concept of beauty

7/31/2019 Concept of Beauty

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Concept of Beauty China:

Appearance:

Female: Fair skin, big eyes, slim figure, long legs, nicely dressed

Male: Nice face with big eyes, straight noses, slim figure but not necessary too curvy, long legs

Personality:

Female: Nice, sweet, elegant, daring

Male: Do not really care if face is pretty enough but it would be better if she is a family type

Health:

Female: Keep in fit

Male: Do not care but of course not with terminal illness

Time line development

In different dynasties, the fashion sense starts with the emperor s preferences (too early to have

a picture but recorded by the scholars): skinny fat skinny fat, there is no consistent trend

1912 1949: with the invasion of the western civilization, media and marketers starts to play a

big roll.

1949 1980: initial close up so plain, down to earth was the safe choice

1981 now: again, influenced by the western countries and the movie stars play a big role to

influence the concept of beauty and media and marketer play an important role. Depend on the

different brand, different strategy was chosen: more common brand: local stars + foreign models;

luxury brand: international movie stars; Internet street shots

Actual measurements exist, ratios of body parts, shapes, positions and etc.

I

t is a cultural thing. The media amplifies it. Usually our concept of beauty revolves around values

we treasure, like youth and health. Baby faces are considered beautiful because they look

youthful. Similar to long hair for woman, because short hair is a sign of age. It is not as simple as

just the media. How do you then account for the concept of beauty when there was no mass

media. Fat and pale used to be considered beautiful because it was a sign of wealth, having

enough food to eat, and enough money not to have to slave away in the sun. Now tan is beautiful

because it is a sign of wealth, being thin requires hard work and dedication. High foreheads were

once prized because they a sign of intelligence. Black teeth were even considered beautiful once

in Japan. Extreme measures have been used for thousands of years to obtain beauty, like foot

binding. There is even are other things like hip to waist ratio, waist to shoulder, length of legs,

that seem inherent to the definition of beauty. Things like symmetry come into play as well.

Everyone who has responded to your question is too focused with our current definition of

beauty and the media's obsession with thinness. It is so much more than that. I will include the

wikipedia page on beauty, that will give you some general information on how we perceive

beauty.

The concept comes from the media, but where does the media get the concept?

This is where the collective and personal unconsciousness comes into play. The collective and

personal came from Freud and Jung (two physiologists) . They believe that views on life comes


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from their ancestors and how they were raised and were subconsciously passed on to their

children and their children's children. Views on beauty primarily began through higher people

(kings queens) looks and that the kings and queens made their looks better then the common

folk because they were of higher authority and more of something to look up too and common

folk then began trying to up their standards to look like that and told their children and thus, a

cycle begins. Higher standards happen and beauty and shaped and formed into many figures and

are spread throughout the world and are then shaped more differently in different areas because

of how people were raised.

The personal unconsciousness is stuff that WE see through TV and the internet and models and

such. Attitude is the same way

(also called , or ) is a

characteristic of aperson,animal,place,object, oridea that providesaperceptual experience ofpleasureorsatisfaction.

[1]Beauty is studied

as part ofaesthetics,sociology,social psychology, andculture. An

"ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely

attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.[citation needed]

The experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some

entity as being in balance andharmony withnature, which may lead to

feelings of attraction and emotional well-being.[citation needed]

Because this

is asubjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye

of the beholder."[2]

There is evidence that perceptions of beauty are evolutionarily

determined, that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered

beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced

survival of the perceiving human's genes.[3][4]

The classical Greek noun for "beauty" was , kallos, and the

adjective for "beautiful" was , kalos. TheKoine Greek word for

beautiful was , hraios,[5]an adjective etymologically coming

from the word , hra, meaning "hour". In Koine Greek, beauty was

thus associated with "being of one's hour".[6]

Thus, a ripe fruit (of its

time) was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear

older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered

beautiful. In Attic Greek, hraios had many meanings, including

"youthful" and "ripe old age".[6]

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1 Historical view of beauty 2 Human beauty 3 Effects on society 4 Ugliness 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Florence Cathedral and dome. Since theRenaissance, harmony, symmetry and

correct proportions are considered essential elements of universal

beauty.

There is evidence that a preference for beautiful faces emerges early in

child development, and that the standards of attractiveness are similar

across different genders and cultures.[7]

A study published in 2008

suggests thatsymmetry is also important because it suggests the absence

of genetic or acquired defects.

[8]

Althoughstyle andfashion vary widely, cross-cultural research has found

a variety of commonalities in people's perception of beauty. The earliest

Western theory of beauty can be found in the works of early Greek

philosophers from thepre-Socratic period, such asPythagoras. The

Pythagorean school saw a strong connection betweenmathematics and beauty.

