Character Destruction

Reality TV has never been a favourite for me, but something that's really getting up my nose at the moment is this pendemic of renovating people, their clothing and their houses.

What bothers me incessantly is all the colourful characters we grew up with being told what not to wear... You know the characters? The middle aged teacher with trousers pulled a little too high over the waist, the granny with purple hair and the most striking nylon floral number that makes you turn back and look twice...

I learnt a fair amount of tolerance while studying. I've never been able to embrace kitsch, but I've learnt that it is a style taken on by many to express their personalities. When you start messing with what people choose to be seen in and what they choose to surround themselves with, well - let me just say it's like using dirty water when you paint with watercolours. You just can't do it. Watercolour is a very sensitive medium and it's essential to have clean water to mix crisp colours. I really believe the same applies to people and what and who they are.

Sod the perfection! Embrace the kitsch and dowdy and unflattering styles. Not everybody is going to have an attractive facade that is permanently photogenic and the most homely and comfortable homes that people love to visit seldom look like the interior magazines or programmes we're regularly bombarded with.

To me the most amazing experience I have ever had is meeting a strange looking chap with very thick Clark Kent glasses. He was gawky and skinny and I would never have used any favourable words to describe his appearance. His mouth was slightly droopy from an accident or stroke, I can't really recall. The odd thing was when he spoke, it was as though his appearance completely transformed. He had the most amazing sense of humour with an intelligence that usually accompanies wit void of sarcasm and abuse. He had us all in stitches and it was a lesson for me to avoid passing judgement at the superficial level of appearance. I like people the way they are - warts and all... tee hee - I can say that now 'cos my wart is gone!

I want to see less attempts to fix what society has deemed as "wrong" and I want to see more bumpy noses, buck teeth, large ears and double chins on TV. I want to see people with frizzy hair and the occasional pimple. I love to go into South African homes with horrendous copies of Tretchikof - yes Professor Cull I WANT TO SEE TRETCHIKOF!!! So there! Let us laud Rubens and his voluptuous women and let's all make our own rules about beauty, fashion and interior decorating. Wouldn't that be amazing?

I had to laugh at an interview I saw on TV once. I can't remember what the programme was, but the interviewer was speaking to kids that dressed in the whole goth style. When the interviewer asked why they dressed like that, the kid said "Because it's different, unique." I had to chuckle as the camera swung to about 25 other "unique" kids.

Embrace the ski ramp nose! Celebrate the snake eyes or skinny snake lips! Rejoice in the wide hips that may well have come from a tribe of nomads travelling through the desert (There's a radio ad about that in case you're confused).

Let's keep characters alive in spite of media trying so hard to destroy them.

By the way - a word to the wise, if you're ever in South Africa and someone accosts you about having a make over, say no immediately. Even in my uneducated and biast opinion I recognise that our makeover teams would probably make a lot more money by doing make unders...