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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Botox backfires on Hollywood babes

Have you ever noticed that most people with bad face lifts (and most face lifts are bad, these days) all seem to have that same creepy look, as if their face had been flattened and stretched out on a torture rack? Whether young or old, you can tell a mile away they've had plastic surgery. Even those celebrities and stars who you would think have enough funds to pay for a good one, don't fare much better than your ordinary Des Moines house-frau trying to keep her hubby from running off with his secretary.

In the never ending quest for beauty and eternal youth, people have subjected themselves to being sliced and diced, plucked and sucked, stretched and plumped out, lasered and injected with toxins in a futile attempt to regain youth or change the bodies they were born with. The older (and not so old) will do anything to hang on to the last vestiges of youth. The results often make them look freakish, or worse yet, older than they actually are, like Melanie Griffith. Melanie is 50 this year and she looks identical to Mary Tyler Moore, who is 71, but with better hair.


Melanie Griffith ..................Mary Tyler Moore

Then you have unrecognizable Meg Ryan (46) who looks like she has also had not only a face lift, but cheek implants and lip collagen, to boot.


The 2 faces of Meg Ryan

And Cher and Jessica Simpson look like they glued garden slugs to their lips. They were fine, pre-collagen.


Cher............................Jessica Simpson

So what possesses people to nip and tuck? And who sets the standards for what's considered the personification of beauty? Unfortunately, in this country, Hollywood (and the media) have exalted those ultra-youthful, stick-thin, big-boobed, puffy-lipped model types, so everyone struggles to acquire those stats by starving themselves, pumping iron for hours each day, and ultimately submitting to the knife.

It's even tougher for those in the entertainment industry because actors have always been expected to maintain those standards. Ageism in the industry has forced film actors to try and remain youthful for as long as humanly (or inhumanly) possible, so they start having the botox and face lifts when still young and the end result has been disastrous. They have, in essence, created a monster because, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, there's a dearth of actors who look their age, even the younger ones. They are now having to go to Canada and Britain (where Botox is less popular), to do their casting:

"Both TV and the movies have been coping with the effects of cosmetic treatments and plastic surgery for years. But the problem is greater for television shows, because there are more close-ups. With the majority of camera shots in TV from chest to head, faces are more heavily scrutinized and harder to hide with lighting. As in movies, peer pressure and a cultural fixation on youth play a role in the Botoxing of the small screen..........Even greater culprits are high-definition programming and the exploding sales of giant flat-screen TVs -- and not only because high def picks up flaws once fixable with makeup. High definition also cuts the other way, showing face lift scars, overly peeled and pulled skin and extra-firm foreheads. "The Botox used to be less noticeable but high def has changed that," says one network president. "Now half the time the injectibles are so distracting we don't even notice the acting."

"Network and studio executives say television is already suffering from a plastic surgery hangover in one important genre: comedy. Successful sitcoms, including "Old Christine," typically feature actors and actresses who use a heavy arsenal of facial expressions. Failed comedies -- for example, "Hope & Faith," "Listen Up" and "20 Good Years" -- often feature performers that border on cardboard caricatures. "Frozen isn't funny," says Mr. Thurm."

The article goes on to say that even though there has been a backlash, and actors have not been hired because of overly botoxed faces, there are studios who, apparently, will still hire them, stretched faces and all. Like Melanie Griffith, who recently won a much coveted role in a new CBS pilot called "Viva Laughlin", a musical drama that's co-produced by Hugh Jackman. On the other hand, she had also been considered by "two major casting directors.... for TV projects" but they "deemed her "uncastable" due to her extra-plump lips and rigid-looking upper face."

But, people will continue to mess with their bodies in search of beauty, youth and perfection. Regardless of the consequences. Let them do what they will. I'm keeping mine intact.

9 comments:

Blazingcatfur said...

Man Melanie is starting to look like Bozo the Clown- too bad she was cute. What a scary scary parade.

WomanHonorThyself said...

ah how tragic and painful the messages women get in our culture..and YES it is overwhelmingly for the women...its never good enough is it!..GRRR!!..OK..I'm goin to have a fit now...be back later!..lol..great read hun!

Bert Bananas said...

As a guy, this whole thing disturbs me. When most guys fall for a girl, the physical body is a known quantity, especially in this day and age. (Yes, I once had a date with a girl wearing a girdle. It scarred me for life!) While there is always room for improvement, most guys are happy with gentle aging. It's the relatively few idiots who have too much money and have no real knowledge of who they are or who they married who keep the 'bimbos' in business. At least that's my opinion...

Also, a phrase you used, "...plucked and sucked..." is SO evocative of the early 1980s!

Frasier said...

Sad but true.....The worst part is how many normal ordinary women get stuff done.I was shocked when I found out that I knew a lot of them.
Love your blog name,I am one of those too !!! Being a republican is not easy !

Chris McClure aka Panhandle Poet said...

All natural is preferred by most of us. Moderate exercise, eating right, plenty of rest, and stick with the body you were born with!

Paula said...

It baffles me, that these 'celeb' types in particular, are using this surgery as they are (they feel they are) being scrutinised at close-up range.....Yet how can they look in the mirror (scrutiny) and NOT KNOW they look ridiculous??

The whole Barbie look has esculated over the last decade or so, and it's pretty horrific that women in particular want to look like hairless, uplifted, agless dolls.....then wonder why they get treated as such (no brains, keep mouth shut, objects, do NOT be anything like a REAL person, with feelings, emotions, opinions)...It's a double edged sword too as some men can then treat these women like dolls, without becoming emotionally attached to any bad behaviour towards them...they are just dollies after all. Impersonalised.

Pat Jenkins said...

Good piece. Ageing gracefully seems to be an art form that most would prefer not to tempt.

Danny Wright said...

"Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair: it is kept all the year long. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity; and, also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity. As is the saying of the wise, "all that cometh is vanity."

From John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, published in 1678

Incognito said...

Thank you for all the great comments. Nice to know not all men expect perfection!

BCF, Yeah.. she was cute. That's the problem, esp. with the younger ones. It ruins their faces.

WOMANHT: I think that's why they keep getting it done, because it never is enough. For some it becomes an addiction

BERT: :-) Don't remember that phrase.. then again, don't remember much from those days. And I agree, one should take care of oneself, but....

FRASYPOO: The normal, ordinary women are getting that notion from somewhere, unfortunately. And no, it aint easy at all! :-)

PANHANDLEP: That should be for all of us, but it's not enough in our industry. Sadly.

PAULABXX: I have no idea, Paula... perhaps they don't see it. Just like anorexics don't see how skeleton thin they are. And that's the problem with the new Hidh Def that many shows are shooting with. It shows EVERY pore. Crazy. Did you ever see that woman, forget her name.. who has had so many face lifts she looks like a monster. Plus she had her eyes changed to look like a cat's. Hideous!

PAT: Thank you Pat. And it is an art form.

DANNY: Ah yes, vanity, thy name is woman. And man, these days.