Justine Fernandez

Professor Young

Eng 1000

November 9, 2014

Beauty, What is it?

Beautiful In my Eyes

            Do you ever just look at someone or something and think that they or it is so beautiful? Just looking at something in nature catches people’s attention right away. A flower is beautiful because it contains beautiful colors and it is from nature.  Do you ever wonder why you think something is beautiful or appealing? The reason we think something is beautiful is because it is constructed within us. It is beautiful because beauty is both constructed by society and our ancestors.  Construction of beauty is when you alter perspectives of beauty by enhancing or creating an illusion to seem appealing to the majority of an audience. The way that we think doesn’t just come from automatically believing something is beautiful but there are reasons behind it. With beauty being constructed it gives humans a sense of direction as to what is beautiful. Construction of beauty can be viewed as negative but in reality beauty being constructed is a good thing because it is a misconception, gives hope for the hopeless and is uncontrollable because it is inherited.

            The construction of beauty is a misconception. Overall beauty being constructed is a good thing.  It gives us a different way to look at life and helps us as humans to get a sense of what beautiful is in the world. Without beauty being constructed we wouldn’t have any direction. We wouldn’t know if what we saw is appealing or not. For instance, if beauty wasn’t constructed there wouldn’t be any trends or clothing styles in the world. Also famous people wouldn’t matter because they would just be like every other person. Many people look at beauty being constructed as a bad thing because it persuades us to look at things differently when in reality you’re still voicing your opinion on things whether society thinks its beautiful or not. For example in the Ted Talk “Looks Aren’t Everything. Believe Me, I’m a Model” with Cameron Russell, she walks out on the show with a beautiful dress  along with the typical six-inch high heels that every model owns. People perceive her as a perfect human being because of the way she came out on the show. We perceived her as beautiful because magazines portray women as tall, skinny and beautiful. That was exactly what Cameron Russell came out as, tall, skinny and beautiful. Ultimately magazines shape into what we think is beautiful on a daily basis. But then she changed into a skirt that you could find in your everyday department stores and she took off her high heels. By her changing her clothes it gave the audience a totally different view of her because the clothes she was wearing made her a totally different person.

 But what makes her the perfect human being? Cameron Russell is tall, skinny and she has long hair but does that make her beautiful? When Cameron Russell comes out onto the stage she gives the first impression of an ideal model.  Soon after she states “ I’m quite privileged to transform what you think of me in a very brief ten seconds. Not everybody gets to do that”(Russell 0:52-1:06). The impression that she gives off reflects the typical model but little do we know that it is quite the opposite of what it seems. She goes on to explain how models are probably the most insecure people you will ever meet. Also that being a model isn’t everything that it is cracked up to be. In the United States to be a model you have to be the ideal women who poses on stage with designer outfits and makeup and hair that stays for days. While in other countries the person defines what is beautiful by their personality instead of their looks. For example in some countries if a women is fully covered she is defined as beautiful while as here if you’re half naked that’s when people describe you as a figure of beauty. Society shaped us into believing that beauty is everything that we see in magazines. Society shaped our way of looking at individual’s beauty by choosing it for us. Society convinced us that beauty is being skinny, tall and having nice clothes. Therefore the majority of people will go along with this idea of beauty and would want to duplicate it. This is a positive thing because we have a different view of what is beautiful. We all have an idea what beautiful is to us but being surrounded by different views is a good thing. We are surrounded by different views from international magazines and the world around us. It gives us a different way to look at life because it ultimately shapes us from different angles. Different angles including fashion statements from around the world and lifestyles of people from different countries. From those different styles and lifestyles we then shape ourselves as individuals in society. Constructed beauty gives individuals options and depth as people because you can chose to follow or imitate anything you want. You can be your own person while still having different influences around you. It gives people depth because we get different ideas from around the world.

            In addition, beauty being constructed gives people a sense of hope for those that think they will never be beautiful because of worldwide media. Magazines and models are constructing beauty. Beauty is also being constructed by false advertisement. By false advertisement meaning breast implants, Botox and even in some cases prosthetic limbs. While enhancing yourself with plastic in your body is viewed as a bad thing it can be a good thing because it brings different ideas and different countries together. For example in the Ted Talk” My 12 Pairs of Legs” with Aimme Mullins she is viewed as a normal human being, meaning that she is just average. She doesn’t have the clothes or the look for a model. She just looks like someone that can walk down the street in New York City and passing people won’t stop and think differently of her.  She is viewed as a regular person until she reveals her story and the fact that she has prosthetic legs that help her function on a daily basis. She constructed beauty by enhancing what she didn’t have into a thought, a thought that no matter who you are you, you are beautiful even if you don’t have two functional legs.

  Mullins gives hope to those that are struggling with self-image by stating that even if you were born with a disadvantage that you can turn that disadvantage into an advantage, an advantage that society won’t perceive you as different but the same as everyone else. “And just like that I went from being a women these kids would have been trained to see as disabled to somebody who had potential that their bodies didn’t have yet someone who might have been super disabled”(Mullins 2:00-2:15). She completely changed the view that people had on her by taking her disability and making it an advantage. She constructed beauty so that the rest of the world can have a piece of them that is beautiful as well. That goes away from what everyone else thinks is beautiful. It gives a different view on beauty. Beauty has many different angles. Beauty is hope for many.

            Therefore, Beauty is something that we don’t have control over. We don’t have a choice to decide if something is beautiful or not. What we think is beautiful is already programmed within us. It is something that we do automatically without even thinking about. “Your distinct ancestors loved that shape and found beauty in the skill needed to make it”(Dutton 14:40-14:45). Things that our ancestors thought were beautiful back then we still have the same perception on it just altered over time. Back then our ancestor’s thought that a hunting rock in the shape of a pear was beautiful. They thought that it was beautiful because it served several purposes such as hunting and surviving. Now we think that the shape of a pear is beautiful. Many things come in a pear shape such as diamond rings and assorted jewelry. We as humans don’t even think twice about the shape of things and why we perceive them as beautiful. In the Ted Talk “A Darwin Theory of Beauty” with Denis Dutton he talks about how we have no control over how we perceive beauty. Something that we think comes so simple to us is really something that we don’t have quite the control over.

 We don’t have control on what society thinks is beautiful because it is created for us by people around us. Big companies and the fashion industry create beauty and what they believe is beautiful. All together it gets us to think the same exact thing about beauty. We ultimately go with what media thinks is beautiful hence trends in fashion and the in and outs of a social groups. Media shapes us into what we think is beautiful. Advertisements influence us without us even knowing it. We choose companies over others because it is more present in society. Evidentially what we decide is beautiful now will carry on for many years to come and will influence generations. What will the pear shape of two thousand and fourteen look like in twenty years?

            Beauty being constructed is a good thing. Because it opens doors for us that we never knew really existed. It gives us different perspectives on beauty. It goes to show that beauty can be constructed like a super model or it can be an enhancement to our every day lives. Beauty is constructed in the best way possible to fit human needs in every way. In my experience I have encountered many things in my life that I personally found beautiful that other people do not. Such as the way that the leaves sprinkle down to the ground every fall and how beautiful the colors look all meshed up together. Not everyone is going to find that beautiful but everyone has his or her own perspective on beauty. Resulting from the way that society has shaped us into thinking what is beautiful and what is not.  The construction of beauty is fair. It is fair because everyone has his or her own way to look at beauty. Even though media and society has an influence on people everyone still has their own option of beauty. It is how you shape society not how society shapes your beauty.