the problem of beauty

[miriam_e]

It is a nagging problem. I am an artist. I draw things, particularly women. It always seemed natural to me that of course those images should be of beautiful women. But why? Isn't it as important -- possibly even more important -- to draw serene, attractive pictures of unbeautiful subjects? Unattractive women are heavily discriminated against; far more so than unattractive men. Should I allow myself to become an accomplice in this discrimination? Being aware of it, shouldn't I do what I can to reverse it?

To be fair to myself I have tried, but it is very difficult because paradoxically it's easier to draw something that's unattractive than it is to portray beauty. That means that making a picture in which the character doesn't look attractive simply gives the impression that the artist is incapable. It is hard to capture beauty, so that becomes almost a yardstick by which an artist's ability is measured. Yes, there are artists who draw ugly and revel in it, and they are often considered talented at what they do, but I'm sure if they created exactly the same kind of pictures, but including stunningly beautiful characters within them those images would be hailed as by far their best work.

By definition, we are attracted to attractiveness. There seems to be a good evolutionary basis for seeing beauty. As we grow up we seem to average out the features we see in people, and that average largely becomes our ideal of beauty. I think it was in the early 19th Century that a Scottish (or was he English?) guy became interested in "the face of evil", so he resolved to average out a large number of photographs of prison inmates. He was surprised to find that this exercise resulted, not in the ultimate character of evil distilled down, but a very attractive and benign-looking face. It only takes a moment's thought to see why evolution would gear us to see beauty this way. It would help prevent us breeding with individuals who might damage the species. If someone is stricken by disease then their appearance can become flawed, or if they have a disfiguring accident then they might not be able to care for offspring effectively.

Is there anything wrong with discriminating in favor of beauty? Well, yes, if you are unattractive. Unfortunately, these things no longer apply to humans. We have long since outstripped such simple constraints upon our fittedness for survival. Our amazing brain is the most potent force for survival that we possess and doesn't correlate with physical appearance at all. By colluding with the instinct for physical attractiveness we work against ourselves, possibly even damaging our species' potential. But even worse, we damage our morality.

How could it affect our morality? Some years ago I was speaking to a friend who is one of the most beautiful women I've met. She is not stupid, though she is no intellectual star either; she would be the first to agree that she has merely an unremarkable mind. We were chatting about work and she was happily saying that she never had to try particularly hard for any job. Her appearance would nearly always cause her to be chosen over other job applicants. I'd always felt that this damaged both her and the other applicants. Some time back I heard another beautiful woman bemoaning the fact that constant focus on a child's beauty causes them to grow up with the belief that their worth is in their appearance, causing major problems when they age and their looks start to fade. In an interview, Gwyneth Paltrow told of how surprised she was at the frank rudeness of people when she spent time in public places disguised in her fat suit, researching for the movie "Shallow Hal". Sadly this dismissal is no news to those of us who don't look pretty.

We are all fond of saying that beauty is only skin deep, but we never seem to actually take it to heart. I understand this extremely well, both because I work very hard to capture beauty in images, and because I'm aware that physically unattractive myself. But I'm dismayed that even with the knowledge I have, I still have no control over the way my heart leaps and my knees turn to jelly when smiled at by a beautiful woman.

Beauty is a real problem.

Comments

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with being attracted to it.
It's no sin. It just is.

But also, yes it would be wonderful to see more varied images of women through art. If it's hard first to want to make images of not beautiful women you could start with the strangely beautiful, the irregularly beautiful and work your way into the ordinary faces and bodies. Capturing the grace in the ordinary is a skill.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

It's actually easy to draw unattractive people. It's very difficult to draw attractive people. Therein lies one of the big problems for an artist: when you draw someone who is unattractive it can simply look like you are unable to draw pretty people. Even if you include beautiful people in the scene with the unattractive person, it will still tend to produce comments that the artist failed to depict the unattractive ones "properly".

What you said about capturing the grace in the ordinary holds something of the key to this conundrum I think. You put it well.

I don't so much consider attraction to beauty as a sin, as being shallow. It annoys me that I am guilty of something that marginalises people who are not pretty -- that includes me! I'm participating in the oppression of myself. There is something grimly humorous about that.

That said, I have to say I also find some other qualities attractive, beyond simple appearance. I find a good mind alluring, a pleasant nature soothing, an ability to laugh uplifting, melodic voice as sexy as all hell, and so on.

It does bother me though, that there will be some wonderful people out there that I've missed out on knowing simply because they are superficially unattractive. Most people would consider me exceptionally unprejudiced and easygoing and I try to be open to all types of people. But I'm painfully aware that I often fail.

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

Well you know you better than I do so only you can say what you do.
I don't think we can force attraction though. I think it would be harmful if we try. It's there or it's not. The best one can do is to have their eyes and hearts open and be present to what is.

