For more than a century, the myth of California has held that it is a land of plenty, the ever-desired fountain of youth, and the home of the brilliant, the beautiful, and the blessed. Blond hair, suntans, and eternally young, fit bodies grace every inch of it, and lifestyles there are characterized by nothing if not fun and relaxation. In truth, however, California is as full of middle-aged housewives, the grossly out of shape, and the pallid-skinned office worker as any other American state.
Because the cost of living is so high, people find it just as necessary, if not more so, to work as hard as they can just to make ends meet and, for many, the suntans, if present, are fake because the beaches have all been privatized or so crowded that finding sand is like finding a bum on Rodeo Drive. So how did California come to have the reputation it does for the youthful, slim, beautiful, and fabulously wealthy, and, more importantly, what kind of effect has this had on the rest of the country? A large part of their fame is due in large part to the development of Hollywood and the products it produces which in turn have fostered a nationwide fascination and fixation upon the need to remain young and beautiful regardless of the ultimate price.
Hollywood has made a science out of portraying the female figure to a standardized ideal rather than a true rendition. As a result, society has grown up believing that the true worth of a woman lies not in her intellect or her talents, but instead in her appearance alone. We still have numerous pop culture stars out there like Paris Hilton and her bunch, which seem to think being an object talked about is better than being a human making a difference.
These empty-headed material-culture superstars have achieved their fame based solely on their beautiful bodies and extreme spending habits, fostering the California myth and reinforcing these culturally ingrained stereotypes. The idea of the ‘Barbie complex’ is not new, but the importance placed on being blonde, slim, and young has created a culture that is inordinately focused upon appearance to the great detriment of most of its members.
Numerous studies have been conducted that link aspects of the appearance culture, grown directly out of the messages sent by Hollywood, with increased rates of eating disorders, negative self-image, and peer acceptance among adolescents. In a book discussing the unique issues faced by overweight children, Dr. Sylvia Rimm (2004) discusses several of the reasons why children who enter school slightly overweight often find it impossible to overcome this deficit thanks to modern society’s focus on outward appearance.
This cycle sees the child increasingly gaining weight as a result of the emotional turmoil that occurs as other children begin to make fun of them or as they perceive themselves not being able to keep up with other children on the sports field and not measuring up to the expected ideals. More than just focusing on appearance, these children begin seeing themselves as somehow less than average-weight children in every way, severely negating any true worth they may have in other areas of life. Many adults reinforce these beliefs with the idea that an overweight child must be lazy and not as bright as other children, further placing restrictions on them based merely upon their appearance (Rimm, 2004).
Adults also reinforce the idea that beauty is everything as evidenced in the proliferation of plastic surgery centers offering every type of physically ‘enhancing’ procedure. The superstar status of such vacuous identities as Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears has sent many adolescents into these centers as well. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Plastic Surgery Research, 2006), the number of people seeking plastic surgery to ‘improve’ their appearance continued to rise as of 2005 with increasing acceptance of such procedures expected to continue rising well into the future.
“The Aesthetic Society which has been collecting multi-specialty procedural statistics since 1997 says the overall number of cosmetic procedures has increased 444 percent since the collection of the statistics first began” (Plastic Surgery Research, 2006).
A regional distribution chart offered by this agency suggests that 534,109 people in the Pacific and Mountain regions, the smallest increment such statistics are found in, sought cosmetic surgical procedures while another 2,552,617 people went in for minimally invasive surgeries in the same region in 2006 (ASAPS, 2006). This exceeded every other area of the country by far with the exception of the Eastern and Middle Eastern regions.
The Pacific was well ahead of the Eastern in minimally invasive surgeries but was well behind the Eastern region in terms of cosmetic surgeries. The most popular procedures in 2005 were liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, and abdominoplasty (Plastic Surgery Research, 2006).
However, there are arguments that indicate the focus on outward appearance is an unavoidable and even necessary aspect of life that has nothing to do with Hollywood and the California myth. From our earliest history, it has been through our outward appearances that we project who and what we are to other people. Studies have continuously shown that people dress a certain way and acquire certain things to try to evince an attitude of belonging to a particular subset of individuals who embody their ideals (Gilman, 1999).
Studies conducted by Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Dacher Keltner have revealed that people most often make snap judgments about the people they meet without even thinking about it that can often prove to be quite accurate (Walker, 2006). However, these judgments are based largely upon what we have been taught to value and Hollywood has continuously taught us to value those ideals represented in the California myth – be young, be fit, be tanned, be beautiful, be blond, be rich, and be carefree.
The only way to adequately combat the flawed associations that have developed in our modern culture regarding the importance of fitting into a stereotyped ‘Barbie doll’ type image is through alterations of the images presented by Hollywood that have so skillfully skewed our sense of worth in its dangerous direction. To some extent, this change has been implemented in films such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy in which none of the women wear makeup and concentration on achieving the ideal form is neglected or incidental.
Another example can be found in the film Bridget Jones’ Diary in which the actress playing the heroine purposefully gained weight as a means of presenting her character as a type of anti-glamour figure. However, many more films that focus on the inner worth of an individual are necessary as is a general shift in other media attention from one that focuses upon Hollywood scandals and glamour girls to one that focuses on inner strengths, humanitarian involvement, or other more worthy subjects than simple outward appearance.
Works Cited
American Society of Plastic Surgeons. “206 Regional Distribution Cosmetic Procedures.” American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (2006). Web.
Gilman, Sander L. Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. Princeton University Press, 1999.
Plastic Surgery Research. “2005 ASAPS News Release.” Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Research. (2006). Web.
Rimm, Sylvia. Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children. New York: St Martin’s Press, 2004.
Walker, Suzanne. “The Power of the Glance.” (2006). Auspac Media. Web.