An Op-ed from YouthDrs: Sunshine in Paradise Hollywood Part 1

Last spring, Botox released a slew of ads directed by director Errol Morris. The ads, which are shaped like incredibly brief documentaries, show Botox users–a widower, a single mom, a transvestite–tell poignant, sad, and ultimately redeemed anecdotes. In 2019, a typical Botox commercial sold the product as the tonic for the female boss, something to imbue slunky, fantasized women with sass while hustling from the boardroom to a bar stool. Now, it is being recast as something of a truth serum, a tool for deeper self-reflection.

The mothers were staring at the photos with nostalgia. The widower remembered the eyes of her husband, weeping. Although the subjects did not mention Botox, the camera looked at their relaxed foreheads sympathetically, suggesting the procedure had profound therapeutic effects. The tagline was: “Still You”.

The change in direction is interesting, and it will be curious to see how Botox positions itself in the years to come. For now, the ads are compelling and even a little bit touching. But it remains to be seen whether the new strategy will be able to sell the product in the long term.

Morris was known for uncovering institutional illusions–of the police in The Thin Blue Line, of statecraft in Fog of War. In the Botox ads, Morris turns his lens on a different kind of deception: the self-deceptions people tell themselves to cope with hardship. “It seemed like an interesting challenge to explore what it means to change physically and how that changes the way you see yourself,” Morris told The New York Times.

Now, he is shooting an emotional mirage for a drug company. But those spots represented something bigger than just paychecks for Morris. They are emblematic of the injection of Botox into our creative consciousness, the way in which selective muscular paralysis has been transformed into a self-project.

The ads Morris directed are just a drop in the bucket; there are thousands upon thousands of before-and-after photos floating around the When injected in small doses in the creased forehead, it blocks nerve signals to muscles and smooths out the skin above. Although there are a few competing brands, Botox is the Kleenex of the category. It presents a trade-off like the kind one might make with an evil sea witch: she will give you perpetual youth, but at the cost of being unable to move your face.

There was a time when the trend was seen as bad–for acting, for society, and, most notably, for women. Then came the Kardashians, “Real Housewives,” the torrential flood of memes, and an army of spunky cosmeticians waving hypodermic needles over TikTok. A Botoxed face used to shock viewers as a non-sequitur, but non-sequiturs fueled reality TV and Internet culture, and thanks to these escalating forms, Botox has amassed a veneer of campy pageantry that helps defuse the cultural fears about using it. These days, getting Botox has become as naturalized an impulse as straightening your hair.

But even as it has become more mainstream, Botox still elicits mixed feelings. On one hand, it can be seen as a feminist tool for taking control of one’s appearance and aging process. On the other hand, there was this pre-notion that once suggested vanity, illusion, and self-consciousness, but it has new associations now: with confidence, toughness, even authenticity, because the idea of “making a job” has become seen as a legitimate form of labor.

Botox (along with an array of other anti-aging treatments, ranging from skin-sloughing peels to fillers to the old-fashioned facelift) is so ubiquitous now that it is becoming harder to discern an authentically aged face on screen. The growth of Botox has impacted not just the way actors look, but how they appear to feel. In 2010, in New York Magazine, Amanda Fortini described plastic surgerys assault on naturalistic acting, in which nuanced performances were replaced with “stiff, stylized, and mask-like” performances.

It is difficult to overstate the role that Botox has played in this change. As a result of its ever-growing popularity, we are increasingly seeing a new generation of actors who have never known a time when Botox wasn’t part of the equation.

Part 2 to follow – Please like and share!