As we
grow past the age of early adulthood, we are normally seen as less attractive.
Wrinkles, fine lines, and bags suddenly become an issue that we have to
prevent. You turn on the television and an Olay commercial plays with a forty-year
old woman and smooth, clear skin. The verdict is clear that nobody wants to
become older, and companies bank off that insecurity.
In Brave New World, signs of aging are
rarely seen. When Linda appears before a crowd of New World citizens, they are
in awe of her “bloated, sagging” body and see her as a “terrifying monster of
agedness” (150). Aging seems as grotesque as eating steaming hot garbage from
your neighbor’s dumpster. It’s a clear indication that their technological
advancements and sexual entertainment have led them to reject virtually all forms
of nature. Natural aging, natural reproduction. This idea of aging could easily
be compared to modern day society.
According to the American Society
of Plastic Surgeons, over seven million Botox injections were received in 2016
alone. That is a 797% increase from 2000. As we progress into the future, it
seems that this percentage will only increase according to the trend. 2015 to 2016
saw a 4% increase. That is roughly 300,000 more injections. There is much more
of a fixation on appearance and youth than ever before.
When reading Brave New World, their reaction to Linda seems ridiculous but
simply picking up a magazine from the grocery store and reading the title
demonstrates a parallel to those same exaggerated characters. From headlines
stating “Brad Pitt, Old, Fat, and Divorced” to internet articles labeled “Taylor
Lautner, What Happened to your Abs from 2008”, it’s easy to draw comparisons to
the citizens in the novel. Brave New
World is fictional, but it’s beginning to translate further into our
reality.
https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/News/Statistics/2016/plastic-surgery-statistics-full-report-2016.pdf
I looked at your link, Statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgery, and saw that the most common cosmetic surgical procedure is for breast augmentations. As I looked further into these statistics, I found that woman have more plastic surgeries than men, woman at 92 percent of all plastic surgeries and men at only 8 percent. Another similarity in this novel is that they mainly judged the appearance of Linda, a woman. Your well written post made me realize that our society is more similar to Brave New World than I thought.
ReplyDeleteB'elanna, you made an interesting point. The novel's representation of how women are treated is exaggerated yet some aspects of it could be applied to reality. As you stated, Women do seem to be expected to take care of their appearance more than men. Anti-aging creams are advertised to women. Slim Fast and other dieting products are directed at women. Thank you for adding this as it adds to the idea that Brave New World's society is vaguely similar to our own.
DeleteI, for one, think that this is really sad. The fact the people are insecure about their wrinkles and other things you get when you get older. It's a reality that you don't say young forever, but you're only as old as you feel. Way back when there wasn't liposuction and plastic surgery, we came to terms with our old age. I feel that people should stop staying and yearning for the past, and embrace their wrinkly, old selves.
ReplyDeleteThis fear of age comes from the fear of not being accepted in society. I believe that people should embrace age because it is a natural part of experiencing life. When people try to prevent aging, they are attempting to escape reality. In reality, there is no cream or surgery that will truly get rid of aging. Often times these products have negative long term effects and cause you to eventually look much worse than someone who has allowed themselves to age naturally. Most of the time, it is easy to tell someone who is old and has received plastic surgery to look younger apart from someone who is actually younger. I believe that the society's obsession with defying age is a waste of time because nothing is more rewarding than experiencing life in its entirety.
ReplyDelete