논문 상세보기
THE PLASTIC SURGEON AS AN AGENT OF FASHION
While the aesthetic alteration of the body has long been practiced in global cultures, from feet binding in China to scarring and piercing in Africa to face tattooing in New Zealand (Vlahos 1979), only lately has the idea of selective aesthetic alteration through cosmetic surgery materialized, supported by sturdy mainstream demand. Operating in a growing and competitive market, plastic surgery has redefined itself, and its original narrow mission of “fixing” deformed bodies and enhancing the features of celebrities has widened to include supporting the physical beauty of “normal” bodies. Surgeons, in turn, have redefined their individual identities to include the category “artist” as well as “scientist.” Some of them tend to treat the body as “a canvas” to be manipulated into a form artistically conceived by a surgeon; others approach the body as a form already created by nature, yet in need of being scientifically rebuilt, reshaped or returned to an improved and youthful condition. Patients, arguably, favor the “surgeon as an artist” premise and even expect medical offices to resemble fine art galleries: “Our patients want us to be artists” (Swanson 2013, p.182). It is this statement that has guided the author’s research in the direction of examining the artistic aspect of cosmetic surgeons’ identity. If cosmetic surgeons are artists who use human bodies as their medium, then they create living art that “can be seen walking among us in the form of revamped faces and figures.” (Cotter 2009). As such, these transformed bodies should be manifesting fashion trends in their newly reshaped body parts. Following this assumption, this work aims to conceptualize plastic surgeons’ role as agents of fashion, whose creative results “are judged, admired or criticized by observers.” (Bryan 2005, p. 6). How surgeons understand their function as “agents of fashion” is the guiding research question. In the search for answers, the author turns to the channels of marketing communication employed by cosmetic surgeons and examines their online presence on social media platforms. This work focuses on social media with the purpose of analyzing the digital identities of the plastic surgeons and the extent of their artistic side.
