I am huge fan of reality television, but I never watched many network reality shows until I moved and my finances decided for me (to hold off on getting cable).
My archaic rabbit ears only receive two channels well. I was ever so lucky to see in clear perfect reception on Fox my Giants, Cubs, and Red Sox all get humiliatingly eliminated in the baseball playoffs. As soon as Aaron Boone hit the game winning home run during the seventh game of the American League championship series, I switched to my other channel, ABC, to watch Extreme Makeover .
Can a person really remake herself from the outside in?
Boldly going where no cosmetics have gone before
I love makeover shows. I would love to submit my mother to What Not to Wear on TLC. I don’t think my mother has ever been concerned with what other people think of her appearance, though her children have. I came up with a theory in college that most people in this world can be attractive with a little effort. Makeover shows are forcibly putting forth the effort for the clueless and the parents of embarrassed children.
The supermodel world: cures for the healthy?
I am fascinated with Extreme Makeover, a show for a world where supermodels are the standard. In this supermodel bizzaro world, one of the two women on the show I watched could be considered a little funny looking.
This particular woman had recently on her own lost a ton of weight and become an aerobics instructor. Aside from an unusually large nose and uncontrolled hair, on her body she had some flab from being forty-something and having two children. Her normal exercise routine couldn’t get rid of this flab so along with a nose job, eyelift, and lasik, she wanted liposuction.
The other woman on the show didn’t start off bad at all, but I saw that she didn’t have the best self-esteem. She was a rancher in Montana so she was a little more worn than people who don’t work outside their entire lives. Her only major problem I could see was that her wardrobe consisted of almost all denim, which made her look a little like a prison inmate.
Post-op
During their eight week long recovery, they are given Oprah-strength makeovers as well. They are told what does and doesn’t work in their wardrobe and taken shopping to fill in the fashion don’ts with fashion do’s. The most amazing part is when they are given major help with hair and makeup. Even with the huge bandage over their faces they were already much improved.
How far would I go?
Most of the time I put some effort in the way I look, but I would never do anything drastic like have plastic surgery. Well… maybe—when the time comes—when I develop extra skin from my chin to my neck I will have it tucked away or removed.
Maybe too, if I had the money, I would have a little liposuction done on the parts of my body I just can’t seem to slim down by working out. Maybe I’d even go so far as to imagine myself with a nose just 10% smaller… and a bigger chin.
How though will I explain to my future husband the child I give birth to that has a nose and chin neither one of us recognizes? I am already going to have to explain the brunette genes coming from a blond me.
In the end
Sometimes people just don’t feel good about themselves, and changing something on the outside seems like it can change what is wrong on the inside. Being able to fit in is as important as knowing our individuality.
I don’t think I will apply to be on Extreme Makeover, nor save up for that nose job, but its still fun to think about totally reinventing myself. Its like the time between buying the lottery ticket and the drawing, the “what if” of life. The fantasy.
I was happy to hear the rancher say at the end of the show, “I went through this journey to find out I was kinda okay to begin with.”