An Ugly Swan?
Tonight aired the final episode of the german version of cosmetic surgery reality soap “the swan”. The show’s concept is imported from the fox series of the same name, just as everything else on german television is a two-years-late rip-off of us shows these days. Basically you only have to follow us television trends to find out what will air around here in 06-07.
But i digress - the show “the swan” takes the conventional approach of casting people with low self-esteem who want a full-on surgical makeover paid for by the station and adds the even more stale concept of getting people to call a premium number and vote for their favorite bodymod. Basically they take a bunch of women with little self-confidence, boost them with the help of plastic surgeons and psychologists and then break them again, except for the one lucky winner. I personally have no objections to the surgery part of the show, but don’t like the following beauty pageant.
The docs did a pretty impressive job, with lots of liposuctions, tummy tucks and facelifts involved. I guess half of the before/after effect was made up by crappy before-shots and great make-up work for the after-shots, but nonetheless, the results of the surgeries were quite impressive.
What really struck me while watching the show was the reaction of my parents. Ten years ago they wouldn’t have watched such an abasing show, but tonight they just dropped an occasional snide comment. This notion of cynicism taking the place of outright anger and criticism has been brought up a lot lately, but seeing my parents as an example for it felt somewhat disheartening…