"I feel very plastic" - Heidi Montag

I was looking for a link to the trailer for the Lovely Bones, a movie that premiered this week, and I ended up on people.com, the website of People magazine. There was an article about a girl I knew from a television show one of my friends from home used to watch, the Hills. The article said she had had plastic surgery, which wasn't really interesting. However, the girl under her name, Heidi Montag, looked nothing like the person I knew from the Hills. While not an avid fan, I had watched enough episodes to know that, she had indeed, had plastic surgery. In fact, Montag had 10 surgeries in one day, leading to a near death experience with Demerol. The story fascinated me, as I had never seen someone so changed by plastic surgery. People like Joan Rivers have had plastic surgery but I was not at the age to notice a change in her. When I became a teenager she had already gone under the knife. Montag was the first celebrity I was familiar with to change the way they looked so clearly. I googled "Heidi Montag interviews," hoping to find some commentary on why she had had the surgeries. I understand plastic surgery and the motivations behind it, my mom is a cosmetic surgeon, but I've never known someone to get 10 surgeries in one day. Montag received botox, at age 23, had her eyebrows lifted, had fat from her legs put in her cheeks and lips, and butt and breast implants. Before she was a thin, blonde, pretty 23 year old, who seemed to have no need for plastic surgery. I watched the video of the interview she gave to Access Hollywood.

Montag had many reasons for having the surgeries, and apparently didn't regret them. She cited paparazzi and gossip blogs for motivation for doing the surgery, as they had criticized the size of her chin. She also had her ears surgically pinned back, as she thought that they had stuck out too much before and she couldn't wear her hair up on the red carpet.

I'm interested to explore the many different ways the media shapes this ideal woman or even 23 year old girl. Montag had parts of her back bone and muscle taken off, in order to have a curvier "bombshell look." That surgery itself is beyond extreme and coupled with nine more must have stemmed from something she thought was seriously wrong with her and sparked her to move towards something supposedly better. I've looked around blogs speaking of her change, and have been particularly surprised by the way others on her show have responded. They've criticized her for getting too much done and setting the wrong example for young girls. The Hills show is one of the most ridiculous reality television shows, as it makes the lives these college age students lead seem realistic. All of the girls on the show work at various magazines and companies in Los Angeles. They've lived together on and off through the seasons and their "friendships" have erupted in giant posed fights on air. They shop on the daily, date tons of people, party almost every night, and generally make it seem as though they're normal girls trying to make it in the real world. Montag's surgeries cost 30, 000 dollars. She apparently has been paid generously on the Hills, and it's ridiculous to say that these girls are normal. By just living their lives or the staged versions, they make a very decent living. Shows like these definitely affect the image of the perfect woman, as not one of the girls on the show is overweight in the slightest. None of them have acne. They all have personal trainers, and makeup artists. They're not normal girls, but they act like it, creating a dangerous trap for people thinking all that glamour is readily attainable.

I've heard from my mother and grandmother once or twice a year for the past ten years of my life that I should be who I am and not worry about what others think. I express concern that my belt doesn't match my shirt and my mom launches into the "you are beautiful in every way" speech. I've dreaded these moments, as I know how planned and crafted they are, yet now that I've gotten older and become happier with myself I can realize how important they are, how grounding they are. People magazine has reported that Heidi Montag's mother is unhappy with the surgeries, and that Montag is scared to face her family. She's from a small town in Colorado, and seems to have been raised to respect family and God. One episode of the Hills shows Montag's visit home and her parents seem like grounded hard-working individuals, although its hard to know with television, especially this type of television. One thing is sure though, there's a trend of girls working surrounded by the media who do crazy things to make themselves look different or change their reputation. The media has drained some of the power parents have to guide their children, and it must be all consuming for celebrities who are constantly in the spotlight. Most teenagers do things their parents disagree with, maybe they get their nose pierced or something similar, but Montag almost got herself killed and spent 30,000 dollars doing it, and this is all without her mother's consent. Even though she's an adult, when did she reach the point when her family's concern for health no longer mattered? I don't have many answers, but I'd like to continue to explore what aspects of the media contribute to this image and ideal Montag was pursuing. Television, magazines, and blogs surely do, but what are their techniques? Do they tend to try to hide or embrace their cultivation of this image as it sells spreads on famous people, such as People's "100 Most Beautiful" issue that is released every year. I wonder how websites and magazines will comment on Montag's transformation in the future, once she has recovered and emerged from her self-imposed exile.