Introduction
Self esteem is an element central to all things we do in life. It affects our thoughts, our behaviours, our feelings and our self worth in society. If you don’t feel good about the way you look, your body size and your general physique, then you need to watch the “How to Look Good Naked” television show or the “10 Years Younger” television show.
The show “How to Look Good Naked” helps ladies of all sizes and shapes to boost their self esteem without having to resort to surgery. These unhappy ladies are taken through an adventure of self searching with the aim of boosting their self esteem and enhancing their beauty.
On the other hand, the show “10 Years Younger” helps people look younger than their real age just like the name holds (Masley, p.51). Every single episode is usually an overwhelming moment of transformation and exploration. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to compare and contrast these two makeover television shows and analyze their similarities and differences in regard to how they handle issues of appearances, identity and transformation.
Appearances
Appearance and its effect on one’s self esteem are accepted as a fact in both shows. The two shows agree that feelings of insecurity about ones appearances can greatly affect who we really are. According to the show “How to Look Good Naked” the fact that we can never evade feelings about our appearances is greatly emphasized and that’s why Wan believes that the shows stylist takes insecure ladies through a journey of self realization (Yabsley, p.43).
Similarly, the show “10 Years Younger” also emphasizes the importance of one’s appearance. The most important thing about appearances here is that the older get to look younger on the “10 Years Younger” show and those with insecurities about their shapes and sizes get to accept who they really are in the “How to Look Good Naked Show”.
In the “How to Look Good Naked” show, the ladies are finally posted on a photo magazine and in the “10 Years Younger Show”, the ladies are invited to go inside a box (an LA display case) where strangers from the general public are asked to guess their age as well as critique the person’s general appearance. Their appearances are usually very amazing when one compares the looks of the participants before and after the makeover.
For over five years now, the “10 Years Younger” show has been reaching out to women who want and need to revitalize their general appearance and so does the “How to Look Good Naked Show”. With all these similarities in regard to emphasis on ones looks, it is hard to point out the differences on how the tow shows speak about appearance.
Nevertheless, with a closer look on the two shows and their emphasis on appearance, one cannot fail to notice a few differences. Firstly, the “10 Years Younger” simply accepts ones size and body shape thereby going for clothes and outfits that go along with the participant’s body size and shape. The ‘one size fits all’ principle is never applicable here.
Each person has a distinct physique and this is a principle well acknowledged in the “10 Years Younger” show. With this, whether a participant is slender, fleshy or sleek, the stylists always have something that goes along with their entire body size and shape. They chose clothes that fit the participants shape and size. It’s all about giving one a ten years younger appearance by modifying ones dress code, make up and general outlook (Oberbeil, p.37).
On the other hand, the “How to Look Good Naked” shows is all about boosting one’s self esteem in that whether one looks as fat as a pig or as slender as a needle, they get to accept themselves the way they are and even pose nude on a photograph photo. The participants are taken through a long journey of self realization and exploration where they get to themselves better and have confidence in whom they really are (How to Look Good Naked, p.16).
With this, a big difference between the two shows is observed. The “10 Years Younger” show can be said to be a physical appearance show while the “How to Look Good Naked” can be said to be a both physical and inner self appearance show. This is so because while the “10 Years Younger Show” puts much emphasis on making one look ten years younger by changing ones dress code, make up and general outlook.
The “How to Look Good Naked Show” begins by working on ones inner self; one’s self esteem which in turn is usually depicted on ones general physical outlook. The “How to Look Good Naked” shows transforms ones inner and outer appearance while the “10 Years Younger” show transforms ones outer appearance (Pinkney, p.28).
It can also be observed that the “How to Look Good Naked” show works from the inside to the outside in that the stylists get to work on a participants self esteem first which in turn gets to boost ones confidence about their physical appearance. In other words, the stylists first work on ones inner self appearance which in turn changes ones physical appearance.
On the other hand, the “10 Years Younger” show tends to work on ones physical appearance which in turn boosts one’s self esteem. In other words, they begin from the outside as contrasted to the “How to Look Good Naked” show which begins from the inside.
Transformation
You don’t need to be told that the participants in all these shows always leave the show completely transformed; you will notice the transformation by merely looking at the participants pictures before and after the makeover. There is no need to mention that the title “How to Look Good Naked” is very provocative, nevertheless, after a watching the show for only a few minutes, your perception about the title will completely be changed (Wan, p.33).
Whereas one would think it’s an obscene show that any parent would not encourage his/her kids to watch, on the contrary, it is the type of show that every parent should encourage every teenager to watch since teenagers experience a lot of hormonal and physical changes in their bodies and this is the right show to encourage them to watch since it eliminates feelings of inferiority complex and enables one to appreciate oneself and have confidence in their physical looks.
In the “How to Look Good Naked” show, the transformation process is based on self-acceptance and the message that you still can look beautiful without being perfect is very clear. The transformation process begins by teaching the women how to accept their beauty within by speaking positively to the women and encouraging them to think positively about their looks.
This doesn’t mean that the stylist is always positive even when he needs to be negative. Once a woman’s inner beauty is carefully moulded, the woman will automatically have self confidence in their physical appearance. The photographs of these women don’t necessarily look pornographic but they carefully relay women who are confident about their looks and love their appearances.
This is the sole essence of the show; to help women know their self-worth. In other words to transform women with insecurities about their bodies and suffering from inferiority complex to women who love the way they look and to women with high self esteem. Transformation in the show “10 Years Younger” is wholly based on the premise that a young look is always beautiful.
