The Eye of the Beholder
I’ve been reading archives of Twilight Zone episode summaries today. One struck me. It’s the story where a 19 year old woman refuses a surgical procedure that would both make her beautiful and long lived. And she turns it down (at first), because it also makes you think just like everyone else.
But… imagine a world where, for free, we get to be made over as good looking as we like. And we are forever young. In a very real sense, this is the grid we live in. Most women here try to make themselves classically beautiful, regardless of their real or imagined blemishes. I wonder, to what extent does having the same face give you the same thoughts? Not as much as that Twilight Zone episode, to be sure. But it makes me think. I always imagine that population pressure, too many people forced to live in one city in close proximity to each other, will make us as borg. But if this barbie-doll like mentality is the real us, perhaps we are rushing headlong and happily into being such?
This rush is also there in the guys. The biggest laugh was when I met one guy, heavily muscled like Thor, and with a waist that would make Pamela Anderson jealous. This ridiculous image was made all the more so when he claimed that was how he looked in that other place. Sorry mister, but that is unbelievable. Guys that heavily muscled don’t get that way sitting at a computer. It may be classic handsomeness, but it wouldn’t interest me anyway. Spend that much time in the gym exercising your body and there’s no way you could have spent enough time in the library exercising your mind.
Then again, not everyone follows that headlong rush to traditional beauty. I know I don’t anyway. My appearance is based off what pleases me, and no one else. And there are others who don’t go for traditional ideals of beauty too, and I’m not just counting the serious role-players of various kinds. But this raises yet another question. I like to think I am not a part of the beauty doll klatch, but to what extent do these others think that too?
So, today’s thought experiment. Consider a world where you (and only you) could make yourself over to be the perfect beauty (or perfect handsome guy, if that’s more you). And consider a world where anyone could do so. Would you take up the option in both? In just one? Neither? Why?
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:10 pm
You hear a lot that it is the inside that counts. But when you’re goodlooking, you’ll get the opportunity to show that inside much quicker.
That is the case both in RL as in SL. And don’t we all want to show a little piece of our inside to others?
It is true you don’t look like a barbie doll, Warda. But all the appearances that I’ve seen of you where all handsome ones.
And while I tried to make my SL appearance a bit similar to my RL appearance, my shoulders might be a bit broader and my age won’t show.
So in a world where everybody can change themselves, I would do so too. In fact I’ve already done so. Not to be the most handsome one around, but to accepted among my peers.
In a world where only I could do so? At this moment in time I would say no. But I can imagine circumstances where that might change.
February 5th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Interesting question , which I have given some thought to over several days..
I would say that I would certainly make myself the perfect beauty in the world, however , I would also want there to be other beauties out there, preferrably only woman
Of course, if I happened to be the ONLY perfect beautiful male, there’d probably be loads of jealous males which would make courting multiple women hard for me and I’d have to become civil and settle on only one..
I think along with this beauty would have to be a charm, where the charm works on both male & female alike… The beauty I would have would really be a friendly one in the way that people don’t feel intimidated by my ‘beauty’, after all, there’s probably nothing worse than looking at somebody and feeling somehow intimidated by them.. Sometimes looks get to peoples heads, and as you said Warda, numbs their minds to other aspects they could be doing to make themselves better people..
So would probably use the beauty for power and influence, yes, sad but true…. But hopefully I’d be doing it in a way that pleases many.
In a world where anyone could do so,, I would rather by myself, or have a characture that can shape shift with the desire to do so, set and setting…
My AV in SL used to have the largest nose in Second Life - a blemis my AV couldn’t get rid of (born with it, y’know),, he got so sick of people commenting on his nose that he had a surgical operation and now has a better looking nose….
However, it has been known to grow with its own accords at times
Overall, when it comes to looks, I prefer vibe over sexually attractiveness, to be honest..
February 5th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I’m going to go off on a tangent here.
Marsoups, you said you would certainly make yourself the “perfect beauty”. Perhaps it’s just my peculiar idiolect of English, but it feels strange for a man to be described as beautiful. Handsome, of course. But beautiful implies quite a different aesthetic to me. Was this an intentional choice of words, or just mere accident?
For myself… let’s see… If everyone could change their appearance, what would i choose to do? Oh, but I have already done that, because we are living in that world. In a hypothetical world where only I could change my appearance, would I? Probably yes, and then milk it to my own advantage. This may sound a little shallow. But let’s be honest. It’s no more shallow than what anyone naturally born with such good looks does anyway. And I like to think that because I’ve also spent a half a lifetime with ordinary looks, I am a nicer person for it than someone who was born beautiful.
And in a hypothetical world where no one could dramatically change their appearance. Ugh, what a nasty place! let’s not even try thinking about that one!
February 5th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Warda, can a painting be beautiful? Or a sculpture? Or a statue? Lets use Michelangelo’s David as an example. Is that a beautiful statue? I think it is.
But what if the statue came to life? Would the same image no longer be beautiful but handsome?