On Beauty and the image of beauty
Merry Christmas! Take a moment from a day I trust has been festive for you, to ask yourself, how are you in the home of your body?
I am stealing moments from my Christmas Eve and Day to write to you. The week leading up to today has been a busy one, with me running here and there, like football players on a counterattack. Through this fortnight, among other things, I have been heavy with nostalgia and as a result, have returned to the enjoyment of old things. One of such things is one of my favourite movies, and I’ll leave you a recommendation later. Even though I have been diagnosed with a lack of Christmas spirit, I have found it to be an admirable experience, watching the season through the eyes of children; who are grinning always with excitement, who still shout Santa or Father Christmas at the sight of a man in an unconvincing costume, with a black beard peeking from under the white. I am hopeful and looking forward to the new year as I trust you are, while reminding myself that the first of January is not a reset button.
Beauty and other thoughts
When I desire you a part of me is gone...
— Anne Carson
[…] that word, 'utopia'. The Greeks had two meanings for it: 'eu-topos', meaning the good place,
and 'u-topos' meaning the place that cannot be.
— Rachel Menken. Mad Men Season 1 Episode 6
During and beyond this fortnight, beauty is a thought my mind eagerly returns to. This thought shifts, from beauty in the sense Emerson refers to—beauty as the creator of the Universe—and other senses, like how the eye of a beholder could be tainted. At a party earlier this fortnight, I was torn between the choice of pounded yam, vegetables and orisirisi; and jollof rice, fried rice, coleslaw, chicken, plantain and fish. Ordinarily, pounded yam is the obvious choice for me. But when I saw the arrangement of the other dish, the rice in colourful domes, the cream-rich salad, the golden crisp of plantains and the fish tail seasoned with a light sauce next to the drumstick grilled to a browned tightness. I changed my mind, and my mouth and my stomach. When the woman seated across me asked why the change, I responded, opening my hands over the meal, this will satisfy my hunger and aesthetics. Until she later asked for my name at the end of the party, she taunted me with the name aesthetics.
What then does it mean, to be beautiful? An answer here would be of greater consequence than what meal is consumed or isn’t. An answer here affects among other things, our self-image.
An answer to this question, by any of the 13 men who committed suicide after their love interests were refused by Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh, would be that there was no one more beautiful; no one worth living for or dying without, than her. Yet, of the many words used to describe this feminist princess, emphases are laid on her moustache, heavy brows—at the time, the unibrow was compared to Cupid's bow or the new moon in Persian love poems—fatness and masculinity. Her image runs against every standard of beauty upheld today.
There is a line between beauty and what we consider to be virtuous. Plato wrote of the good as the beautiful; and added that virtue is a kind of beauty. The Greeks held the adolescent male to be the embodiment of beauty. Hence, it was virtuous to be both male and young; and almost immoral to be otherwise. A similar line of virtue can be drawn with the Yorubas. The Yorubas interchange between good conduct and beauty—even coining similar words of iwa and ewa for them, respectively—rendering beauty incomplete or soiled without morals. Iwa as an aesthetic expression within the Yoruba culture; is contextual, highly dependent on experience and imparted. Similar to this, is oratory, which is highly dependent on its medium rather than content. An example being proverbs, which are regarded, quite literarily, to be the words of elders. Because of the nature of these virtues, the elders who are deemed custodians, are the most virtuous members of society. This understanding of beauty makes the misogyny prevalent among the Greeks and the recurring reverse-ageism and disdain of youth among Yoruba elders, forseeable.
A French law passed in October 2017, requires any commercial photos of models—or celebrities—that have been digitally altered to achieve a certain appearance to bear the warning label photographie retouchée—retouched photograph. In arguing for the law, Mariol Touriaine explained, ‘It is necessary to act on body image in society to avoid the promotion of inaccessible beauty ideals…’ A similar law in the United Kingdom has been drawn up as a bill by Dr. Luke Evans MP. In his argument for the bill, he claims the prevalent—edited—images of beauty are 'fuelling a mental health crisis' and creating a ‘warped view’ of beauty.
When Anne Carson writes about desire in her brilliant essay Eros the Bittersweet, she highlights in several instances the distinct nature of the gap between the desirer and the desired—the hole or void that necessitates desire. In a different yet relatable sense here, when the image of beauty is both unattainable and ubiquitous, what remains of us, of our self-image, if every time we desire to be leaner, or thicker, or have features of a certain kind, aspiring to an image; less of us remains? Knowing that no one desires what is not absent, the image of beauty functions to ensure inadequacy and lack. This lack then makes a desire possible that can be mined to different ends.
The standards or images of beauty have evolved, but their essence has remained the same. These images are not restricted to looks but extend to areas of: Race—with the shift from rejection to appropriation, of black culture and the exotification of multiracial people. Colourism—with a preference for lighter shades over darker ones. Gender—with more demands placed on women than men to be beautiful, then discrimination been experienced by men who dress more colourfully; which ironically is only a return to an earlier image of beauty. Intelligence—with the prominence of the dumb blonde image in the early 50’s to 60’s America, as portrayed by the likes of Marilyn Monroe. Accents—with preferences for the likes of British, French and Mexican accents; amongst other attributes. A peculiarity of our age, one could argue, is the ubiquity of these images. Today, the beauty standard is readily available, perceived and internalized rather than a distant conception. It makes the image of beauty a utopia, with its gates wide open, seemingly just out of reach.
Regardless of the peculiarities of our age and the many ways our reality is warped, the essence remains that beauty and the image of beauty, like most things in our society, is conceived in a binary. Because of this binary, one is either beautiful because of an ideal or in spite of it. This limited understanding of beauty narrows the answer to the question of what it means to be beautiful. These images of beauty are limitations on beauty.
Readings
I will leave you with works I am myself currently enjoying. Lolwe recently released their second issue and the varied works across genres are of course stellar. The issue is titled Memories of the Future and was guest-edited by Mapule Mohulatsi, Gbenga Adesina and Esther Karin Mngodo. You can begin your readings with any of the genres.
Enjoy.
Playlist / Movie
Through the course of this fortnight, I have returned to the familiar beauty of some of my favourite artistes. However, considering the season, I will leave you the delight of a beautiful and sensual album to listen to. Enjoy listening to Sabrina Claudio’s Christmas Blues.
The movie I mentioned earlier is Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry. Enjoy.
Merry Christmas beautiful one. I wish you a merry fortnight. I hope to read from you soon.
Love.
Ọbáfẹ́mi