I dunno…
Every time I am in an AMC theater they do a bit with Kidman promoting movies. She’s not ugly but just not quite right. Maybe it is an uncanny valley thing. It’s small, it’s subtle, but it is just enough to make her seem…creepy to me.
I would agree. Like I just watched her in The Northman and I couldn’t tell if they CGI’ed Nicole Kidman to look older or younger (or both) for various scenes.
Yes, and the neck. The face is stretched tight as a drum, but right under the jawline it’s all loose and wrinkly. Dead giveaway. Clothing can hide the neck, but the hands will give it away.
I don’t fault actors having plastic or cosmetic surgery. Their appearance is a huge part of their career success and they want to maintain their brand identity. That’s understandable. I feel sorry when it becomes an addiction for some and when the surgical outcomes are horrendous. We laugh, but it must be devastating for them.
At my age, I no longer fret about my appearance. As a mid-sexagenarian, I’m no longer trying to attract a mate and I’m not old enough looking to get the benefits really old folks receive—people feeling sorry for me, helping me cross the street, bringing me goodies to eat…etc. I’m at that age where I just blend into the background and that’s boring.
So, I’m saving up for surgery to turn forward the clock. More wrinkles, droopy appendages, cataract-hazed eyes, missing teeth, fewer hair follicles on my scalp, and more follicles on my ears and in my nose. I want to look like an old geezer. Bring me food young’uns!
I saw an article a few months ago about Simon Cowell that made it sound like he had ruined himself with plastic surgery.
I have seen him in interviews and on TV. Uh, he looks much better? I know he cut all sugar and lost weight, but whatever he did to his face looks fine. Not extreme, just fine.
I always wonder if when they look in the mirror if they’re really happy with what they see and think they actually look good. How many of them think - why did I do it?
This kind of plastic surgery is interesting, because it’s not about extending youth, or even middle age- except perhaps at the very beginning. It’s about avoiding the appearance of age, or at least replacing it with something else. So long as the typical grey hair and wrinkles of normal aging are avoided, they are willing to accept the unnatural look.
It’s not about looking young, or even looking good. It’s about not looking like an ordinary old person. It succeeds at that, at a high cost.
I am sure it depends on the person. Some are probably unhappy with the new mess and others are fine with it.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a real thing (e.g. this is how anorexic people can perceive themself as fat when they are anything but). So, while the results of the surgery may not be ideal the person feels that some real or imagined flaw was corrected and it is an overall improvement. Then they see the next flaw (real or imagined) and want that fixed. And so it goes and they become a mess yet to them it is all an improvement.
The end result of plastic surgery to overcome facial features considered ugly and/or revelatory of aging shouldn’t be making you look like you’re made of plastic.