Series Nip tuck - Essay Example

Series Nip tuck Purpose The purpose of the essay is to comprehend, understand and analyze a popular Series aired on an American channel FX . The name of the series is Nip/tuck . The essay begins by presenting the theme of the series, followed by a brief charcater sketch of the main characters of the series and then goes on to address various thoughtful questions raised in the series . Theme of the Series The theme of essay can be better comprehended if the relevance of external beauty can be understood . “Beauty is only skin deep” - - “What you don't see is hidden under the skin and it may be more important than physical beauty”. The proverb has been traced back to 'A Wife' (c.1613) by Thomas Overbury (1581-1613). The line goes on to emphasise that Physical beauty is superficial and is not as important as a person’s intellectual, emotional, and spiritual qualities .Many a poets and wise men must have agreed to the above proverb, but what appeals to a very average and common man , is the perfect glowing skin, a shining twinkling pair of blue eyes, a lovely smile, a good height, a mane of lustrous long hair, a great figure and the list goes on. In essence we all crave for perfection. It can be easily said that in the present world, where beauty is depicted by waif thin models , whose perfect figure, perfect features and perfect walk symbolise the very idea of womanhood/manhood , an average person’s entire idea of self esteem and personal worth is based on how good he looks .If he or she doesn’t look good then he runs the risk of facing rejections in getting employment, in personal relationships and in forging new contacts. Depression and low self-esteem can be only the tip of an iceberg of difficulties that unattractive people have to face. People with facial scars or burns have reported symptoms ranging from social withdrawal to body dimorphic, agoraphobia to anxiety, sleeping difficulties to suicidal impulses. It is becoming increasingly evident that being perceived as ugly can seriously detract from one's quality of life, while being attractive can bring a whole raft of benefits. It seems clear that beauty or the lack of it is no longer merely about aesthetics, but is now a health issue. Everyone dislikes some aspect about their own appearance, increasingly so when the outrageously beautiful are promoted as the norm in advertising, television, music and cinema. Some people are not satisfied with their small nose while others have complaints with their cheekbones, some people fret about the shape of their eyes while others would prefer their waist be a little thinner. The dislikes have become more intolerable bordering on almost a complete prejudice as with the latest advancement in medical science and particular cosmetic surgery , getting perfect cheekbones has become as easier as getting a cheese burger . It is this very idea and obsession about getting a perfect exterior that is portrayed and dramatically depicted in the series running on a famous American channel FX. The name of the series is nip /tuck .It is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American television medical drama series created by Ryan Murphy for FX Networks. It had the highest ratings as a new series on American basic cable, nominated eleven times for an Emmy and eight times for a Golden Globe and the reasons for its popularity is but obvious. It has become controversial and famous for addressing and exploring various taboo subjects . It is currently in its fifth season, and has aired seventy three episodes as of February 19, 2008. It is often Billed as "a disturbingly perfect drama “. The main characters of the series are the two cosmetic surgeons whose business is to make their customers have a perfect exterior as they run a cosmetic surgery Clinic under the name Troy/McNamara, where Troy and MacNamara are the respective surnames of the two surgeons. As the two of them strive to bring about perfection in other peoples lives by making them beautiful , in reality their personal lives is by far from being perfect , while Sean MacNamara is having a marriage on rocks , Christian Troy is an obsessive womanizer whose moralities are conspicuous by their absence. Other characters of the series like Sean’s wife Julia and their son Matt are facing other turbulences in their personal lives. Matt, McNamara's teenaged son, is carrying a burden of his own — in addition to dealing with the trials and tribulations of adolescence, Matt was involved in a hit-and-run car accident and has been hiding his role in it ever since. The series addresses all the taboo questions like child molestation , narcissism , sodomy , bisexuality , extra-marital affairs , drug abuse , kidnapping and also shows how the protagonists of the show i.e. Troy and MacNamara have absolutely no scruples to operate on their patients , even after knowing that their reasons for coming under the knife are as superficial as they themselves are . While Troy does not give a second thought before breaking a woman and a patient’s heart after sleeping with her, Sean also forges many an illicit relationship with his patients. Tying everything together is the string of patients filing into McNamara-Troy each day, whose physical imperfections more often than not force Sean and Christian to take a hard look at their internal ugliness. Each episode in the series is named after the character(s) that will undergo plastic surgery in that particular episode (except the pilot one). The plot is set in south Florida with the last season filmed in Los Angeles , due to a few developments in the storyline of the series . A better understanding of the series can be