14 DAY TRIAL // Our society is entirely dominated by the physical aspect. Everywhere you go, every little thing that you do or say is judged foremost through the perspective of the way you look. One can be the utmost embodiment of stupidity or rudeness and, yet, if one is hot enough to take your breath away, he/she is home free. Beauty and, most important, image is all that counts and it definitely sells much better than any pearl of wisdom.
It's no wonder then that stars (be it actors or singers) are constantly under the pressure of always looking exactly the way they are supposed to, meaning by this, of being an image of themselves that exactly fits most people's expectations.
Still, there are some limits as to how far one celeb is willing to go in order to be to the public's liking. Some stars, in a desperate attempt to catch the media attention, mutilate their bodies by means of plastic surgery in ways that were unconceivable until recent years. Others maintain a strict diet and do serious work-outs just to keep fit. Many are always attended permanently by a staff of over-paid stylists and make-up-artists that almost make them look unrecognizable. And all of that it's done in the name of fame.
We thought of going through some of the celebrities that, at one point in their career, realized that a tight and steamy body is worth much more money than just a good-looking one. But before starting our countdown, a little heads-up: the persons that made it into our top are chosen aleatory and not on a strong or well founded criterion.
The first name that pops into one's mind when it comes to plastic surgery is, no doubt, that of Pamela Anderson. Some of us have grown up with her in 'Baywatch', when she used to fire up teenage boys' imagination with her running on the beach. Now, she is so intent on making her way back into the spotlight (she may have left it but her 'girls' surely didn't) that she even agreed to appear and to pose naked in a store window. She says it's for the animal rights, but we know better than that!
Pammy first started her 'acting career' (notice the inverted commas) as a mere porn actress and, when she had her boobs enhanced and landed her first major part in the TV series, she suddenly became an overnight star! Since then, things have been a little 'shaky' for Pamela and her boobies. If one was to resume the latest years of her life, one could easily do it using only two words: smaller, bigger, smaller and bigger again.
Lately, something has been happening to Anderson's face, too, 'plastic surgery-ly talking'. You can never, no matter how hard you try, put your finger on it exactly but you sense that it's there and that it's not right at all. Maybe, ex porn queen discovered the negative aspects of aging and decided to take drastic measures against it.
Nevertheless, Pammy is and will always be in the gallery of famous people that made a career by acting, without even actually possessing any talent but only a steaming body and a permanent willingness to uncover it and to show it to anybody who has enough cold hard money to pay.
Another female representative of our Hall of Fame is former mind-numbing hottie, now fatso and unkempt mother, Britney Spears. She hit it big with her 'Baby One More Time' (we still don't know what she was referring to) when she was just a teenager, but only after she started shedding her clothes did the big money began to roll.
We all remember how she tried to fool us that she is a virgin saving herself for her husband. It all worked for a while, until she released the 'I'm a Slave for You' video (probably she still claims that it was dedicated to music in general) and showed off her rock abs and firm tushie. And all hell broke loose, she was a virgin no more and the clothes started to come off in every direction.
We are not implying that the pop star can't sing (that is for you to judge) but most of her albums got sold especially because of the way she moved that hot body of hers. Lately, Brit is no longer such a shallow creature as she used to be and virtually abandoned all thoughts of looking good. She has gone the opposite way and is now the proud 'owner' of a haggard face, with leaking mascara and a severe case of the most awful hairdo you have ever seen. Ergo, her record sales have hit rock bottom.
Enough about the ladies, although we could talk about them indefinitely, as they are so many fitting perfectly this stereotype. We must move on to men, 'cause there's a lot to see there, too.
There is good reason for women to go all hysterical when a hunky guy appears on the screen or on a music stage. Most of today's handsome artists were, in their earlier days, just your average next-door-neighbor but, unlike the two 'artists' discussed above, they didn't make it into the business by means of their looks.
Let's have a closer look at number one best male in every woman's catalogue, Brad Pitt. Remember the guy that hits the sack with Susan Sarandon in 1991 'Thelma and Louise'? He makes only a brief appearance, but for sure you must have noticed that the geeky young man is none other than Brad. Even back then he had a killer body...
Since this minor part, Pitt has become a true phenomenon, an icon for most men and the ideal dreamy guy for each woman. And that's not just because he looks the way he does (but it helps... a lot) but because the man can really act!
Pitt is the embodiment of talent meets good looks and, when he appears on the screen, he literally makes it his own. Without boosting his ego too much, we must add that even the straightest of men have occasionally admitted that Brad is HOT!
Another fellow actor equally physically gifted (though maybe not artistically) is Irish bad ass Collin Farrell. There is something about the man that just makes a girl want to lock him up and do nasty things to him. But one must never forget that, most likely, he is surely very self-centered and, if not, very troublesome and rather difficult to comprehend (and we are being very civil to him right now).
His looks may be deadly and he is a good actor (who just didn't get a breakthrough chance) but he is no Brad Pitt. Far from it, he is a celeb that made it to the A list by hanging with women that were, basically, more famous than him and by rampaging the streets of Hollywood. His reputation as a star is based almost entirely on his scandalous behavior and temperament and less on professional merits.
That doesn't mean that Colin doesn't sell; he does and he still sells extremely good. But just for the reasons stated above, as he managed to build for himself an image that almost all women find absolutely seductive. It's what lies beneath, that constitutes a real problem.
There are so many more things that need to be said. And yet too much talk might overdo it. So, we finally conclude by saying that, all things considered, it comes down to this: it doesn't really matter who you are or what you do (or how good you do it) because nothing is as important as the way you look when you do that thing. For celebrities, we think it's safe to say that women are vainer than men and more willing to try almost anything at hand to reach 'perfection'. So, what's the importance of being talented after all?
