Actors` wrinkles

Meryl Streep, 63, and Glenn Close, 65, have been nominated for Best Actress in the 84th Academy Awards slated for Monday in Hollywood. Streep, who played former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the film “The Iron Lady,” has been nominated for an Oscar 17 times and won twice. Close, who plays a woman disguised as a man in “Albert Nobbs,” has been nominated for the award six times. The images of the two actresses are so similar that Close once said, “People oftentimes mistake me for Meryl Streep.”

The two have also something in common: both have rejected Botox. The U.S. magazine Time recently introduced the term “iconoplast” in its online edition. The word is a combination of “iconoclast” and “plast,” meaning plastic surgery. The term refers to women who ignore fads to straighten out skin and unwrinkle the forehead with plastic surgery, according to the magazine. A Canadian newspaper calls Streep and Close leading iconoplasts. Their photos show fine wrinkles on their foreheads, eye rims and lips.

Last year, I interviewed a woman who wields significant influence over the Korean culture industry. She was in her 70s but looked 50-something. When asked by a photojournalist to smile for the camera, she had a hard time smiling. She was asked again to “raise the corner of her mouth,” but she could not because she had gotten Botox. Such an embarrassing situation is frequently spotted on TV and movie screens. It is pathetic to see veteran actors and actresses who can barely move facial muscles when smiling or crying.

Ten years have passed since Botox was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to remove wrinkles. Botox was listed in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003 and has become “a favorite with those hate wrinkles” as the dictionary describes. Seeing actors and actresses with even faces though they are old enough to have deep wrinkles is unpleasant. Thirty years ago, 76-year-old Henry Fonda won the Oscar for Best Actor and 74-year-old Katharine Hepburn for Best Actress for their roles in "On Golden Pond." Though aged, they looked beautiful.

Weekend Section Reporter Min Dong-yong (mindy@donga.com)