I
’m 19 years old and I’m standing in the facial cream aisle in
Target trying to find the best anti-aging cream. Yes, anti-aging
cream.
I’m 19 years old and I’m standing in the facial cream aisle in Target trying to find the best anti-aging cream. Yes, anti-aging cream.
A few days ago I spotted a wrinkle on my forehead, and although I haven’t been able to locate it since, I know it’s out there, somewhere, just waiting to make it’s next appearance. After a severe anxiety attack where my young life flashed right before my (what seem to be rapidly aging) eyes, I knew it was imperative to begin treatment with the latest products available. Driving home, forty dollars lighter, I started to wonder what the world would be like if everyone stopped being so concerned with appearance.
Would relationships last longer if there were no concept of ugly or beautiful? Wives would no longer have to stress if they don’t lose all the weight after having a baby, girls wouldn’t have to continue buying the latest fashions and make-up products in order to keep that new boy’s interest, guys wouldn’t have to begin extensive therapy the minute they see a strand of hair in the sink and I wouldn’t be having a panic attack over an imaginary wrinkle.
Everyday, thousands of people seek out plastic surgery to try and improve their appearance. Botox treatments are easier to arrange than getting an appointment for a manicure. T.V. shows like “Nip and Tuck” and “The Swan” are all the rage. I plead guilty.
I was one of the millions of people, along with half the girls in my sorority, who were crowded around the television set, scolding that one girl for never wearing her face wrap after her plastic surgery. What brought all those girls to the point where they had to become contestants for a show that breaks you down just to build you up again into something society will consider more “attractive?”
Even my friends have been affected by this new epidemic. My longtime friend Heather, who happens to be gorgeous and just won a spot in a modeling competition, is convinced that she’ll only really beautiful after she has a nose job. A nose job she doesn’t even need. My friend Leah, wising up to the collectively plummeting self esteem all across the nation, has planned a very profitable career as a plastic surgeon. Just as doctors will always have sick patients, plastic surgeons will always have people who are certain they need to correct the slightest imperfection.
At first I wondered why Shrek was able to make millions in the box office. This little cartoon movie was all the rage and I just couldn’t understand why. After seeing it, I realized why Americans cling to the movie. It’s the real fairy tale.
Not the kind where perfect Cinderella meets her equally perfect Prince Charming and they live happily ever after. It’s where Princess Fiona meets her ogre and realizes that what’s on the outside isn’t important; it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. She doesn’t want the gorgeous, wealthy Prince Charming, because he’s just a self-absorbed jerk who would never be able to comprehend the concept of real love.
Even in Shrek 2, when Shrek feels that he’s too ugly for Fiona and goes on a destructive mission to change his appearance, the message remains clear; Fiona loves him for the person he is, not the ogre he appears to be.
But Shrek is just an animated movie. Could we all act as Fiona did? I don’t know if I could fall in love with a giant green monster. (Although, let me tell you, I’ve come pretty close a few too many times.) Maybe the reason so many relationships and marriages don’t last is because they begin on such a superficial level.
You go for the hottest guy at the party or in the bar, but maybe Mr. Right is the one standing in the corner; you know, the one standing by himself, a little too skinny, a little too fat, a little too dorky, just not your type. I think maybe, this next time, I’m going to make it a point to go for the guy at the party that just isn’t my type because my “type” doesn’t always turn out o be so great. I’ll find my ogre instead.
I think it’s true that people become more attractive after you get to know them. It definitely proves the Shrekerian theory because once you get to know the inside and you like it, the outside starts to look even better as well.
One thing is certain; life is too short to be worrying about little wrinkles. And although I can’t stop the reoccurring nightmares of having a giant prune for a head, age is part of beauty and it’s going to happen to all of us no matter what creams we spackle religiously on our faces every night. It’s the cycle of life. I might as well embrace it.
Chrissy Bryant is a sophomore at San Jose State University. She writes A College View about local college life and things that catch her fancy. Contact Chrissy at ed******@**************es.com
