Make Me Young: Youth Knows No Pain

Documentary

Cinema Libre

R4 DVD

“Who wants to lose what you used to have?”

This disturbing documentary deals with the anti-ageing industry in the United States. It has always been taken for granted that we will all eventually die, at least in this world, and we are urged to “age gracefully”. The anti-ageing industry is making a lot of money by trying to convince us that we may be getting older but we don’t have to look like it.

Plastic surgery has been the most common method. Michelle, the narrator, discusses her dad’s change to plastic surgery after Vietnam – he was sick of patching up injured men and trying to reconstruct their shattered bodies. When he left the Army he wanted a profession where he didn’t have to watch people die. In spite of his career choice Michelle has remained almost completely “natural” and her father never commented about her looks apart from the occasional compliment. She has skirted around the edge of the area but has not become obsessive about it. Less than 50% of graduating doctors now enter the primary health care field. The money is in cosmetic surgery, dermatology treatments and other pseudomedical procedures unconnected with internal medicine. Note that plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery are not necessarily the same. Plastic surgery is a way to correct defects, cosmetic surgery is voluntary alterations to the body to improve appearance.

Plastic surgery has a valuable role in correcting birth defects or accident injuries but it is most often now applied for cosmetic reasons – trying to hold off the effects of ageing and to correct perceived (whether real or not) faults as your body shows is age. These are more to do with ego than medical need but the documentary only touches briefly on ego problems. In some cases you must look “young” to keep a job – it is a matter of your employer’s perceptions.

We see Erica Rose, a Playboy model and daughter of a plastic surgeon. The female Playboy makeup artist, herself rather obviously enhanced, says Erica’s father has “augmentated many of our girls …” her surgery did a lot for her breasts but not much for her English. Erica herself seems happy with her natural body and observes that

“A lot of people think because you’re the daughter of a plastic surgeon you’re completely fake”.

The cosmetics industry has replaced surgery as the major money earner in the anti-ageing field. Gullible people are willing to pay high prices for fairly ordinary products with unproven effects. No matter how scientific they sound none are documented scientifically so all sorts of wild claims can be made. Some manufacturers admit their products may have little practical value, but if it makes you feel good, where’s the negative? To your wallet, perhaps? The cosmetic industry has tried to dignify their work by talking about “the Anti-Ageing Movement”.

“Most consumers are concerned by the question “What should I buy?”” How about “None of them”?

“My fantasy is to go to L.A. and get a big tub of Crisco (solidified cooking oil) and put it into little bottles and rent an apartment in the Valley and then go into Hollywood and tell one agent there’s this guy in the valley who makes this incredible cream out of aardvark’s testicles” – Simon Doonan, who wants to grow old disgracefully.

“What I see out there in the stores is these increasingly “cosmeceuticals”, completely unregulated. “ Cosmeceutical is an invented term that implies some sort of medical grade or ability but requires no proof or FDA testing or surgery. One lady points out that you can rub peptides on your skin at $550 a bottle. It’s supposed to act like Botox, but even Botox doesn’t work like Botox when just rubbed on the skin.

New methods are appearing, mostly pure quackery. There is Skin Resurfacing, and electrostatic charging of cosmetics – so-called “galvanic creams” for wrinkle removal. Applications of “negative” then “positively charged” cosmetics are charged up by an ioniser that will naturally, reverse the effects of ageing. .

The reasons for the paranoia about ageing are many and often fatuous. We meet a girl who is afraid to smile too much because it may emphasise her wrinkles – she is just in her 20s. Drinking from water bottles and through straws is also blamed for wrinkles around the mouth – there is absolutely no proof of any of these “causes”. In younger girls surgery may be used to ease an unjustified perception that they are ageing quickly when they see their first real or imagined wrinkle. What used to be called “laugh lines” are now a major cosmetic disaster and must be corrected at a high cost. Among younger people the reasons seem to fall into two areas – low self-esteem often aroused by media propaganda of what the “ideal” girl should look like, and concern that their unattractiveness may cause future loneliness. “Being alone” is by far the most common reason given by young girls, since they perceive it will be harder to restart their life at 40 after a divorce if they don’t look younger

There is hope. One plastic surgeon commented on the smaller number of 20-year-olds he was seeing now – most of his clients are older women trying to recapture their twenties. From the examples in the documentary it doesn’t work. No matter how much cosmetic surgery, a forty year old woman still looks like a forty year old. Some surgery results shown are just incongruous on an ageing body – it gives a bony, haggard look. No matter how much you pretend, you are still getting older and you look it.

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Cosmetic surgery and pseudomedical treatments are increasingly spreading into the male population as well. “Jack” is proud of his cosmetically modified similarity to actor Jack Nicholson. He is proud of being told he looks like “Jack”. He attracts paparazzi attention and seems to enjoy it. He also finds it attracts women. “Jack” is a rather sad case who needs to borrow another more successful identity to succeed.

The magic word is currently Botox. There are even Botox support groups although the one we see in the documentary is run by a doctor who finds more money in Botox injections than in conventional medicine. The support group looks more like a marketing group for prospective customers. Incidentally anyone with a medical degree can administer Botox. While the doctor was administering a Botox injection he was also training a dentist who wanted more cash flow for his business.

Men are taking injections as well, but they are more likely to take hair transplant surgery. Gary traces his obsession with surgery back to being a fat kid at school. He still appears to have a self-image problem.

Dermatologists have also moved into the plastic surgery area with non-surgical procedures like collagen injections to pad out wrinkles. Some now specialise in this area and call themselves Cosmetic Dermatologists.

“I like to be around people who think enough of themselves to look attractive” – Cosmetic Dermatologist.

The porn industry has its own obsessions with “young” skin and overlarge breasts - “that 80s porno chic” as Simon Doonan expresses it. A porn actress will use the full range of surgery and dermatology options, to the point that she looks like a distorted caricature of a fantasy woman. Fantasy is what porn is about, after all. Nevertheless with enough exaggeration of the features you can still get a porn job trgardless of how unnatural you look. You usually won’t get the job with the body you were born with.

There are surgery addicts. It may not make them look any younger but they feel happier. Sherry, a friend of Michelle’s, is an addict. She has tried just about every enlargement, skin treatment and surgery on the market. She is roughly Michelle’s age but looks much older, fatter and frankly less attractive than the more natural Michelle. Her husband, however, is supportive of his wife’s obsession. Shelley’s biggest concern, she says, is that one day she won’t have enough money to “keep looking young”.

The attitude of these people to those who are happy with their bodies is odd. There is a belief that there is something wrong with you because you don’t want to look attractive (in their enhanced style). The anti-agers regard themselves as normal and the rest of the world as unattractive. “If you never had any looks at all,what are you losing? The younger girls, we gotta help ‘em somehow” - Sherry

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