Opinion

If only I looked different

Just for ratings or disturbing social comment?

By Nate Katz

Posted on March 29, 2004, at 12:00 a.m.

I don’t have cable TV, and sometimes I lament over it, but there are those certain events and shows out there that make my life noticeably worse for not having seen. Then there are the shows that make me thank God I don’t have cable.

The other day I was at a friend’s place who happened to have cable, and I was doing my, “watch as much TV to catch up on pop culture as I can” thing. I think we all know MTV is where the kids come for fresh stuff, so I locked in to soak up my learning. Typical 20 minutes: Kanye West ft. Twista, Usher, really long commercial break, back to Kanye West Twista and Jamie Fox, Usher and Lil’ John, cut to another commercial break. Apparently the kids like marketing more than their music videos these days, or MTV can just do whatever the hell it wants – could be either.

This commercial break seemed like a good chance to check out what else was happening in the world. Maybe I could check out ET on VH1 to find out which celebrities are dating each other, or possibly E! Entertainment Television to play voyeur to celebrity cat fights and public drunkenness as caught by the horrible paparazzi. Thank god I didn’t change the channel though. I might have missed something so spectacular. This routine began to obsess me.

MTV has a new show, called “I Want A Famous Face.” That’s right, it’s a show about normal people with nothing but their boring lives who have plastic surgery to look like the stars. I thought MTV had pretty much dragged the bottom already with shows like: “Rich Girls,” “Newlyweds,” “‘Til Death Do Us Part,” “Sorority Life,” and “Fraternity Life,” but apparently there is still a market for public degradation.

Now let’s be clear, the show in question is driven by looks, ugly insecurities for self-confidence, but this show is about more than appearances. Every person wants to look like J-Lo or Brittany – I think they have the “look like me” market cornered. This trend, however, is not just about looks, it’s about attitude. The tag line from the commercial I saw went something like this: “I want to look like her ’cause all the boys fantasize about her, and I think that would be pretty cool, having every guy thinking about me.” Great, kill your mother now. “Mom, all the boys want to do me, or at least think about me while they masturbate.”

Have we become a society where watching a misled young girl get surgery to look like an almost washed up pop star has become okay? Doesn’t she realize that there will be no market for Brittany look-a-likes in five years? But seriously, it’s fairly sickening to watch a show, and I did, about someone who thinks that looking like some famous person is going to make her life better. The attitude is disheartening. Something even worse than the attitude, however, is that a family network – let’s be honest, the whole family is watching MTV these days – would air such a disgusting show. I’m not that old, but I still remember the days when music television was MTV. Or at least some incarnation of it. I certainly didn’t sign up for my rock and roll rebel network to be some clearinghouse for degrading schlock. Can I get a camera crew to follow me? “I Want a Lobotomy.”

I guess it’s just a sign that I’m old and over the hill. I used to take pleasure in watching people demean themselves publicly, see: “Real World,” “Fanatic,” “The Jenny McCarthy Show,” local sports talk shows. My heart just isn’t in it anymore. It must be me and not the TV industry. They’re going forward. I’m going nowhere. Wait, maybe if I looked like Colin Farrell my life would be going somewhere. That’s it, I’ll have surgery to look like my hero. And the cycle perpetuates itself.

Nate Katz is a junior journalism major.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2004, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.