Appraisal | makeup-exploration

Leanne Faulkner

Make-up for media and performance

Unit 5 – Makeup Exploration

Appraisal

Exploring Body Identity and how it has changed in relation to the development of technology and socialization

Traditional methods relating to body identity, such as scarification, tattoos and piercings, are often related to religious customs. Whereas current trends, such as surgical procedures, are mainly applied for aesthetic reasons or to improve human capabilities (Turner,1999,Featherstone,2000,p39-49). Exploring the advances of technology and theoretical views of society will hopefully enable an insight into the possibilities of what the future may hold for the human body. Research of performances that portray body modification, cyborgs and robots, shown in the media, will produce a perception of the issues relating to body identity.

Body Modification: Guardians of the Galaxy (Gunn, 2014)

Body modification is traditionally used for religious beliefs, aesthetics, and to display group affiliation and social status. However, at the present time it is now rarely applied for these reasons in the western culture, but instead for aesthetic motive (Turner,1999,Featherstone,2000,p39). It still allows the person to show visible signs of their identity, to either make a statement, a personal reminder, or to enhance their appearance.

‘To the extent that contemporary tattooing and piercing act as expressions of self rather than as markers of group identification, they might thus be described as a form of expressive individualism’

(Muggleton,1997,Featherstone,2000,p67)

The modern act of body modification is an expression of the growing individualism and reflects the changes within socialization (Turner,1999,Featherstone,2000,p49). In studies it reported that people that have been tattooed for personal choice often feel that it has increased their self-confidence, due to either feeling stronger from enduring the physical process itself, or that they feel closer to their own self-image perception. (Sweetman,1999,Featherstone,2000,p68)

When body modification is included within performances, the main types involved are tattooing, piercing and scarification. These methods help to distinguish a type of character; usually being more dangerous and mysterious, making the audience feel unsure on their actions. For example, in the film Guardians of the Galaxy (Gunn,2014), the character Drax the Destroyer has scarification all over his body, marking the important events of his life story, such as the day his daughter was born, and the murder of his wife and child. Although the film is futuristic, the character of Drax is more human-like and primitive, so therefore scarification was the more relevant source of body modification. Drax uses body modification to show self-identification but also in order to transform his appearance to make him more intimidating to the surrounding society, which resembles current perspectives (Clarke,1999,Featherstone,2000,p185).

Evidence shows that as the world advances, so will body modifications (Clarke,1999,Featherstone,2000,p185). This will enhance the bodies’ natural capabilities, producing a futuristic theory that humans could become a cybernetic organism.

The Cyborg Body: RoboCop (Padilha, 2004)

A cybernetic organism, also known as a cyborg, is both a theoretical and fictional being that contains organic and biomechatronic aspects. Some definitions of a cyborg state that when a human is attached to even the most basic technology it defines them as a cyborg, such as an artificial cardiac pacemaker (Bell,2001,p140-144). Such technology has proven to improve health, and often extend life expectancy. This is represented through the media, as when the film industry became aware of what was happening in technology research laboratories, it started to produce fictional performances that reflected this conception. (Brooks,2003,p166).

A film where technology is incorporated into the human body is RoboCop (Padilha, 2014), which involves the creation of a cyborg policeman set in the future. The company Omnicorp, create robotic soldiers for the U.S military, and they want to introduce these products onto the American streets for law enforcement. However people are unsure of the technology, as it states in the film ‘A machine does not know what it feels like to be human, can’t understand the value of human life, why should it be allowed to take one?’, and when questioned ‘What would it feel if it killed a child?’ the response was ‘nothing’, resulting in the peoples uncertainty to the suggestion. To overcome this issue, Omnicorp realise that the public ‘...Don’t want a machine, they want a product with a conscience, they want something that knows what it feels like to be human’ and hence they come up with the idea of putting a man inside of a machine and creating a cyborg.

The American policeman Alex Murphy is critically injured and Omnicorp suggest that to save his life would be to use him within their technology, thus labeling him Robocop. Once created, he is tested in a virtual scenario against one of the existing robots. However, ‘defects’ occur from mixing the organic brain and mechanisms and unlike the robot, the brain within Robocop has to go through more steps, such as emotion before taking action, therefore delaying his reaction time. Omnicorp are unwilling to accept this natural response and demands for him to be ‘fixed’ by removing his consciousness. The scientific view is ‘consciousness is nothing more than the processing of information’, taking away his rights and humanity, as if it is not an important aspect.

