'The Overemphasized Importance of Appearances'
20110126
Hyoseon Yang
“All that glitters is not gold.” This common proverb means “the attractive exterior of something is not a good indicator of its real nature. It may look valuable, but not be valuable.”(Englishclub.com) Anybody cannot really be judged only by their appearances. As you can see from the saying, even if someone has great looks, it doesn’t mean that he or she is a great person. However, the importance of appearances is getting overemphasized in Korea recently, and that has a negative effect on society. Comedians who have an ugly face or fat body become a laughing stock on TV, physical appearance has become a matter when trying to get a job, and lots of people aren’t satisfied with their own looks and want to do a plastic surgery.
First, some comedians or entertainers are held in derision because of their looks. For example, a comedian who is obese is on TV show, a show host begins to tease him, and the audience laughs. This situation is not bad at all, but this could be one of the basic factors that make a lookism society. This social climate makes some people feel dissatisfied with their looks. As a result, people care about their appearance too much, and enhance their appearances.
Second, interviewees are judged by their looks by attaching their ID picture on a resume before an interview. A survey of human resources managers in 880 companies has found that 63.8% of them judge applicants by appearances, because someone who has nice looks seems to be sociable. Therefore, some people have a plan to do plastic surgery for getting a job. On one talk show, foreign entertainers said there was nowhere attaches ID picture on a resume, and it could be discrimination. They’re right. It can become a serious problem to judge people by their looks more than ability.
Finally, Korea is the top cosmetic surgery country in the world, and people want to have plastic procedure. From this, we can infer people get stressed by appearances. In a survey which conducted by an wedding consulting agency, only 37 percents of women said that they’re satisfied with their appearance. Besides, there was a TV program that supports plastic surgery to people who are troubled with their looks in society. The show has incurred blame for lookism, so it will be gone off the air. However, the show attendees received huge attention, and the repulsion has been lessened about plastic surgery.
I’ve watched a movie, ‘Beauty inside’, which is a love story about a woman and a man who changes his appearance. One day he looks like a child and the next day he looks like an old man. the day after that something else. This movie shows us how much we judge people by their appearance and how important it is to see their inner beauty. Nobody cannot deny the importance of looks when meeting people at first. However, people shouldn’t have a bias in first looks, and should see inside and talent of others. As mentioned above, even if someone has great looks, it doesn’t mean that he or she is a great person.