I know of people who will not be friends with people who they believe are beautiful. Just on principle. Which I'm not sure what the principle is but I think they believe these people get everything handed to em and they don't deserve friendship. Which honestly I think is a crock.
There are beautiful people who are ignored for being beautiful, who people assume must be unkind individuals because they are beautiful. I've read of studies that find that people who are more attractive are actually less satisfied with their appearance than more average looking people.
Which kinda makes sense. If one is valued only for their beauty and the person knows it, they've got to feel theres a lot of pressure to stay that way.
I've a friend who happens to be exceptionally beautiful. She also has a beautiful mind and soul. She also has major issues, much of what appears to be issues of self hate. She told me that her parents raised her to believe being attractive was the valuable thing, but that she rejected that early on. She has a tendency to dress to hide herself. Not that it's even possible, her beauty is just too apparent. I wonder how many people want her for her beauty but refuse to actually love her.

But yah, pretty much everybody can't help but have a reaction to exceptional beauty but sometimes that morphs into unkindness.

This: http://www.zaporacle.com/textpattern/article/16/-stop-the-hottie-
is an interesting essay called "Stop The Hottie" that I think somehow relates to what we're talking about.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for that link! Wow! Great coverage of the topic in a very unusual and insightful way. I feel quite a bit richer for having read it. Your comment, its link, and where it sent me... all three highlight one of the reasons that I love what the internet has done to humanity.

Your counsel and that site have washed away much of the annoyance I'd clobbered myself with. I've decided to let my pictures take me where they will. I'm sure they will include some aspects of "hottiness", but I'm not really very worried about it anymore. I'll let the images do what they will. Even though I'll be pushing the pixels around, I'll be as interested as anybody else to see the result.

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad. :)

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

Also, re the art issues, have you seen this?
http://www.belch.com/blog/2008/04/13/most-valuable-painting-by-living-artist/

I suspect there are those out there that know their art well enough that they wont mistake choice of subject matter for lack of skill.
In any case one should make what they feel called to make, regardless of what others may say.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Very true.

beauty

[(Anonymous)]

Beauty is only the appearance of something...its superficial. You know this.

Re: beauty

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is superficial, but it also has deep and powerful connections through our instincts and we ignore it, or deny it, or let it control us at our peril.

we won in California!

[revbobbob.livejournal.com]

"we" == humankind!

We all just became a little more free!

Re: we won in California!

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

free == ?
won == ?
Sorry for being thick. I don't listen to news or read newspapers... except for New Scientist.

Re: we won in California!

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's talking about the California Supreme Court ruling lifting the ban on gay marriage.

[sharpblonde.livejournal.com]

I'd say an attraction to "beauty" is still a necessary thing biologically. If we start breeding in many physical faults, the species becomes weaker physically. If brought to too much of extremely this could endanger the species. If you breed for brains without consideration for the body, you run the risks of getting super geniuses who can't use the brains to full capacity because they are too busy dealing with some physical disadvantage or other. However, it is like everything else, you need balance in what you are attracted to. For instance, I think for me the order of attractive attributes are as follows: pheromones, friendliness, looks and brains. I put looks and brains as equal, where in actual fact they aren't because if someone couldn't keep up with at least most of my ideas I'd get bored with them. Pheromones and personality can easily make up for someone not be great looking, but I can't recall ever having a crush on someone who was actually ugly. Friendliness is way up there because no matter how hot or how smart someone is, I'm going to want smack someone more than do them if they are a complete ass.

Personally I like Renoir as an artist. He made women who look like women, rather than models, beautiful. I mean, I hate that everything is skinny, skinny, skinny or at least trim. It corrupts people's thinking. For example, I think my girlfriend should have a good body image. She is beautiful, but she thinks she is overweight. I don't think it is my personal bias towards her that makes me think she is not overweight. And hell, I like curves. A lot.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I have a bad feeling that our attraction to superficials might end up destroying the human race. We desperately need brains. We have far surpassed any limitations physical ability might once have imposed upon us.

Yes. I like Renoir's images of women too. I'm genetically programmed to be skinny and gaunt, and will be till I'm in my grave, but I strongly dislike the current fashion that makes fashion models look like boys. Women look most feminine when they have curves. I wish I had them. Your girlfriend is lucky. :)

[sharpblonde.livejournal.com]

My argument is more for extremes than anything. Some disabilities can be passed on, for example, so it makes sense to breed away from that. Also, you still have to be physically attracted to someone, at least minimally, to want to have sex. Other than that, personality and brains are way more important.

Beauty

[revbobbob.livejournal.com]

Sorry for getting sidetracked there about the California decision, but I have temendous hopes that marriage equality might mean not only euality for who can marry but a better chance for equality within marriage. A former friend at work told me he had a "scriptural marriage" -- he was the boss and his wife kept her "place". Perhaps the reason he's a former friend is that I couldn't keep off my face how appalled I was. Not that everybody's *obligated* to get married, but if we see enough living examples of equality right before our eyes, maybe, just like the bigots claim, it really *does* challenge the "traditional" male-dominant definition of marriage. And hooray for that!

Wait, back on topic, but I've come to a pretty firm conclusion in my umpty-odd years of life: brains beats boobs.

I've got to the point where horrible self-centered bimbos don't even look good to me any more. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

It's like Carole King's voice. It's been lived in. While youth is supposed to be beautiful, it's empty, unfinished. Youth plus paint is nothing but a clown face.

Maybe that's the next challenge in drawing: showing the character time and *charater* have added to the beauty in the face.