Another defect becomes apparent when they download the entire DPD database to his brain, in order for him to access all criminal records and CCTV footage. Although during the process he becomes too emotionally overwhelmed and sees his own death, resulting with him not being able to cope and having a seizure. The scientist is ordered to ‘fix’ the problem by lowering his Dopamine levels, taking away his emotions. The result is that he ignores his wife and son, and straight away starts using the data to scan the public. Within 60 seconds he detects a ‘threat’ and shoots the man without any thought or empathy. To the people he appears to be more efficient than the human law enforcement, but at this stage they do not realise that all traces of his humanity has been removed. This pressure to be manipulated by technology in order to achieve perfection, is based on the ideals within society (Clarke,1999,Featherstone,2000,p185).

The film shows the positives of saving lives and keeping people safe, but portray more negative aspects, such as how the human loses control due to the technology and those controlling him, and also the loss of his humanity.

Although by the end of the film, Robocop was able to override the software with his own humanity, he was still dependent on the technology to keep him alive, leaving him as a modified human. As this results with the cyborg losing his freedom and quality of life, it is unlikely that people would ever accept this in real life. This proves the link between technology and how the media portrays the uncertainty to this type of development in the future. However, Haraway (1985,p149) suggests how this concept could already be a reality.

The boundary between science fiction and social reality is…. an optical illusion’

Robots: Stepford Wives (Oz, 2004)

A robot is an automatic mechanical device often resembling a human or animal. At present, commercial and industrial robots are being used to perform jobs, as it saves money, time, and are more reliable and accurate than people. However they are mostly used within the jobs that are not suitable for humans, such as dangerous environments, extreme conditions or for repetitive tasks (GeduldandGottesman,1978,p159). They are also being used to assist the elderly and disabled with common tasks, which are becoming increasingly popular, especially within countries that are suffering with an aging population, such as Japan (Brooks,2003,p135–137).

Humanoid Robots are also being created to mimic and resemble human beings and are often made with silicone bodies to make their appearance more alike (Brooks,2003,p154). As we continue to rely on the progress of mechanical technology to survive, and the development of the image of a robot, in order to keep up with the ever-changing world, suggests we are advancing towards replacing humans with robots.

This idea has been presented many times within performance, demonstrating the possible thoughts and outcomes. One example is Stepford Wives (Oz, 2004), set in a perfect town called Stepford, where the men replace their wives with identical but enhanced automatons. It is revealed that this action is due to the fact that they felt intimidated and inferior to their wives. By recreating their spouses, they take away their willpower against being sexual and domestic slaves and are instead reduced to objects. The main character Joanna, who owned a television network, was persuaded by her husband to move to Stepford, in order to create a better family life. She is like all of the other women; highly educated, important and successful before their residency in Stepford.

The husbands participate in the Stepford Men’s Association Club, while the women attend the Simply Stepford Day Spa, which is where Joanna first greets the other women. In this scene, all the other women immediately stop talking to one another as Claire walks in and turn to say good morning. They speak harmoniously, in the same gentle tone, producing a familiar atmosphere, but with a hidden and concealed agenda, relating to Freud’s theory of the uncanny (1919,p2).

They are then presented with the activity of working out, to that they respond enthusiastically. They appear to be very obedient, as if under control, but are very content so therefore gives the idea of being brainwashed. When Joanna questions about their attire for ‘working out’, which consists of brightly coloured, patterned floral dresses, high heels, and jewellery, and accompanied with perfect, curly hairstyles and full glammed makeup. The appearance resembles the 1950’s housewives as shown in the consumerised adverts of that era, where the aim was to display the perfect house and family. Claire responds with ‘whatever we do, we always want to look our very best. Why imagine if our husbands saw us in worn, dark, urban sweat clothes with stringy hair and almost no makeup.’ She aims this patronising comment to Joanna highlighting the fact that she doesn’t agree with her appearance. Even when the men are not around their presentation must be precise and excellent, as if they are being watched and can never been seen in their natural form.

The workout plan has been specifically made by Claire and consists of movements that resemble simple household tasks, such as ‘the washing machine on spin cycle’. This produces the idea that this is all that they know, so therefore it is important to put these manoeuvres into practice so they can accomplish them to the very best standards.

The film includes the historic perspectives of women combined with a setting of ‘perfection’, such as the big houses and immaculate location, making the traditional anti-feminist views appear unreasonable. By including an uncanny atmosphere, it produces a feeling of the unordinary and displays the suggestion that the women are in fact robots. From applying the ‘ideal’ life vision, enhancing it, and connecting it to the use of robots, makes it appear unrealistic and therefore makes the film comical. The concept of men creating robots to resemble the female form is not something new, as there are tales of men creating female humanoids throughout time, and often due to the men either wanting control or to replicate love.

