I was in the gym recently and had forgotten the headphones I usually wear to listen to my motivational music.
I decided that, seeing as I was going to hear the music I would pay attention to the umpteen million TV's that are hung with gay abandon all around the place (normally I occupy myself by um... supervising the aerobics classes from afar). I have to admit, that in spite of earlier concerns, I didn't start bleeding at the ears. I'm still not a big fan of saccarine sweet 'Top 40' music nor bad covers though. The gym had all their little TV screens synched to the music though so I was introduced to the world of MTV:UK.
One thing that I hadn't expected at all was the video content. I was amazed to find that there were very few major difference between most videos. The only real changes seemed to be the image they were trying to portray and which teen starlet worked their way through those oh so similar moves. Having mentioned that, I actually want to talk about something else.
The thing that really captivated my attention was the way these groups portray sex. I don't mean that they were running around simulating sex or anything quite so interesting, merely how these people sell themselves. There is a great deal of extremely blatant consumerism going on in the videos. Several that I saw seemed to have each performer simply wearing variations on a product line. The music is obviously a powerful tool to make money from certain demographics and as everyone knows, sex sells.
The people in the videos were trying very hard to be sexy. You can see it in the way they dress. Showing as much of the 'naughty' body parts as is acceptable without pissing off people's parents. It is also fairly obvious that moves in the aforementioned dances, were carefully choreographed to show off the most appealing body characteristics of each performer. This was combined with attempts at looking sultry (most falling short in my mind) and the performers being bad in socially acceptable ways. I found the whole thing amusing, particularly the lack of subtlty, but guessed they were aiming for a younger market than myself. A market that perhaps hadn't learned that what you don't see is as important as what you do.
I wouldn't be writing this if I wasn't disturbed though, and this is why. The performers in these videos were all clean cut, pretty (yes the boys too) and completely lacking in sex appeal. These people are either defining or reflecting attitudes and desires of teen-agers. The performers are very much like 'page 3 girls'. Showing a lot of flesh but without even a hint of come-hither, they seem sterile, almost completely devoid of personality.
Physical attractiveness has always been a useful asset. People sit up and take notice, you are unlikely to be approached from across a crowded room by a total stranger because of your scintilating wit. This trend of mass-produced 'sex icons' however, replaces not just personality but also uniqueness as desirable traits and replaces them with this simplistic attitude as to what is attractive.
Having become aware of this trend I headed home. When coming home from the gym I like to wander up the central street of Dublin and watch the people. I've never felt a strong inclination to watch the girls in this country, but this time I was very aware of them. It was getting on into the evening and people were starting to head out to dinner and pubs and clubs. Looking around I was distressed to see that it isn't just the young people who have been affected by the trend I am describing, it's all ages. One of the reasons I've never really been a big fan of 'girl watching' here is that they all seemed to look very similar and it wasn't a look that particularly appealed to me. Watching now though, I kept seeing significant sized groups of women who were all wearing pretty much the same thing. It was almost as though to join the group you had to dress in specific articles of clothes. It worked across groups too. Although not everyone was wearing the same thing most of the women in the street were dressed very similarly. It went further than that though. Looking at them closer people were wearing almost identical jewelery, and it was gold, and it was 8 carat (the colour is very distinct). Makeup was applied in such a way as to hide distinguishing characteristics, causing them to look very plastic.
Watching carefully on my way home I noticed that there were a few exceptions to this rule of likeness. Feeling slightly relieved I inspected these people with care as I walked past them. It was dissapointing, invariably they were either foreign or part of a counter-cultural group who mainly seem to dress as goths.
I'm amazed that I hadn't noticed it earlier. All these people dressed in clothes straight out of American music videos. Not just the young ones either, there were women significantly older than me in basically the same clothes.
I don't pretend for a moment that this need for similarity extends to all other countries. In fact I could guarentee that there are many other countries where women of my age don't demonstrate this affliction, careful inspection has shown this. The only other country I have been to where it is so obviously cutting across age groups is Japan and that is not based on TV but historical conditions.
Younger people though are another matter. The performers that I was referring to are all major international stars and while I may not have been able to identify them visually their names were all very familiar. To be honest I can't seem to get away from them. That means that people of a certain age-group throughout the world are forming their opinions on what is attractive and what is sexy from these beautiful empty shells.
Scary neh?
Written: 18th March 2001
Updated: 25th April 2001