Can television anoint the next supermodel?
I always promise myself that I will not get suckered into ‘America’s Next Top Model’ when a new cycle begins. I say I won’t watch ‘Canada’s Next Top Model’, ‘Make me a Supermodel’, ‘True Beauty’ or any other modeling contest. And yet I find myself glued to the television, hopelessly addicted to all of the above, every time.
How can I resist? Beautiful people, designer clothes, death-defying photo shoots, dramatic modeling contests are the best escape. I sigh enviously as the girls settle in for their three-hour hair and makeup sessions, reflecting on my own daily routine of pulling my hair into a ponytail and slipping on some lip balm. I imagine ten kilos less and twenty years younger. I imagine myself hanging from a crane in an evening gown while a photographer yells at me that I’m fabulous. It’s surprisingly easy to get lost in these fantasies while sitting on the couch in sweatpants eating chocolate and watching modeling pageants on TV.
The fun thing about a modeling contest like ‘America’s Next Top Model’ is that the winner is, well, not America’s Next Top Model. I read a lot of fashion magazines and watch FT and have never seen any of these girls anywhere else after the end credits of the show. And yet, season after season, hopefuls pose, scream, and fight to the death for a title that is actually meaningless. Such is the appeal of the model lifestyle. Everyone wants to jet-set around the world, marry a rock star, and be interviewed on Oprah. Each eliminated contestant confesses in a flood of tears that their dream of hers is over, even though they still look the same as they did before the show started (aside from a generally egregious makeover). I guess even the most beautiful among us need validation from a camera click, or Tyra Banks.
I’m not judging. Our society values beauty above all else and rewards the most beautiful with money, fame, and adulation. We love admiring beautiful people. They represent health, wealth, happiness and success. Their glowing faces sell us products and services that we hope will improve our own lives. We’re all on it, no one is being fooled. I know the shampoo I buy won’t make my hair look like the Rapunzel-style hair in the ad, but I still feel like I have to give it a try.
We understand that perfection is an illusion, and that seems to explain why TV modeling contests are so popular. We as viewers are part of the angst behind the beauty and see the doubt behind the confidence. It’s the glimpse behind the curtain that reminds us that even the most genetically damaged are humans with problems and insecurities. And ironically, that makes the models even more beautiful for us.