The Battle for Authenticity (Part I): The New Real is Fake

Paris Hilton seems like a topic more suitable for Gawker than Pause, but recently she’s inspired my latest rant. It’s almost too easy to make fun of Paris; she’s so blatantly commercial, and yet that’s part of her brilliance. She appeared suddenly, like an alien, deceptively naive to our snide world, unabashedly glamorous and trashy.

I’ve always been a fan of women whose smarts somehow make them beautiful, who have that “inner glow” that draws attention—Susan Sarandon, Gloria Steinem, Oprah. And yet, despite Paris's blatant solicitation of the media, I have to admit I think she's beautiful. I can’t help but stop channel surfing when she appears on some show like Extra, parading in her latest, custom-made ensemble.

I’ve often couched my fascination with Paris in condemnation, watching her appear like a multi-flavored lollipop at EVERY single celebrity function known to the paparazzi. I’ll watch her every move, saying something snide under my breath, “Is that all she does? She doesn’t sing; she doesn’t act...”

True, true. But then, she hasn’t tried to bill herself as something she isn’t either. I appreciate that she hasn’t gone the Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan route and attempt an album with about as much talent as drunk college girls in a karaoke bar—at least she hasn’t yet. I appreciate that she hasn’t signed up for a major film role, thinking she could carry the film based on her looks and press-potential (well, there was that amateur sex video…) She sticks to what she knows: clothes, jewelry, parties, boyfriend shopping. She knows her value—to make people look.

I’ve reluctantly accepted the ascendance of Paris Hilton as a harmless American diversion, but now I’m not so sure. Recently, I discovered a disturbing site, AwfulPlasticSurvery.com, and clicked on the before-and-after pics of Paris from when she was a teenager and from a current photo op. I almost lost it: Paris didn’t only have darker hair, she had brown—not blue!—eyes. She had a different face. A beautiful one, incidentally, but not as sparkly or distinct.

Apparently Paris’ natural looks were a bit too mortal for her. She needed to completely change her appearance to a point where people could no longer recognize her. In effect, she killed the poor little rich girl.

I'm mourning that girl, and what may be a dying emphasis on what's real.

Shame on me and shame on the media for accepting—FALLING FOR—this fake, enhanced, and disapproving standard. Sure, I had assumed Paris did her roots regularly, but I accepted that she was working with the assets that God, and Daddy, had given her.  Her “work” wasn’t just an enhancement; it was a demolition.

I showed the pics to my bfriend. He was surprised at the difference, but wasn’t feeling the fury that I was of being snowed.

“Did you honestly believe that she was collagen free? She’s a celebrity for Chrissakes!”

I was starting to see where my anger came from. Sure, celebrities and plastic surgery go together like supermodels and bulimia; the revelations found on this Web site were not exactly mindblowing. Tara Reid had a boob job? Imagine that! Still, as you look through the before-and-afters of a pile of celebrities, you get a sick feeling in your stomach. At some point cosmetic surgery was for old starlets who were deathly afraid of looking their age. But now everyone’s on board—even the people you considered natural looking and comfortable with their appearance. Janine Turner must have been bored over the past several years; she’s traded in her fresh look for a cakey, clownish one at the ripe old age of 42! It now seems that cosmetic surgery is no longer a nice to have; it’s the only way in the door.

Granted, celebrities are but a microcosm of the people in the world, an over-idolized one at that. But they are a studied species; the media look at them and project their standard onto the rest of us. We may choose not to listen, but then, who can help but look at People magazine when they're waiting in line at the grocery store. Even Oprah, the advocate of the average woman, has makeovers on her show. We're expected to look; and we're expected to make an effort.

Which makes me wonder, what happened to our emphasis on the authentic self?

The next installment: The Battle For Authenticity: Is the Dark Side Winning?

Comments

[Joe Bro]

I hate to break it to you, but I heard on VH-1 that she is completing an album as we speak as well as a starring role in a small indie film. I am boycotting life.

[Joy DJ]

Sometimes just hearing the name "Paris Hilton" puts a knot in my stomach. The normal everyday hard-working person just can't understand the ridiculousness of her whole notoriety. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Put us out of our misery and let her leave center stage and go back to just merely being filthy rich. Mom-

[andy05]

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she look pretty even before she had the surgery.