As a shiny new series of Nip/Tuck hits our TV screens, Sylvia Patterson examines our growing fascination with cosmetic surgery and how the media has gleefully responded to it.
wo years back. a tnan with surgically ‘enhanced‘ lips (the size. in fact. of an ocean liner‘s rubber ring) considered the TV obsession of the day. His name is Pete Burns. celebrated 80s pop-perv. and the world's least apologetic cosmetic surgery enthusiast. ‘Surgery is an absolute obsession in the media.' said the incorrigible Scouser. ‘lt's more entertaining than war. People are glued to Face/iii Diaries and so am I. I‘m not sure we wanna know about serious issues any more because politics has become a PR exercise in making the inevitable seem like a matter of great decision. People feel powerless so they focus on themselves. And it‘s become identikit. this
pressure to be “perfect”. we've lost all sense of
individuality.’
Two years on and cosmetic surgery is an unstoppable reality TV phenomenon. We no longer just do tip our houses: now. we do away with our faces. Naturally. it’s compelling stuff: watch Extreme lilakeover (Living TV) — 860.000 worth of every surgical procedure known to man - and your jaw drops further than the one turfed in a surgical pedal-bin. Here too. is proof of a seismic shift in attitude: where surgery. once. was an unspeakable shame. the transfonned are home-coming heroes. pioneers of the positive.
Family and friends are invited to the Reveal. a thundering sob-fest of congratulations (and
16 THE LIST 3—1 7 Feb 2005
bamboozled children) at the metamorphosis from completely normal to waxy mannequin wearing Max l-leadroom‘s face. It's already a ['8 TV staple. and Britain is catching tip fast. Last year’s Cosmetic Surgery [.ive featured Vanessa ‘lncarcerated' Feltz and Daniella ‘Detonated Nose' Westbrook. clearly thrilled by the send-in mobile phone images of the troublesome ‘apron‘ flapping over the nation‘s groin. Then we have Ten Years Younger (featuring a team of laser beam threatening experts). the similar Bot/y Specialists. The Swan and I Want a famous Face. Not the famous face. surely. of Jackie Stallone. marauding through the Celebrity Big Brother house like the godmother Michael Jackson tried to hide. Sometimes. you have to make up the drama: Nip/Tuck. the award- winning surgery-set series. which began in 2003. has its fourth season now commissioned. lnevitably. there‘s also ll'lien Plastic Surgery Goes Wrong. its cautionary tales in toxic leakage making no impression whatsoever on the universal stampede to inflate those average bosoms. Never before in human history has nature been given such a comprehensive. global V-sign. Right there on 24-hour TV.
Celebrity culture. medical technology. tyrannical multi-media imagery. cheapo digital TV output. economic prosperity. affordable procedures. access to information. the live-for-
now mentality. the supersonic cogs of 'progress': these are the cultural components which make cosmetic surgery. and its 'l‘\' mirror. the inescapable theme of the day. We no longer in
almost every way imaginable merely accept what nature has given Us. :\s with l\'l'. genetic engineering and the heady frontiers of space travel. we do these things for one reason: becatise our imaginations thought of it. and we
NEVER BEFORE IN HUMAN HISTORY HAS NATURE BEEN GIVEN
SUCH A COMPREHENSIVE,
GLOBAL V-SIGN
found a way to do it. TV now. is searching for its roots. This week. (‘hannel 4 aired .Alm-ient Plastic Surgery; examining evidence that. as far back as the fifth century B(‘. the nose job was surgically possible. Ancient civilisations in ligypt. India and Rome are now yielding evidence of relevant medical procedures for the cosmetic lix. Back then. the quest for beauty thrived (those ancient ligyptians. after all. were supernaturally symmetrical). carrying out nose—
jobs. breast reductions. eye-lid lifts. foreskin