redemption and vindication for many of us.
Or, to put it another way, slightly more stylized, those who live by beauty, die by beauty. Metaphorically speaking, of course! It may be the ultimate poetic justice.
Consider though an even bleaker possibility: something more sinister yet may lie at the heart of it all. This prospect came to my attention recently in recalling that popular FX television show, Nip/Tuck. If you don't know it, you should. It was the story of a pair of superstar plastic surgeons, serving the rich, famous and beautiful. A fascinating fact though is that the pilot episode was not actually focused on the rich, famous or beautiful. Rather its story revolved around a mercy surgery to relieve a man with a horribly disfigured face.
The punch line, if you will, was that it was only after the surgery was complete that the surgeons learned that their patient was in fact a pedophile. They had unwittingly eliminated the one obstacle to his capacity to lure innocent children into his devices. It was an interesting choice for a first episode in a series that would primarily indeed focus on the rich, famous and beautiful clientele.
Does that story capture a more primordial suspicion about plastic surgery: that maybe it`s hiding something dark? Something sinister? Perhaps the fascination with celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong actually taps into a suspicion that something true has been revealed. That a disguised ugliness has been unveiled. That the princess or prince was always secretly been a frog and only now we finally see the truth.
Am I making too much out of this? Possibly, but I think it's something worth reflecting upon. That the fascination with celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong says something about the very concept of celebrity and about us.
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The Celebrity Plastic Surgery Gone Wrong promo YouTube video is stirring up all kinds of controversy.
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