Justine Fernandez

December 2, 2014

Professor Young

English 1000

Is beauty true?

(Revised draft for portfolio)

Beautiful to me

            Do you ever just look at someone or something and he/she 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? Dennis Dutton stated in The Ted Talk “ Darwin Theory of Beauty” how beauty is constructed both 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. Dennis Dutton also stated that there are reasons why we think things are beautiful. That it is not just simply humans expressing their desire but expressing what their ancestors thought were appealing. While many may think the construction of beauty is a good thing but in reality beauty being constructed is a bad thing.

            Beauty being constructed creates an illusion. An illusion that’s a misperception on what beauty is.  It creates an illusion of the perfect individual in society. In todays society advertisements and social media define beauty. The media all around us tells us how to be as individuals in order to fit in. We are surrounded by advertisements with photo shopped models and expectations of a person that are unrealistic. These advertisements give an illusion of what an individual should be like. According to media the ideal women is one that is six feet tall, one hundred and ten pound with long shinny hair basically the ideal model.  Cameron Russell who is a current model appeared on The Ted Talk “Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model” to talk about her experience as a model. Russell comes out onto the stage with six inch heels, a dress that comes mid thigh and her hair perfect giving off the impression to the audience that she is just an average model. She soon realizes to get her point across to the audience she changes into flats puts on a sweater and a skirt that comes down to ankle length. “ 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). She transformed what the audience thought about her in just changing her clothes. She went to being a model that everyone envied to an average person that had a story to tell. Now with the audiences attention she tells the truth behind being a model. She talks about how modeling is not what it seems like. That there is an illusion created with models since they are always wearing name branded clothes and perceived as having the perfect life that they do. Which in fact she continues on to state that models are probably the most insecure people you will ever meet and that their lives aren’t perfect at all. They are constantly told how to be as a person by society and create an even bigger illusion by advertising it through magazines and commercials. Beauty is constructed and it is an illusion given to society to believe what is beautiful or not.

            In addition, beauty being constructed doesn’t give justice to beauty. Beauty comes in all different forms not just one. Society convinces the world that there is only one view of beautiful. That what ever society tells us is beautiful is beautiful and anything outside of that definition is considered ugly or not normal. All around the world there are different definitions of beauty not just one. In the Middle East it is considered beautiful for women to have their whole body covered just reveling their eyes. On the other hand in China it is beautiful to have small feet. There is more than one aspect of beauty in the world. Aimme Mullins redefines what beauty. She completely changes the word beautiful to a whole new meaning. In the Ted Talk “My 12 Pairs Of legs” featuring Aimme Mullins she walks out appearing as a normal individual until she tells the story of her missing legs and the amount of prosthetic limbs she owns just to fit in with society. She continues to explain that she is a model as well as an athlete. Mullins is featured in many well known magazines such as Elle and Vogue. While Aimme Mullins may not be the ideal image of a model she defines beauty with her own ways. She defines beauty as being a women without a pair of legs and still  can be featured in a magazines. That she doesn’t have to be six feet tall and one hundred and ten pounds. She encountered elementary school students where she told her story and surprisingly got positive feedback from children that are innocent from the world and that haven’t been exposed to the conformity of beauty. “ And just like that I went from being a woman 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 of those little children by showing them a whole new meaning of beauty. Mullins changed her disability into an advantage. An advantage that will help the world to understand that there isn’t just one form of beauty but many. That all around the world people view beauty as different things we just need to open our horizons. Everyone has h own perspective on beauty. In my experience I found the changing of the leaves throughout the seasons is quite beautiful but not everyone is going to see the beauty within that.  Everyone has a personal definition of beauty. Beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes and by constructing beauty it doesn’t allow us to broaden our horizons of the definition of beauty. 

            Therefore we have no control what we think is beautiful, it is chosen for us. What we think is beautiful is pre determined for us and we don’t even know it. We have little to no control over our desires. Without control in ourselves we have no control over the future of beauty. We don’t get a say on what we want to be defined as beautiful. We are in a constant trap of society telling us what is beautiful. In addition to society determining what our ancestors play a big part on our mind set of thinking. Our ancestors found functionality in objects and we later found beauty in them.  Dennis Dutton talks about ancestral beauty in the Ted Talk “ A Darwin Theory of Beauty” how our ancestors found function in the pear shaped weapon and we now find that pear shape beautiful simply because of the evolving idea of the shape. We now pass by jewelry stores and stop and stare at the pear shaped diamond ring that appears in the window. “Your distinct ancestor loved that shape and found beauty in the skill needed to make it “(Dutton 14:40-14:45). It goes to show that we do not care about the functionality of the object like our ancestors did but simply the look of objects and how the world will view it as. Beauty is constructed within us and it makes us only see one side of things inside of things not the whole picture. Beauty being constructed is a bad thing we have no control over it.

            Beauty being constructed is a bad thing.  It doesn’t give true meaning to the word beauty. What we as society think is beautiful is so ignorant and shallow. We see beauty is starving models and depressed teenagers trying to be that model. We don’t see beauty in the significance of a culture or a miracle. An individual not society should define beauty. As a society all those individual thoughts should make up worldwide beauty not one persons idea of beauty that is broadcasted throughout the world for many to follow. Beauty is shapeable and together we can shape society instead of letting it shape us.  

           

Work Cited

Dutton, Dennis. “A Darwin Theory of Beauty.” Ted Talk. Feb. 2010.   Lecture.

Russell, Cameron. “ Looks Aren’t Everything. Believe Me, I’m a Model.”     Ted Talk. Oct. 2010. Lecture.

Mullins, Aimme. “ My 12 Pairs of Legs.” Ted Talk. Feb. 2009. Lecture.