beauty

[kilted exile]

There was a discussion on physical beauty a couple of years ago

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=24929

Basically my opinion is unchanged from what I posted then:

Ok, I may be in the minority here, but I have never been particularly enamoured with Angelina Jolie - I dont like the way her cheeks seem so sunken in. So in this way beauty is definitely a preference, based on what we percieve and would have to be in the eye of the beholder as a result.

Of course, societally we are given an image and told that it is beautiful, the majority of the time its nonsense. Maralyn (sp?) Monroe was thought to be the pinnacle of beauty, but now there are some who may consider her to be carrying a few extra pounds. Then we had the lanky supermodels who look like they have thrown up everything they've ate and were told for a woman to be beautiful she should look like that. More recently it has been the more curvaceous figure that has been "in" and we have been told Beyonce & Jennifer Lopez were beautiful. The more current fascination appears to be with the "Jessicas" as in Simpson, Alba and Biehl.

I dont pay attention to it I know what I find attractive (fuller face, typically brunnette & I really like green eyes) I dont need the media to tell me what I should find attractive.

While I was typing this I was reminded of the song Perfect 10 by The Beautiful South, a part of which I'm gonna post here:

Quote:
Shes a perfect 10, but she wears a 12
Baby keep a little 2 for me
She could be sweet 16**, bustin out at the seams
Its still love in the first degree

When hes at my gate, with a big fat 8
You wanna see the smile on my face
And even at my door, with a poor poor 4
There aint no man can replace

cause we love our love,
In different sizes
I love her body, especially the lies
Time takes its toll, but not on the eyes
Promise me this, take me tonight

**He is of course referring to dress size here not age.
__________________

[Zee.]

Beauty is retarded.

[Zee.]

Anyone who doesn't think symmetry is a big part of beauty - doesn't know much about the human form. Or what they're even looking at.

The women and the men you find beautiful all have good bone structure because with out it, eye colour, hair colour, whatever it may be - doesn't mean anything.

[Saladin]

Anyone who doesn't think symmetry is a big part of beauty - doesn't know much about the human form. Or what they're even looking at.

The women and the men you find beautiful all have good bone structure because with out it, eye colour, hair colour, whatever it may be - doesn't mean anything.

Yes i agree with you. It`s not about haircolour, eyecolour and etc. It`s all about bone structure.

[Zee.]

Ahem...

you honestly agree with me?


or are you being sarcastic?

[Saladin]

Ahem...

you honestly agree with me?


or are you being sarcastic?

Yes honestly, no sarcasm.

[Zee.]

Hmm

i'll buy it.

[stlukesguild]

Still you have not defined "good bone structure" beyond the tern symmetry... and every human face that is free of some deformity is essentially symmetrical. How is it, also, that the same bone structure that made young Marlon Brando a smoldering sex-idol, resulted equally in the rather brutally "ugly" Marlon Brando of Apocalypse Now and later? If beauty were so simply a product of symmetry... of some quantifiable rules... achieving absolute splendor as an artist would be quite simple... and I can tell you from experience it is not so.

[Zee.]

I'm not saying symmetry and only symmetry, i'm merely pointing out that it's a large factor in understanding beauty.

Good bone structure? Good bone structure varies, not everyone has the same face, obviously, but good bone structure is in harmony with itself, cheek bones are generally visible, high, a good jaw line.. it all depends.
I can't possibly explain what good bone structure is because so many people possess it and look completely different, but you can tell a woman who has good bone structure apart from one who doesn't. I find these women to be the ones who appear more "natural" looking.

[Zee.]

You never answered my question. Who do you find beautiful?

[Dori]

My ideals of beauty are Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley.

I have a thing for skinny girls, I confess, and I'm not well liked for having that preference.

[kandaurov]

Beauty, for me, is all about the face. I agree, symmetry and bone structure = very important, but also
- the eyes (today the clerk at Sainsbury's started making small talk with me and it took me some time to answer - she was quite ordinary, but had such mezmerising dark blue eyes!)
- and the smile (that's why Byron's "The smiles that win" always struck me as a perfect phrase).

[kandaurov]

So who is beautiful? Scarlett Johansson. All about her is perfect, and no plastic surgery involved, I'm sure. The owner of a very winning smile indeed!

[stlukesguild]

Who do you find beautiful?



Hmmm... perhaps you are right about this symmetry thing... although I don't know how important the bone structure is here. It would seem my eyes are drawn in a somewhat more southerly direction.

Seriously... I almost suspect that one could make an argument... at least for men... for the notion of a universal ideal body type... an ideal rooted in our gross biological drives. Faces, however...











I seemingly find a broad array of facial types to be striking... beautiful. In every instance there is a single element or group of elements that is especially striking. Of course... there also remains something of a balance... a harmony between the features... but what exactly this harmony is, I would be hard-pressed to reduce to a definition. I somewhat suspect that the faces that I find most beautiful are those that exude or convey a magnetic sense of personality... whether it be a sensuality (as in Liz Taylor), an strength of character and intelligence (as in Kate Winslet and Salma Hayek) or even something haunted (as in the young girl from Afghanistan). This would seem to relate also to the manner in which a pretty girl or handsome guy may suddenly seem less-than-attractive after speaking when certain illusions are shattered... or vis-versa. Pure symmetry of ideal bone structure only go so far. If I take this woman, for example:



She would seem to have an "ideal" face... one that would be commonly accepted as "beautiful"... and yet I must admit that while I do not find her "ugly"... she does not convey to me a "beauty" that approaches any of the others I posted. Rather... there is something of a feeling of a vacuous nature. Of course... this may simply owe to the photographer... just as some of the most attractive people look far better or far worse to us depending upon the photograph. Just as I doubt that we would always agree upon who is or is not "beautiful", I doubt we would even agree on which images of a single person are the more "attractive".

Of course I suspect this all departs greatly from the initial posting and the question as to what "beauty" is.

[Zee.]

I don't find the last woman very beautiful, even though she is described as the most beautiful woman in the world, which I really don't understand.

Kate Winslet is so beautiful. Her personality shines through her.