Once again, I’m pondering the ‘makeover’ motif, why it consistently has such great appeal for the masses,…

One of the best-loved tales worldwide is Cinderella. It’s the iconic makeover story, validating and elevating the object-character all the way to becoming royalty. It’s the template for the thousands of makeover stories that have since followed and wallowed in its wake.

The makeover story is not at all like the ‘Ugly Duckling’ scenario, where it’s just a matter of time before the object-character finally comes into being — via the prophecy of genetics — through no efforts on the part of the object-character, other than riding out the tough times until those superior genes finally kick in.

Nope, in addition to riding out the tough times — without the safety net of promising genetics, or the family’s socio-economic rank — the ‘Cinderella’ has to work hard for that transformation.

There are risks of and penalties for failure. There are adversaries at cross-purposes with the goals of the object-character. And there are no guarantees for success, or happiness, or love — damn near everything is at stake.

The new status has to be earned.

My thoughts on it are these — on a deeper level it isn’t nearly as much about changing the object-character’s physical appearance as it is about changing the object-character’s self-perception. More, it’s about owning how you appear, and taking up the reins to determine how you present yourself to others, and then taking responsibility for how they will perceive you. If you don’t like how they perceive you, you have the power to change that.

Ultimately, this is what the makeover story says to me:
How can you expect your life to change — if you won’t change?

Nothing ventured is nothing gained.