Frankly it's Frankenstein

Today the agenda is a continuation of the 'aesthetic cosmetic' theme, with less of a tangerine twist than my last colorful contribution. For this entry, let us say, I prefer to refer to the potential consequences of the face and body-perfect obsession of the familial now. Observations would suggest that from the extensive multi-media to the everyday salon trip, we are fast becoming consumed by the joker-smiling, snipped and trimmed superficial age. The plump injected lips spouting the 'perfected pout' is today a given. Alas,the botox-brow frozen to an infinite state of surprise is a common place must have. We may now purchase wrinkle smoothers, fillers and all manner of facial grouting tools to rebuild, reconstruct and erase, for now, the unthinkable suggestion of age. One questions, in all this beautifying madness, who the very being may be that hides, resides and masquerades behind the man-made sutured walls of such a mask. The deceivingly perfect exterior of such a face, hence, a product of a society that evaluates much these days on face value, continues to partake in the unreliable and somewhat disjointed painful race to achieve the youngest look.

So to question this miraculous youth fluid extraordinaire i.e snake venom, (which, for those of you who do not know is the ace-base of Botox). Surely this frightful 'tox-in face' (or otherwise paralysis inducer), is a tad unreliable as a cosmetic procedure. Further, to staple one's brows and wear a look emulous of a 'Ronald McDonaldesque' arch is positively none other than a very dubious suggestive look of happy.

Of course, amidst many of the questions we should not ask, lurks the burning desire to know how the rest of the body 'fits' in? With an ever-youthful fixed face what is to become of the 'failing to comply neck' propping up the plastic happy smile? What of the aged parts of covered flesh suffering the gravitational pull? The once pert body mode passing over to the other side can surely not be patched up with all of the artifice above? If so this sounds frightfully expensive.

A good friend of mine echoed a similar viewpoint in relation to the ambivalent advantages of beauty, plasticity and the body. For example, should you happen, perchance to find yourself stumbling googly-eyed towards a display of aesthetic cosmetic appeal; say the poutier pout, the surgeon-smoothe face , the ample chest, the generally younger looking Type, how do you respond when not just the clothing drops in the bedroom? Does Mary Shelley's Frankenstein sound familiar I wonder...and yes whether woman/man has, once again, made a monster? One arguably may recognize the faint undertones of similar issues raised by Victor at the beginning of chapter 5 in Shelley's novel as he abhors/ observes his creation:

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate this wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I endeavoured to form? [...] limbs were in proportion, and I had selected [...] features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! [The] hair was of lustrous black, and flowing; [...] teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with [...] watery eyes [...] and straight black lips".