Here in the body-obsessed ‘Matrix,’ we're all more self-conscious than ever
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Helen A.S. Popkin |
It’s not the idea that the “reality” humankind perceives is actually an illusion created by intelligent machines as a means to keep us in a docile state of suspended animation while our bodies are harvested as a power source.
Nor does the beautiful man oft described as “our least talented A-list actor,” portraying humanity’s savior, prevent me from suspending the required disbelief.
This is what drives me nuts. If in the “Matrix,” as in the virtual community “Second Life,” you can dictate the appearance of your online representation, or “avatar,” then why oh why does Morpheus choose to be … um … well … speaking colloquially … fat.
“Fat basher!” is the immediate response from Ree, my colleague in late night nerd proselytizing, whenever I start up this conversation. “Plus, he’s hardly ‘fat!’”
Ree (who takes pride in making her Wii Miis conform to the American body norm) is right. Morpheus (as portrayed by the iconic Laurence Fishburne) is probably within the high end of his BMI … but he sure ain’t Cowboy Curtis. And in a reality where you could look like Keanu Reeves … why don’t you? Why doesn't everyone? Men, women, tiny babies … everyone.
That is my big “Matrix” disconnect. In the Internet age with its endless playground for reinvention and resources for human understanding, it’s painfully clear just how hung up we are on appearances. Even in a world — heck, especially in a world — where computers control our illusions, nobody wants to feel like — let alone be seen as — anything less than an “8.” The deluge of cyberspace images and social cues is making us more self conscious than ever.
Take, for example, the popularity of sites that post before-and-after photos of airbrushed celebrities, such as this entry on the online community crazyGossip. Even more disturbing, there’s the before and after photos on such sites as AwfulPlastic Surgery.com.
These are the Internet age versions of “Stars without makeup!” once the province of gossip rags. With the Internet, however, we don’t have to wait until we hit the supermarket checkout to ponder these sights. We get a 24/7 barrage from our friends e-mailing the nasty little links, along with their comments and criticisms.
We non-famous people whose jobs don’t revolve around our looks (flame author here) don’t need to page Dr. Freud to understand we obsess on these sites to feel better about ourselves. When we unilaterally agree that a size 2 Jennifer Love Hewitt is a pig, including JLH who publicly announced her recent 18-pound weight loss, it’s fairly obvious.
A recent entry in Salon.com’s must-read feminist blog Broadsheet both called out and complimented Alessandra Stanley's New York Times story on weight-loss reality TV shows. The blog writer, body-acceptance activist Kate Harding, praised Stanley for acknowledging that "against a loop of talk shows and made-for-TV dramas about eating disorders, Americans are goaded into ever more drastic and extreme expectations of physical perfection."
Earlier in the piece, however, Harding criticizes Stanley’s seemingly incongruous statement that programs such as “The Biggest Loser” feed complacency in viewers, in part by creating an illusion that the arduous road to weight loss is no biggie. Harding writes, “How does being inspired to diet represent ‘complacency’ about one's (or one's kid's) fatness again?”
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