Gilded Butterfly

“We will all laugh at gilded butterflies…” is a quote from Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear (Act V, Scene III). “Gilded” refers to something of little worth that has been coated to appear of higher quality, and in Shakespeare’s case, he uses the term “gilded butterflies” to refer to the people of society who change themselves in order to fit the “ideal image” that society has projected for itself. Ironically, Shakespeare’s quote can be found tattooed on the back shoulder of a well-known Hollywood celebrity and sex icon – Meghan Fox. In reference to her tattoo, Megan said her tattoo reminds her “…to not get too caught up in Hollywood because people will end up laughing at you.”

Fox is a prime example of a person who has transformed herself from a woman to a product, using her body and sexual appeal to acquire publicity, similar to the majority of Hollywood actors (both male and female). Her tattoo is ironic and hypocritical, presenting a message completely different from the message that her body language and attitude present. In addition, Megan got plastic surgery on her breasts, nose, cheeks, eyebrows, and lips – gilded butterfly much? (See my picture for before and after photos.)

Why do celebrities, men and women, feel the need to do this? They create an artificial image by changing their bodies, and on top of that, photographers use photoshop and airbrushes to gloss the images and make them as superficial as possible. Nevertheless, we as consumers still give in to these looks! We want to look exactly like the false images in the magazines and in commercials, even though we are fully aware that the models do not look like that naturally. The cycle will continue unless we begin to remove the makeup, the photoshopping, the airbrushing, and the surgeries.