An ode to Narcissus

The common version of the myth of Narcissus is that he was a beautiful man who knew that he was beautiful such that he spurned the affections of those who loved him. As punishment for his conceitedness, he falls in love with a reflection in a pool of water, not realizing it was his own, and dies there, not being able to leave the beauty of his own reflection.

Our houses, decorated with multiple full-length mirrors, so that we can walk from room to room without forgetting what we look like, are an homage to Narcissus. We look, then look again, and again and again, from different angles, in different sized mirrors to make sure, make sure that we still look like ourselves.

A modern manifestation of the story of Narcissus is our tendency to compare ourselves and others to celebrities- the ultimate manifestation of beauty and success in our culture. There are websites where you can upload a picture of yourself and determine who else you look like and who else looks like you. I cannot comment on the accuracy of these sites-- but only that they do, indeed, intrigue me. The database of celebrity faces are, expectedly, all thin, beautiful and glamorous. Like you, of course.

The ultimate, modern compliment to go along with this phenomenon is to compare someone to a celebrity. Rather than saying, I think you absolutely beautiful, it's "You look just like Eva Mendes" a compliment that compares, qualifies and quantifies the level of attractiveness. You look like Eva Mendes is interpreted as you are as beautiful as Eva Mendes or on the contrary- "she looks like Susan Boyle" (talent aside) is clearly not very complimentary.

In my lifelong quest for my doppelganger, I have yet to consult a website to help me with my search--

Instead I gaze into my looking-glass and peruse the pages of Vogue.

My search should really stop where it started- with my mother.