Although the film is made to be comical, it still portrays the current ‘perfect’ image of a woman with the skinny, shapely body, enhancing makeup and perfect hair, which is shown throughout the media. It is also evident that even through the use of robots, perfection and purification is still desired. Will humans therefore keep enhancing themselves until eventually reaching a point where robots will have to intervene to fulfill the eagerness to be perfect.

This theory is reflected in a quote from Williams and Bendelow (1998,Bells,2001,p138):

‘…the recent upsurge of interest in body matters undermines still further our sense of what, precisely, the body is, and perhaps more troublingly, what it may become.’

As this technical evolution advances, the concern is will it result in humans becoming completely independent on mechanics, and the desire for perfection being so obsessive that it will result in robots replacing humans.

Body identity has always been part of human life through culture, religious beliefs, and affiliation etc, but due to the advances in technology this has now moved to a new level. Through performance and the media it is apparent that the future could go in two ways; we could have a world that is healthier, disease free, with longer life spans, or we could be sharing our world with humanoids where everything we do is controlled by machines. Technology has become an indispensable part of our lives, which makes us wonder if this technology keeps advancing, will we eventually have no choice but to change our bodies and identity to keep authoritative over these creations. However, could this actually be the natural development of the human race.

Word Count: 2113

Reference

Bell, D. (2001) An introduction to cybercultures. London: Routledge.

Brooks, R.A. (2003) Flesh and machines : how robots will change us. New York: Vintage

Clarke, J. (1999). The Sacrificial Body of Orlan. In: Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Freud, S. (1919) The “Uncanny”. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works. [pdf] Available at: <http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/bressani/arch653/winter2010/Freud_TheUncanny.pdf> [Accessed 25 January 2015].

Geduld, H.M. and Gottesman, R. (1978) Robots, robots, robots. N.y. Graphic Society

Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” 1985. Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York, NY: Routledge, 1991. 149-181. Print.

Muggleton, D, (1997) Resistance or Difference? Expressive Individualism, Alienation and Subcultural Disengagement. In: Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Nottingham Trent University: Theory, Culture & Society Centre and Featherstone, M. (ed.) (2000) Body modification. London: SAGE

Sweetman, P. (1999). Anchoring the (Postmodern) Self? Body Modification, Fashion and Identity. In. Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Turner, B.S. (1999). The Possibility of Primitiveness: Towards a Sociology of Body Marks in Cool Societies. In: Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Williams, S. and Bendelow, G. (1998) The Lived Body: sociological themes, embodied issues, In. Bell, D. (e.d) An introduction to cybercultures. London: Routledge

Bibliography

Bell, D. (2001) An introduction to cybercultures. London: Routledge.

Brooks, R.A. (2003) Flesh and machines : how robots will change us. New York: Vintage

Clarke, J. (1999). The Sacrificial Body of Orlan. In: Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Geduld, H.M. and Gottesman, R. (1978) Robots, robots, robots. N.y. Graphic Society

Jacobs, N., O'Quinn, K. and Hefley, R.M. (1979) Robots. Starlog

Muggleton, D, (1997) Resistance or Difference? Expressive Individualism, Alienation and Subcultural Disengagement. In: Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Nottingham Trent University: Theory, Culture & Society Centre and Featherstone, M. (ed.) (2000) Body modification. London: SAGE

Sweetman, P. (1999). Anchoring the (Postmodern) Self? Body Modification, Fashion and Identity. In. Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Turner, B.S. (1999). The Possibility of Primitiveness: Towards a Sociology of Body Marks in Cool Societies. In: Featherstone, M. (ed.) Body modification. London: SAGE

Williams, S. and Bendelow, G. (1998) The Lived Body: sociological themes, embodied issues, In. Bell, D. (e.d) An introduction to cybercultures. London: Routledge

Wilson, E.G. (2006) The melancholy android:on the psychology of sacred machines. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press

Filmography

Forbes, B. (dir.), Ross, K. and Prentiss, P. (1974). The Stepford Wives. [DVD/Blu-Ray]. Palomar pictures.

Gunn, J. (dir.) (2014). Guardians of the Galaxy. [DVD/Blu-Ray]. Marvel.

Oz, F. (dir.) (2004). Stepford Wives. [DVD/Blu-Ray]. Dreamworks/ Paramount.

Padilha, J. (2004). RoboCop. [DVD] United States. MGM Home Entertainment

Verhoeven, P. (1987). RoboCop.[DVD].United States.