gained by analyzing and knowing the chief characters of the series. Their brief introduction is presented below. Character sketch of main characters a) Sean MacNamara Acted by: Dylan Walsh Sean is portrayed as the more skilled, yet more troubled surgeon, who apparently specializes in craniofacial surgery. He is a plastic surgeon , nearing middle age and trying to come to terms with his formerly 'perfect' life falling apart. He is married to a lady called Julia. Together they have a son, whose name is Matt .However Matt’s questionable and doubtful paternity becomes a major plot of the series. In addition to Matt, they have two more kids; one is a handicapped son while other is Conor MacNamara, who is born after the couple i.e. Julia and Sean reconcile, after a major tiff. He is a more of a family minded person as compared to his foil Christian Troy and he wants to keep his family and business away from each other as he says Sean McNamara: I'm not doing anything to my son's penis or my wife's breasts. I don't want my family infected by what we do here. He also very well understands that what they are doing , is conflicting with the purpose with which they started their business .He realizes this often , but at the same time finds an excuse to continue with it. Sean: What we do is let people externalize the hatred they feel about themselves. Which is why I want to hire a full time psychologist to screen people better. So , he seems to be a man who has a conscience but then business does take a priority over former , and morals do take a beating. Sean continuously tries to live up to the morally righteous standard he has set for himself only to fall repeatedly into personal hypocrisy and guilt. After Julia leaves him, he sells out his partnership in the Troy/MacNamara clinic to Troy and goes through pangs of self-realization and guilt in which he come to terms with the choices he has made in his life; he believes that he went into plastic surgery to help repair the bodies of the deformed and the mutilated, but became sidetracked in performing vanity procedures.. b) Christian Troy Played by: Julian MacMohan A partner of Sean in the Troy/MacNamara Clinic, he like Sean is another Cosmetic surgeon but in stark contrast to Sean, his sense of moralities and conduct are negligible. He is an unabashed womanizer and a notorious Casanova. He has no qualms about using people to get what he wants. He very well knows his business as he says Christian Troy We're in the vanity business, Sean. It's what we do He drives flashy cars, wears Gucci suits, and frequents Miami's best nightclubs..He has the charm and personality to win over any maiden he wants He uses sex to fill up the void left by his abusive father. He happens to be biological father of Matt, Sean and Julia’s son – a secret that is revealed later on in the series. He has an on/off relationship with girlfriend Kimber and also has a strange kind of bonding with Matt. Christian’s assumption that selling ownership of the practice would lead to fewer stress, has proved to be unfounded. He begins a romantic relationship with a married Michelle Landau, which becomes an engagement, following the death of her husband. He also goes on to buy out Sean's part of the practice only to sell his own stake in the practice to Michelle when he decides to leave her .Throughout the series , he catches a lot of flak from MacNamara’s for his playboy ways. Although he is shown as incorrigible womaniser, his human and emotional nature also comes to forefront as he adopts a son although he knows that he is not his father, and prefers to spend his birthday night with him rather than sleeping with the child’s nanny, who used to give the kid cough syrups so that he could sleep and not cry. Christian dismisses her and prays to God to make him a good and just father. So he serves as a perfect counterpart to the more family-minded Sean McNamara and at the same time shows a glimpse of his emotional and vulnerable side also. c) Kimber Henry Played by: Kelly Carlson Kimber as portrayed in the Series is a former pornographic actress, a model and a pornographic producer. She is introduced in the pilot episode and meets Christian at a bar; she is initially uninterested in him but changes her mind when she discovers Christian is a Cosmetic Surgeon. Christian later on makes Kimber undergo a painful surgery to make her “ten on ten” as contrary to her present status quo that is “eight on ten”. She withdraws from Christian because of his playboy lifestyle but later on Christian has a deal with another character in the series called Merrill Bobolit in return of a car to force Kimber in his arms. When kimber comes to know of this she vandalizes Christian’s car and other personal belongings. In later seasons, she plays all tricks in book to get back Christian, she even marries Matt to make Christian envious of her, but in the end finds all these worthless and after going through drug addiction and subsequently getting her nasal septum destroyed , she seeks recluse in Scientology as she realizes "beauty is a curse on the world". Why are all the characters are so good Looking? The series is one of the most bold shows shown on basic cable television .It has sex and violence to attract viewership and catchy storylines and good-looking cast to keep them interested . While Christian Troy has the charm and personality to weeken the knees of any female , Sean’s dignified and flamboyant personality cannot be ignored . Kimber and Julia both are extremely good looking and character Matt MacNamara has equally matching attractive personality. The episodes of the serial show that at various points of time charcaters need to attract each