In particular, they noted that objects proportioned according to the

golden ratio seemed more attractive.[9]

AncientGreekarchitecture is based

on this view of symmetry andproportion.
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Plato considered beauty to be the Idea (Form) above all other Ideas.[10]

Aristotle saw a relationship between the beautiful (to kalon) and virtue,

arguing that "Virtue aims at the beautiful."[11]

This painting of Ins de Ziga, Condesa de Monterrey, is an example of

the beauty women strived for in 17th-centurySpain.

Classical philosophyand sculptures of men and women produced according

to theGreek philosophers' tenets of ideal human beauty were rediscovered

inRenaissance Europe, leading to a re-adoption of what became known as

a "classical ideal". In terms of female human beauty, a woman whose

appearance conforms to these tenets is still called a "classical beauty"

or said to possess a "classical beauty", whilst the foundations laid by

Greek and Roman artists have also supplied the standard for male beauty

in western civilization[citation needed]

. During the Gothic era, the classical

aesthetical canon of beauty was rejected as sinful. Later, theRenaissance

and theHumanism rejected this view, and considered beauty as a product

of rational order and harmony of proportions. Renaissance artists and

architect (such asGiorgio Vasari in his "lives of artists") criticised

the Gothic period as irrational and barbarian. This point of view over

Gothic art lasted until Romanticism, in the 19th century.

The Age of Reason saw a rise in an interest in beauty as a philosophical

subject. For example, Scottish philosopherFrancis Hutcheson argued that

beauty is "unity in variety and variety in unity".[12]The Romantic poets,

too, became highly concerned with thenature of beauty, withJohn Keats

arguing in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that

Beauty is truth, truth beauty ,that is all.

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

In the Romantic period,Edmund Burke pointed out the differences betweenbeauty in its classical meaning andSublime. The concept of the Sublime
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by Burke and Kant permitted us to understand that even if Gothic art and

architecture are not always "symmetrical" or adherent to classical

standard of beauty as the other style, Gothic art is by no mean "ugly"

or irrational: it's just another aesthetic category, the Sublime

category.

The 20th century saw an increasing rejection of beauty by artists and

philosophers alike, culminating inpostmodernism's anti-aesthietics.[13]

This is despite beauty being a central concern of one of postmodernism's

main influences,Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that the Will to Power

was the Will to Beauty.[14]

In the aftermath of postmodernism's rejection of beauty, thinkers, such

asRoger Scruton[15]

andFrederick Turner,[16][17][18]

have returned to beauty

as an important value. American analytic philosopherGuy Sircelloproposed his New Theory of Beauty as an effort to reaffirm the status of

beauty as an important philosophical concept.[19][20]

Elaine Scarry also

argues that beauty is related to justice.[21]

Joanna Krupa, a Polish-American model and actress

Main article:Physical attractiveness

The characterization of a person as beautiful, whether on an

individual basis or by community consensus, is often based on some

combination of inner beauty, which includes psychological factors such

aspersonality,intelligence,grace,politeness,charisma,integrity,

congruence andelegance, and outer beauty(i.e.physical attractiveness)which includes physical attributes which are valued on a subjective basis.
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Standards of beauty have changed over time, based on changing cultural

values. Historically, paintings show a wide range of different standards

for beauty. However, humans who are relatively young, with smooth skin,

well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have traditionally been

considered the most beautiful throughout history.

A strong indicator of physical beauty is "averageness", or "koinophilia".

When images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image,

they become progressively closer to the "ideal" image and are perceived

as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, whenFrancis Galton,

cousin ofCharles Darwin, overlaid photographic composite images of the

faces ofvegetarians andcriminals to see if there was a typical facial

appearance for each. When doing this, he noticed that the composite images

were more attractive compared to any of the individual images.

Researchers have replicated the result under more controlled conditions

and found that the computer generated, mathematical average of a series

of faces is rated more favorably than individual faces.[22]Evolutionarily,

it makes logical sense that sexual creatures should be attracted to mates

who possess predominantly common or average features.[23]

Fresco of a Roman woman fromPompeii, c. 50 CE

A feature of beautiful women that has been explored by researchers is a

waisthip ratio of approximately 0.70. Physiologists have shown that

women withhourglass figures are more fertile than other women due to

higher levels of certain female hormones, a fact that may subconsciously

condition males choosing mates.[24]

People are influenced by the images they see in the media to determine

what is or is not beautiful. Some feminists and doctors have suggested

that the very thin models featured in magazines promoteeating

disorders,[25]

and others have argued that the predominance of white women

featured in movies and advertising leads to aEurocentric concept of
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beauty, feelings of inferiority in women of color,[26]

andinternalized

racism.[27]

Theblack is beautiful cultural movement sought to dispel this notion.[28]

The concept of beauty in men is known as 'bishnen' inJapan. Bishnen

refers to males with distinctlyfeminine features, physical

characteristics establishing the standard of beauty in Japan and

typically exhibited in theirpop cultureidols. A multi-billion-dollar

industry ofJapanese Aesthetic Salons exists for this reason.

