Many people today enjoy moaning about the superficiality of modern society. “Too much emphasis is placed on womens’ appearance these days,” they state, tears of nostalgia in their eyes. If asked, there are few people of a certain age who wouldn’t enjoy a quick trip back to the days long gone when no-one thought anything about anyone before a deep analysis of their true personality was carried out.
Despite being too young to feel nostalgic about any era, I fail to see exactly when there wasn’t any importance placed on appearance. In Tudor times, young ladies bleached their hair with sulphur and lead, then plastered it on their face with vinegar. Then they dropped poisonous belladonna into their eyes to make them look larger. This hardly compares to shelling out for a lash-lengthening mascara. Perhaps I’m exaggerating, but whenever someone harks back to ‘the good old days’ I can’t shake the feeling that not even they know exactly when these days were.
Besides, I don't think that judging people on their appearance is necessarily a bad thing. The person you just walked past in the street has put some effort into their appearance as a way of expressing themselves - saying something about who they are or what they believe in. Therefore, although being cynical is undeniably fun, harking back to a bygone era does grate on me a little. There are lots of things wrong with today, but superficiality isn't one of them.
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