other and charm a lot others , for example Christian has to seduce so many women starting from all beautiful Kimber ,Michelle , Gina ,Emme , Erica ,Manya ,Andrea , Julia to Ava Moore . Such a long list of girlreinds and lovers requires the character to have incredible good looks and charms and therefore Christian has all those amazing good looks . Christian also wields a scalpel-sharp wit, is a seriousl buff and dangerously immpressive . Kimber who boldly declares herself to be “ten on ten “ in the first episode itself also ,needs to have backing of powerful good looks to make such a narcissist statement. She also ,like Christian has to seduce many other men during the series , so one more reason for her to look good . One more character whose good looks cannot be ignored is Julia , She is intelligent and has a magnetic personality . She is good enough to attract the casanova Christian without much effort. Sean is another good looking character , he seems to be a possessor of a strange charm that wins heart of many a female patients . Besides winning the heart of other characters , other reason or all of them to look good is the theme of the Series itself , which is perfection . In the wealthy and opulent world of miami everybody has the capacity and capability to change their looks . So what if it happens to be beautiful Kimber , although she thinks she is ten on ten , Christian finds out ten other reasons to think otherwise and coaxes her to go under the knife for a cosmetic surgery , which she does . Christian himself gives the reason as he speaks to Sean “We're in the vanity business, Sean. It's what we do. Appearance is everything to a kid. It's how you fit in. Snip, snip, he feels better about himself, and you, sir, can make that happen. “ So if the two great Cosmetic Surgeons whose business starts with the very line "So tell me, what don’t you like about yourself” have the power to make everyone look good , then the actors of the series have absolutely no reasons to be satisfied with anything short of perfection and hence all of them look very good in the series . "So tell me, what don’t you like about yourself". "So tell me, what you don’t like about yourself" is how the two brilliant cosmetic Surgeons Troy and MacNamara ask a patient as they begin their consultation. For instance sample this piece of conversation between McNamara and his wife Julia Sean: Tell me what you don't like about yourself. Sean: We have mice. Julia: That's not a mouse, Sean. That's Frisky the gerbil. It escaped from its cage. Sean: Did you try and catch it? Julia: I would've, but I was too busy cleaning up the trail of shit it left everywhere. Sean: Do you want it fine, or do you want it perfect? The opening conversation of the series sums the things up . Had enough of being an identical twin? Need a new face to escape the police? Or simply want your dead lover's ashes added to your breast implants? In the glamorous, wealthy world of South Beach, Miami, plastic surgery is the answer to every problem. Everything needs to be perfect , as far as the looks of a person is concerened . The entire business of the two cosmetic Surgeons Troy and MacNamara is based upon the desire of people to look good . Their flourishing business needs people to be intolerable of their physical imperfections and they need to convince the people that they have the ability to do so . "So tell me, what don’t you like about yourself” is their catch line, to get clientele, and the catch line is indeed very successful as many a customers make a beeline for their clinic. Beautiful Kimber who is initially disinterested in the flamboyant Christian Troy only becomes interested in him when she realizes that he is a plastic surgeon. Troy makes her believe that she is not perfect and needs a lot of work done on her body. The words are all encompassing and their power takes all in the spell. Starting from Kimber in the pilot episode. Kimber: I don't want to be pretty. I want to be better. I want to be perfect. So Kimber falls trap to the power of these words. Randi and Mandi, the two identical twins who find their identical physical appearances disturbing, as they think they are loosing their uniqueness and individuality fall next in their trap. Although Sean wants to keep his family away from the business of vanity as he says about his son Matt:- Sean McNamara: He doesn't need a circumcision. That's a vanity operation. Christian Troy: We're in the vanity business, Sean. It's what we do. Appearance is everything to a kid. It's how you fit in. Snip, snip, he feels better about himself, and you, sir, can make that happen. How cool is fatherhood? Sean McNamara: I'm not doing anything to my son's penis or my wife's breasts. I don't want my family infected by what we do here But Christian has no reservations about all this , all he wants is business and he can go to any extent to get it . He knows that they are selling dreams as he says “We're both selling fantasy, aren't we?” His conquests are flaunted all through the series , he sleeps with almost all his pateints , sleeps with his friend and partner’s wife Julia , two-times all his girlfriends . He knows their business is to “make people feel good about themselves” Even their patients understand that its easier to get rid of anything they dislike about themselves and with the he;p of two extremely talented and good looking surgeons , the distance between them and their much coveted looks and features is just a few thousnad dollars . Owing to the convenience and easy availability to cosmetic surgery , their clients get all the more flimsy and superficial reasons to change their looks . The reasons vary from illogical