Television, magazines, billboards; every single day people are exposed to the image set by the impossibly high Hollywood standard. To be young (or at least look it), thin, or having your body as an art canvas – different people are shown different images, however the message basically remains the same; “You are not perfect but you need to be”. The image of Hollywood has greatly changed society’s views on what beautiful and different are with plastic surgery, tattooing and the eating disorders that many celebrities have taken up.

People are not perfect. People have natural flaws. With that being said, why do they feel the need to change those flaws and make them into what society wants them to be? PlasticSurgery.com suggested breast augmentation, tummy tuck surgery and liposuction in order to create a “new you” . This makes plastic surgery a good way to look your best however there are also the flaws, just like every surgery. In a People Magazine article about Michael Jackson’s excessive surgeries; ‘"He had multiple surgeries," says Dr. Wallace Goodstein, who worked beside Jackson's surgeon in the 1990s. "He came in approximately every two months. It was about 10 to 12 surgeries in two years, while I was there." As for the specifics, says Goodstein, Jackson "had multiple nose jobs, cheek implants and he had a cleft put in his chin. He had eyelid surgery ... You name it he had it." Goodstein also opines that Jackson underwent operations that he never should have: "He had so many things that were inappropriate." ’ Plastic surgery is, basically, changing your appearance through surgical means, i.e.: changing ones entire physique. Some people become addicted to plastic surgery or do something so drastic it is nearly impossible to change in order for it to look right .

Another way of changing ones look falls into the category of tattooing – commonly referred to as “inking”. The reason a person would get a tattoo would be in order to copy a member of their favorite band – generally rock, punk or alternative – or just doing it for themselves as a trend to follow or set. “Make no mistake about it; the tattoo industry is hot property. There are an estimated 20,000+ parlors operating in the United States, according to a U.S. News & World Report article, which said, on the average, an establishment is being added in the country every day. The article ranked tattooing as the sixth fastest growing retail venture of the 1990s, right behind Internet, paging services, bagels, computer and cellular phone service . According to FOX News; “…24 percent of Americans between 18 and 50 are tattooed; that's almost one in four. Two surveys from 2003 suggested just 15 percent to 16 percent of U.S. adults had a tattoo ”. An example of a popular band where, basically, every member has sleeves of tattoos covering their arms, is Avenged Sevenfold . Recently the drummer, stage name “The Rev” passed away at the age of 28. In his honor, many fans had followed in the rhythm guitarists’ footsteps and gotten a rev inspired death-bat tattooed somewhere on their person.

For many celebrities, body image is everything. Claire Mysko said; “…getting away from an obsession with weight, and that’s darn near impossible to do if you happen to be a celebrity–a job that requires you to go on the record about your exercise and diet “secrets” if you want to stay on the publicity train ”. As well in the modeling industry, if you aren’t a size 0, or even a size 2, then how can anyone expect to succeed in the world? On an eating disorder help page there is listed many celebrities that have been hospitalized due to eating disorders due to anorexia and bulimia . Anorexia is when a person completely forgoes food; they refuse to eat at all. Bulimia is when after a person eats, they throw it back up in order to not allow the food to turn into fat. Eating disorders, when serious enough, could end up in hospitalization and can also be fatal.

Anorexia, bulimia, liposuction, breast augmentation – do real people actually need to go through that in order to meet the standards of “beauty”? As well, does doing what a person’s favorite band does really beneficial for you? Hollywood has glorified the standard of beauty and perfection to such a point that people are terrified that if they don’t look the part then they aren’t as “beautiful” or “gorgeous” as the apparent “role-models” in the city of Angels. People are not perfect, however it is better that they accept that rather than nearly killing themselves trying to look the part.