Too Much of a Good Thing – Freak Show
September 30th, 2009
There used to be over 100 freak shows touring with fairs and circuses across America. For P.T. Barnum, it was big business.
http://freaks.monstrous.com/freak_show.html describes the history of the freak show exhibition and features an unusual poem in which it the so eloquently described by Wordsworth:
“All moveables of wonder, from all parts,
Are here–Albinos, painted Indians, Dwarfs,
The Horse of knowledge, and the learned Pig,
The Stone-eater, the man that swallows fire,
Giants, Ventriloquists, the Invisible Girl,
The Bust that speaks and moves its goggling eyes,
The Wax-work, Clock-work, all the marvellous craft
Of modern Merlins, Wild Beasts, Puppet-shows,
All out-o’-the-way, far-fetched, perverted things,
All freaks of nature, all Promethean thoughts
Of man, his dulness, madness, and their feats
All jumbled up together, to compose
A Parliament of Monsters. Tents and Booths
Meanwhile, as if the whole were one vast mill,
Are vomiting, receiving on all sides,
Men, Women, three-years’ Children, Babes in arms.”
The freak show or side show used to be one of the main attractions at county fairs and circuses across America. People would flock to all manner of human and animal oddities. These freaks of nature perhaps underscored awareness for the “normal” observers to be more mindful and thankful for their good health and normal physical form. With the advent of political correctness and realization of human exploitation, freak shows had all but disappeared from our culture by the 1970’s.
Or have they? The clamor to see and often times, even pay to see personalities who have had excessive cosmetic surgery and/or body modification. I believe this represents a persistent desire to see such oddities. Pop culture and mass media obsesses with who has had what and what the result looks like. Photos of celebrities snapped right after cosmetic surgery fetch handsome rewards for the press. When I would see the late Michael Jackson, I would try to examine his face just trying to figure out what else he had done. It is culturally acceptable for us to look at physical oddities when people have done it on their own accord. Think back to Britney Spears shaving her head in a Los Angeles salon. Is this really news?
The popularity of reality television is also part of this trend. We seem to have an attraction to see physical distortion and bizarre human interactions, we watch and we wait for the emotional train wreck.
We have traded the freaks of nature for the freaks created and celebrated by the media. There has been a distinct move toward commodification of celebrity. However, today nobody is standing outside the tent selling tickets in exchange for a peek!
Over Plumping
May 5th, 2009
Foster Farms vintage ad campaign for their chicken products uses a parody of over-plumping with artificial fillers. In their television commercial, chickens are seen in a plastic surgeon’s office receiving injections to make them plumper. It is quite obvious that they are way too plump.This situation is underscored by the distorted facial appearance of the surgeon’s nurse when she finally reveals her face to the camera. This crazy parody pokes fun at the sometimes over-zealous use of fillers in Hollywood.
I see over-plumping all the time, especially in the lips. The individuals, usually women, lose all of their natural lip shape. The over-injection usually masks all natural proportion. The television commercial effectively uses this phenomenon for optimum comedic effect. However, I agree with the tagline, “over-plumping” is never good.
A word of caution, the over-injection of any area of the body can lead to skin loss and terrible, uncorrectable scarring. The large volume of material simply reduces the blood flow to the treated area in such a way that the skin, muscle and fat die. Fortunately, this complication is very rare when only modest amounts of filler materials are used.
Finally, please avoid all silicone injections for cosmetic reasons. The risk of chronic long term inflammation which arises is not worth it. Fat Grafting is a natural technique used more commonly now for facial rejuvenation and avoids the use of artificial fillers. See more on fat grafting injections.
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