It is upon this vein that the show goes ahead to transform the looks of older women in society to a ten years younger look. Here, the fact that the “10 Years Younger” show emphasizes on making a person look younger (different from their original look) and the fact that the “How to Look Good Naked” show emphasizes body acceptance marks a big difference between the two shows.
In other words, in the show “How to Look Good Naked”, the message is you still can be beautiful the way you are, all you need to do is know yourself worth and accept your physical appearance. On the other hand, the message depicted in the show “10 Years Younger” is that the look matters and they go an extra mile in moulding your self esteem.
This show is based on the premise that a younger look can boost yourself worth. Thus, though they all tackle self esteem, they approach this from different angles and the result is wholesomely different. Thus, it can be said that it is better to have a feeling and thought of self worth than to look younger and still suffer from inferiority complex.
In other words, when transforming someone, one should first begin by working on the persons self esteem (inner self) because a persons with a high self esteem will always be confident about their general physique rather than begin by working on the physical appearance since there is no guarantee that a person’s inner self can be boosted by having a younger look.
Transformation should always begin from within, as portrayed in the “How to Look Younger Show” rather than starting from outside like portrayed in the “10 Years Younger” show. The initial step to boosting one’s self worth is self acceptance as relayed in the show “How to Look Good Naked” while the show “10 Years Younger” relays the message that the initial step to boosting your self esteem is modifying your physical appearance.
Identification
We determine our own self identity and no one can change yourself identity without your consent. Only you alone hold the key to yourself identity and this is the message preached through and through in the show “How to Look Good Naked”. Wan preaches this to the participants by engaging them in positive talks of self acceptance and accepting them the way they are by kissing them and hugging them.
However much Wan tries to boost the self esteem of these participants, the final decision is always left to the participant. A closer look on the show “10 Years Younger” relays a message controversial to these general norms. The show’s primary focus is making older women look younger and this doesn’t necessarily mean that a younger look will always boost participants self esteem and self worth.
A woman, who goes into the show and undergoes the shows processes of helping her look young, will still have inferiority complex if the public thinks she looks older after the transformation. What the show “How to look Good Naked” tries to emphasize is the fact that it’s not always about how you look but about how you perceive yourself. The way you perceive yourself has a lot to do with how you look.
Thus, though both shows have an element of self identification, the show “How to Look Good Naked” seems to accept that only the participant holds the key to their self identification while the show “10 Years Younger” seem to forget or rather outlook the fact that one’s self identity can never be framed through physical transformation.
Self identity is something usually ingrained in ones brain and no amount of physical transformation, such as having a tooth transplants, an eye lift, make up or even surgery can boost yourself identity if you do not know yourself worth (Fennell, p.17). The show “How to Look Good Naked” clearly emphasizes this truth. Wan, encourages and helps the participants to accept themselves the way they are and this in turn boosts their self confidence and self identification.
On the other hand, the show “10 Years Younger” seems to have a contrasting opinion since it gives their participants all sorts of physical transformation such as tooth transplants, eye lifts and skin toning and seem to forget that a physical look can never automatically change one’s self identity.
Hence, following the “How to Look Good Naked” show, a participant who enters the show with the personal perspective of being a fat and ugly failure leaves the show with the personal perspective of being a fat and beautiful success since Wan helps her to think positively and eliminate negative thoughts from their brains leaving them with positive thoughts that enable them to accept themselves and have high self esteems.
On the other hand, an old lady who enters the “10 Years Younger” show feeling very old and ugly leaves the show looking younger yet the feelings of being old and ugly still exist in the participants brain pretty much unabated since a mere facial and body enhancement rarely boosts one’s self esteem (Burns, p.56).
This clearly draws a big demarcation and difference between the two shows. Tough they both have the initial intention of boosting one’s self esteem, the process of doing so is different and this always determines the outcome. The “How to Look Good Naked” show, relays that yourself identity is determined by your mentality and the “10 Years Younger” show relays the message that yourself identity is determined by your physical appearance.
Well, with all this comparative and contrastive opinions about self identity as relayed from the two shows, it is of crucial importance to emphasize that nature of who we really are is determined by how we see ourselves. Attitude is the antidote to our successes and failures and our general acceptance in the public.
If you see yourself as a failure, you will always be a failure and if you see yourself as a raving success, you will always succeed in the things you endeavour to do in life. The same applies to our looks. Self acceptance means that however much another person thinks you are ugly, you still see yourself as a beautiful being. This is yourself identity (Branden, p.33).
Conclusion
Granted, many of us see photos of people on magazines and reality television shows and get to think that we are imperfect. More so, there are many of us who were prompted to working out, taking pills or even changing their diets just because of a particular television program or a photo in a magazine.
The truths are none of these people in the shows and in the magazines are perfect and the good news is you still can look beautiful without necessarily being perfect. The very first step you need to take is accept yourself the way you are and this will do you a lot of good in boosting your confidence and your self esteem.
The reality is, self esteem is intangible, yet it affects your thoughts and feelings, it is invisible, but you will see it every time you look at your image in your mirror, it is inaudible yet, and you will hear it every time you got to talk about self matters. With all this said, it is clear that self esteem is as important in our lives just like food and water are too important things we can’t live without. Whether it is the “How to Look Good Naked” show or that boosts your self esteem the “10 Years Younger” show, the most important thing is, something needs to be done to boost yourself worth.
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