desire of a patient to get the ashes of her beloved to be implanted in her breasts to a guy’s desire to look Japanese to woo the parents of his girlfriend . Even an intelligent and strong character like Julia is not satisfied with her physical endowments and shamelessly exposes her intimate parts to Christian , her husband’s partner and best friend . Similarly Sean’s son Matt seems to be apparently , not happy with his fathers decision not to circumscribe him and therefore confides in Christian , who happens to be more liberal and tolerant about getting a cosmetic surgery for all purposes . The recurrent theme of the series seems to be echoed everytime , a patient comes , as the two surgeons say these words to all of them and take them into confidence . Even when they are in the operation theatre the word “ perfect” finds its usage as they are seen speaking McNamara: You're shaving too deep. Troy: It's fine. McNamara: Do you want it fine or do you want it perfect? So it is evident that the purpose of these words is to take patients in their thrall and to make them believe that if they find anything about themselves which they do not like then , they are there to change it ,and there is absolutely no reason why they should not look like the way they wanted to look like . With a little nip here and a tuck there Sean MacNamra and Christian Troy can make them perfect . So they should let them know what they don’t like about themselves . World as Seen through the Series Series Nip/tuck is a tale of two friends Christian MacNamara and Christian Troy . Both of them are plastic surgeons who run a Miami Beach chop shop for the vain and wealthy . It is stylish, glamorous and darkly humorous and exposes the superficial nature of business of plastic surgery, as seen through the eyes of two protagonists. The series addresses quite taboo questions as the two surgeons sell dreams to make everyone look good and betray medical science for the purpose of business to make people extremely intolerable about their even trivial physical imperfections. Although they say to their patients “So tell me , what you don’t like about themselves “ and go about any extent to make others looks perfect ,their personal life themselves are by far are as distant from the word “perfect” as their moral characters are . Although they say to each other that their business is to make other people feel good about them, they themselves are dissatisfied and unhappy with their personal lives. On one hand Sean, a family man who very well knows that “What we do is let people externalize the hatred they feel about themselves” has a marriage on rocks as he shows little interest in his wife and son and finds trivial reasons to sleep with other women. In the process of transforming other peoples lives ,he has put his personal life and morals at suspension . His wife complaints as she says “ And on your watch, a death has occurred. The death of you and me. This marriage doesn't even have a pulse anymore.” His legal son Matt also is not close to him and confides in Christian . Sean betrays the trust of his wife and has had physical realtionships with many a women . On the other hand Christian who knows that he is selling fanatasies and hides Behind the façade of casanova to fill the gap of an abusive father ,has morals of an animal and sleeps around with all his patients . Under the eyes of his best friend he sleeps with his friend and partner’s wife and makes her pregnant also .The son is Matt whose paternity remains hidden for major part of the series . Against a dramatic background of fragile patients masking their psychological flaws through physical perfection, Nip/Tuck's troubled relationships at home and work grow ever more complex. The patients themselves get very flimsy and superficial reasons to get their surgery done. Someone is tired of looking like her identical twin, while other has a desire to implant her beloved’s ashes in her breasts, there is yet another guy who wants to have Japanese’s disposition to woo her girlfriend’s parents, and one more who wants to get another face to escape police. The reasons range from trivial to extremely grave , as people seem to be totally intolerable about their appearances , and in the wealthy world of Miami the process of looking how you want to look like is as simple as getting a cheese burger. Nip/Tick’s escapist appeal is clear, as people try to escape from reality and live in a fantasy world as the characters trade their morals and conscience to do what their heart wants them to do. They seem to miss the hardcore reality of life that is, the true happiness and joy lays in the beauty of character and brilliance of soul and not in superficial outward appearance. People can look good at the cost of few dollars, but to feel good they need to be true to themselves. They need to realize that beauty is skin deep and a cosmetic surgeon might make them look ten on ten but to he cannot make them feel ten on ten. In the end however bold, loud and unsavoury mixture of amorality, violence and immoralities Nip/tuck might have been, but ultimately ''Nip/Tuck’s sheer energy its vigour for the vulgar, its delight in decadence, its zest for the zeitgeist makes it adorable and captivating watch .It is successful in exposing the superficiality of the world of Cosmetic Surgery where beauty of appearances is taken to be synonymous with the worth of soul. References Nip/Tuck Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2008, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361217/quotes Nip/Tuck. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2008, from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nip/Tuck . Read More