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November 17, 2005
Seeing and Writing: "Average Attractions" by Bruce Bower
When I came across this essay in Chapter Four of Seeing and Writing I was completely absorbed in the reading. I think the questions "What is beauty?" is so interesting. I have seen shows before that talk about a magic ratio, I forget what the exact ratio is, that determines whether or not a body is considered beautiful.
This essay also suggests that beauty is based on how close we come to looking "normal." Perhaps "normal" is proportional according to the magic ratio? Regardless, when the article talked about how babies are more likely to play with attractive people, it made me think about a young girl that I babysit for. I have been babysitting for this family for years, and I have known this girl, Chandley, since she was 2 or 3-years-old and she is now 6 or 7. She has always loved to dance and one year she started ballet. She enjoyed the class and when it was finished she planned on enrolling for the next class. One day when I was babysitting I asked her how this second ballet class was going and she told me that she quit. I was really shocked to hear this so I asked her why and she wouldn't answer me. It was then that he little sister, Lauren, who was about 4 at the time, told me that she quit because he teacher was ugly. Chandley tried to defend herself by explaining that her teacher was overweight and she didn't like to watch her dance. I remember not really knowing what to say to her. I just thought it was really sad to see a young girl hold prejudices against other people because of their appearance.
Having read this essay and having had this experience I completely agree that no matter how young you are, you already favor people who are attractive, who look "normal," over people who look different. There is no way that Chandley acquired this prejudice from her parents. It's sad to think that we all come into this world already judging others, but I guess when you think about it, it's true.
Another interesting point that this article brought up was that if beauty relies on someone looking normal, then why are certain celebrities who possess unique traits considered beautiful because of this uniqueness? The celebrity that came to my mind was Angelina Jolie. She is considered beautiful mainly because of her lips, but I tried to figure out if she was not a celebrity and I just happened to see her walking down the street one day, whether or not I would consider her beautiful. I honestly don't have the answer for this because I know that she's a big star and it's hard to imagine her as an average person, but I'm guessing that I wouldn't find her as beautiful as I think she is now. I think this idea of fame contributing to beauty is interesting, and it makes me wonder that if given enough wealth and glamour, can anyone become beautiful?
Posted by lcissullivan at November 17, 2005 02:48 PM