Q: Who’s that in the picture?
A: Renée Zellweger.
Q: What? It looks nothing like her. That’s her in the picture below.
A: Trust me: it’s Renée herself. She’s been off the radar a bit lately, but she’s back in the news now, largely because of the transmogrification.
Q: Eh?
A: It means a surprising, even magical transformation.
Q: Everything about her seems different; what happened?
A: She attributed the change to “living a different, happy, more fulfilling life.” Most people assume she’s had some plastic surgery: a blepharoplasty, or upper eyelid lift, possibly forehead lift and some injectable fillers that have widened the planes of her face. She might also have had some laser or ultrasound procedures that tighten the skin. In her case, everything seems to have gone relatively according to plan. She doesn’t look much like the “Bridget Jones” we all know, but she’s OK. Which is more than we can say for the British woman who died in Thailand a few days ago. She’d already had some plastic surgery done at a Bangkok clinic and had returned for some more work. This time, it went terribly wrong and she stopped breathing after receiving the anaesthetic.
Q: So why is everyone going crazy to have their faces changed? Is it the search for eternal youth?
A: In the 1960s and perhaps until the 1980s cosmetic surgery was a luxury reserved mostly for stars and elite white women. Now there is a much more access. The surgery is still expensive, but many more people are prepared to pay whatever it costs to effect the modification, and, if they can get it cheaper in Asia or elsewhere, they’re prepared to travel. The reason for this is simultaneously simple and complex. People are increasingly unhappy, frustrated or in some way discontented with their own bodies. Why otherwise would they want them changed? That’s the simple part. What isn’t so clear is whether they have become more — or less — dissatisfied in recent years and why they are opting for what can be discomforting and dangerous procedures, which are usually followed by a painful post-op period. The late American writer Christopher Lasch wrote about what he called The Culture of Narcissism that emerged in the 1970s. One of the most pronounced tendencies to emerge from this climate was “the therapeutic outlook,” in which, as Lasch put it, “the individual endlessly examines himself for signs of aging and ill health, for tell-tale symptoms of psychic stress, for blemishes and flaws that might diminish his attractiveness.” Youth has a special value in today’s culture: no one wants to grow old, but there are prescribed ways we can slow down the process. Exercise, healthy eating and stress-free living can put the brake on for a while, but ultimately the physical appearance needs more drastic interventions. What’s new though is the number of young people who are opting for surgery. The woman who died in Bangkok was only 24. As of now, we don’t know what kind of procedure she was due to have: it could have been some facial work or maybe breast augmentation. Either way, she wanted to change her physical appearance and the lengths to which she was prepared to go suggest how much emphasis we all place on this.
Q: Have we always been narcissistic?
A: It’s a good question — by which I mean: I don’t have a ready answer for you. I think the very fact that we are self-conscious animals means we are aware of our physical presence and, as we interact with others, we become conscious of the fact that other people make evaluations of us based on physical qualities. In that sense we have always been narcissists. I agree with Lasch that, since the 1970s, we’ve placed more and more stress on our appearance, at the same time making every effort we can to maintain a look that we find agreeable. I also believe celebrities have an impact: we tend to look at their faces, bodies and clothes and want to emulate them. We can approximate their appearance quite closely now, thanks to plastic surgery.
Q: You mean we’re all trying to look like our favourite celebs?
A: No, I don’t mean we deliberately set out to look like someone else, although there have been many cases of people striving to resemble JLo, Brad Pitt and others. But celebrity culture has brought with it an even greater accentuation on physical appearance and we’ve responded by paying closer attention to the way we look to others. I don’t necessarily think this is a destructive trend. But every time we look at Renée, we should also remind ourselves that less fortunate enthusiasts of plastic surgery are dying in their efforts to look good.