The World of Metamorphmagi

A walk down the cosmetic section in a retail store will show you how desperately people want to look different from themselves. Right from hair to toe, zillions of products are available to change the way one looks. I was wondering what would happen to mankind if they are suddenly vested with the power of a metamorphmagus i.e. people with the ability to change their form in the world of J.K.Rowling.

Let’s assume a scenario where everyone is suddenly able to change the way he/she looks - color, structure, size etc. For now, let’s not worry about the problem of identity or let’s assume that identification of a person is completely through telepathy. Or come up with whatever crazy mechanism you can think of to uniquely identify a person.

Everybody wants to look great, right? What would happen in this world of empowered human beings? What would now become a ‘great’ look?

Let’s say that every guy wants a six pack or every girl wants to be size zero. What happens next? If everyone gets a six pack - it naturally becomes unattractive and hence the convergence towards six pack would be disrupted and who knows, a big pot belly might become sexy. And if pot belly becomes sexy, then the convergence to pot belly would begin and again would be disrupted probably by sixteen-pack.

In a normal world (i.e. the current world), differentiation, uniqueness and rarity is what makes things attractive - blond, blue eyes, six packs, big 'pairs', long legs, biceps and several other body parts. It is worth noting that majority of what are termed as “good looks” in the normal world are inherently obtained and one has no control over most of their assets. You do have the power to change some of them but they come at high cost - you may get some silicon implanted in to your body, suck some fat out of your belly but at exorbitant prices. Or you may have to put in herculean efforts - work extremely hard at the gym, wear tooth clips, stop eating tasty food, etc.

In the ‘metamorphmagus ‘ world though, the task of differentiation is on the onus of the individual and it comes at no cost. ‘Looks different’ will become the norm rather than ‘looks good’, because the definition of ‘good’ becomes hazy. And desperate attempts in being different will drive people to look different by choice. Some may choose to be bald, obese, fairer/darker, shorter/taller.. Sporting pimples might be a fad.

Inevitably, this world will realize that what’s ‘sexy’ to one may be ‘ugly’ to the other. And old sage ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’ will be proven beyond doubt!

So, even if you have the power to change the way you look, you’ll end up looking the exactly the same as you are now or completely different, but definitely not better, because there is no such thing as ‘better’. So, why bother will all the efforts?!