But this isn't my point. I wanted to bring up a particular scene in the book where our narrator, Travis, goes to a Karen O look-alike contest. Karen O is the eccentrically dressed singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. So a look-alike contest would probably produce a bunch of wackos, which it does. But my real point comes up when Travis overhears a conversation between two Karen Os which goes like this:
"[It's okay, it's okay.]"
"No it's not. I spent ten hours getting ready for tonight."
"That guy judging the outfit didn't know what he was talking about, sweetie."
"He told me I looked like a PG version of Ashlee Simpson. I'll never get over that for as long as I live."
"Yes you will. I think you look good. You look more like Karen O than Karen O does."
"You really think?"
(pause)
"Um, of course I do."
Now, aside from the clear problems here, such as the ridiculous girl habit of lying to their friends about ridiculous things just to boost their egos (I will never understand this), there is another. While Travis clearly feels disdain towards these girls, and while I agreed with him at first, I later realized that it is now actually possible to look more like a person than that person looks like themselves. Especially a person as mythologized as Karen O.
The standard Karen O look is, as Travis puts it, "lots of black hair styled every which way", "lots of really big sunglasses", "lots of blue eye shadow streaked across both eyes", and "lots and lots and lots of shredded and V-neck and mismatched color tops and off-color pantyhose".
ANYONE CAN PULL IT OFF! ANYONE CAN LOOK LIKE THAT! Meaning, of course, that at moments, a person can actually look more like "Karen O" than Karen O looks like "Karen O" at other moments. Because, really, does she actually dress up like that all the time? I hope not. It would get really tedious.
This brings to mind the classic story of Charlie Chaplin coming in second at a Charlie Chaplin Look-alike contest, under a fake name. The thing is, this happened for a completely different reason than the reason for Karen O to, hypothetically, come in second at a Karen O lookalike contest.
Chaplin had a look: Bowler hat, little black mustache,cane. Most people could easily pull that off. But Karen O has a "look", a look which can be done in many different ways, with many different outfits, many different options, eyeshadow colors, etc.
See? But Chaplin only had one:
So whoever was judging that contest just had to pick the guy with the best mustache. While a person judging a Karen O contest would just have to pick which of these look-alikes did their favorite version of the Karen O "look". Which color combination they liked best. Which hair do. It's totally up for grabs in this case, because Karen O has been so highly publicized, and seen in so many different outfits that any which one could apply more than any other one, depending on the day. Someone going for "Karen O" could easily be considered "PG Ashlee Simpson" by a judge in a bad mood. Where as if a Charlie Chaplin look-alike had worn a porkpie instead of a bowler, he would've been booted out the front door for sheer ignorance. Charlie Chaplin had a look. Karen O has a "look". Does that make sense?
I just thought that was interesting.
5 comments:
I like this. It touches on how our mental images slash personas of people (like politicians, or maybe even "heros"?) are much more real than the real thing. And thus the real thing doesn't stand a chance against itself in its surface level packaged idealistic form. Nicely written.
Why would anyone want to look like Karen O? That's another question.
i loved the book Exit here;
loved it.
but its only my opinion on it.
did chaplin do his own makeup?
You need to read that book again. You and I obviously did not read the same book. I'm appreciative of classics like theres no tomorrow, The Count of Monte Cristo being one of my favorite books, but "teen" books are generally bad in my opinion. This book was enjoyable if you don't take it seriously. The story is obviously fiction, and you can't take it for more than that. I bet you didn't enjoy the book Fight Club, or the movie either. The authors style of writing reminded me very much so of Fight Club and others by the same author.
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