In light of TV’s recent fiasco-turned-YouTube sensation involving South Carolina’s Miss USA contestant’s incoherent ramblings about geography, the matter of brains, beauty and the nature of their coexistence have once again caught our attention.
There seems to be a widespread notion that there is an inverse system between the two. As the old joke goes, "Light travels faster than sound; this is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak." Nowhere does all of this more readily apply than on the catwalk, where "looks" such as Blue Steel and Magnum are all one needs to entrance an audience of otherwise solid folks and steal the show.
On Sunday, VH1 premiered its take on the age-old question in the form of – surprise, surprise – a new reality show. America’s Most Smartest Model, not to be confused with the network’s hit America’s Next Top Model, puts 16 models (eight men, eight women) to the test, eventually awarding the title – and $100,000 – to one lucky, pretty face. Maybe there is more to life than being really, ridiculously good-looking.
So models are an easy target. At least it gets the ball rolling (and cherries, balloons and tires). The real reason a fifth of Americans can’t find the U.S. on a world map is certainly something we would all like to be able to put our fingers on; there are many sides to this complex issue. The fact that the question was asked of a pageant contestant is not only highly ironic, but is almost unfair to her and the unfortunate millions who have since endured her response.
Countless suits in Washington are tackling the same dilemma and the idea that a Miss USA contestant from South Carolina, of all people, would have the answer is just laughable. The same goes for any other beauty pageant that looks to blend social awareness and a worldly perspective with high fashion and criminal amounts of make up. Thanks to these kinds of questions, we know that pretty people, from all walks of life and of all different hair colors, would really, really like to see world peace. How very insightful.
The release of this program at this particular juncture in our cultural history, regardless of whether it was a strategic response to the pageant snafu, is interesting, to say the least. If No Child Left Behind is the best education program we can institute, and $40,000 is the most a teacher can look forward to start out making, could it really be the models who are the brighter crayons in the box? I don’t want to sound like some kind of crazy conspiracy theorist, but could all the bimbos out there be onto something?
Think about it. Disregarding her actual competence, U.S. Secretary of Education – a woman who we can only assume got to her position because she is some kind of super educator – Margaret Spellings is certainly no Cindy Crawford. Cindy Crawford needs no elaborate title, her paycheck is undoubtedly much larger and her image is known (and even revered) across the globe. She also graduated at the top of her class, by the way.
Derek Zoolander, famous proponent for the Center For Children Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too, would be proud.