ChineseJade ornament with flower design,Jin Dynasty (1115-1234 AD),

Shanghai Museum

Beauty presents a standard ofcomparison, and it can cause resentment and

dissatisfaction when not achieved. People who do not fit the "beauty

ideal" may be ostracized within their communities. The television sitcom

Ugly Bettyportrays the life of a girl faced with hardships due to

society's unwelcoming attitudes toward those they deem unattractive.

However, a person may also be targeted for harassment because of their

beauty. InMalna, a strikingly beautiful Italian woman is forced into

poverty by the women of the community who refuse to give her work for fear

that she may "woo" their husbands. The documentaryBeauty in the Eyes of

the Beheldexplores both the societal blessings and curses of female

beauty through interviews of women considered beautiful.

Researchers have found that good looking students get higher grades from

their teachers than students with an ordinary appearance.[29]

Furthermore,

attractive patients receive more personalized care from their

doctors.[citation needed]

Studies have even shown that handsome criminals receive

lighter sentences than less attractive convicts.[citation needed]

Studies among

teens and young adults, such as those of psychiatrist and self-help author,
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Eva Ritvo, show that skin conditions have a profound effect on social

behavior and opportunity.[30]

How much money a person earns may also be influenced by physical beauty.

One study found that people low in physical attractiveness earn 5 to 10

percent less than ordinary looking people, who in turn earn 3 to 8 percent

less than those who are considered good looking.[31]

Discrimination against

others based on their appearance is known aslookism.[citation needed]

St. Augustine said of beauty "Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but

that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the

wicked."[32]

is a property of a person or thing that is unpleasant to look

upon and results in a highly unfavorable evaluation. To be ugly is to be

aesthetically unattractive, repulsive, or offensive.[33]

Like its opposite,

beauty, ugliness involves asubjective judgment and is at least partly

in the "eye of the beholder." Thus, the perception of ugliness can be

mistaken or short-sighted, as in the story ofThe Ugly DucklingbyHans

Christian Andersen.

People who appear ugly to others suffer well-documented discrimination,earning 10 to 15 percent less per year than similar workers, and are less

likely to be hired for almost any job, but lack legal recourse to fight

discrimination.[34]

Although ugliness is normally viewed as a visible characteristic, it can

also be an internal attribute. For example, an individual could be

outwardly attractive but inwardly thoughtless and cruel. It is also

possible to be in an "ugly mood", which is a temporary, internal state

of unpleasantness, or may refer to the way one views themselves at the

moment.

For some people, ugliness is a central aspect of their persona.Jean-Paul

Sartre had a lazy eye and a bloated, asymmetrical face, and he attributed

many of his philosophical ideas to his life-long struggle to come to terms

with his self-described ugliness.[35]Socratesalso used his ugliness as

a philosophical touch point, concluding that philosophy can save us from

our outward ugliness.[35]Famous in his own time for his perceived ugliness,

Abraham Lincoln was described by a contemporary: "to say that he is ugly

is nothing; to add that his figure is grotesque, is to convey no adequateimpression." However, his looks proved to be an asset in his personal and
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political relationships, as his law partnerWilliam Herndon wrote, "He

was not a pretty man by any means, nor was he an ugly one; he was a homely

man, careless of his looks, plain-looking and plain-acting. He had no pomp,

display, or dignity, so-called. He appeared simple in his carriage and

bearing. He was a sad-looking man; his melancholy dripped from him as he

walked. His apparent gloom impressed his friends, and created sympathy

for himone means of his great success."[36

On Beauty : A History of a Western Idea - Umberto

Eco

Concept of beauty and aesthetics was the subject of

discussion from the early ages of civilisation. Reproduction of beauty ( of

human, animals and objects) were part of the initial form of art.

Innumerable examples of arts and artefacts are available in various

civilisations. Umberto Eco, renowned novelist, philosopher, and professor

of Semiotics looks at the concept of beauty and its representation in the

form of arts ( most common apart from literature) through Western

( European) study and analysis.

"Beauty is all that pleases" says Eco in his introduction. "Art and poetry

(and consequently beauty) may gladden the eye or the mind, but they

are not directly connected to the truth".

"A beautiful object is an object that by virtue of its form delights the

senses, especially sight and hearing. ...important role is also played bythe qualities of the soul and the personality, which are perceived by the

minds eyes more than the eye of the body."

One of the initial classification of beauty was at least into three aesthetic

categories: Ideal Beauty : which represent nature by means of a

montage of the parts; Spiritual Beauty : Which expresses the should

through the eye and Useful or Functional Beauty.

"But this early point of view can not be fully understood if we look at

beauty through modern eyes, as was often the case in the various epochs

that assumed as authentic and original a 'Classical' representation of
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beauty that was in reality engendered by projecting a modern point of

view onto the past."

From the initial era , where the representation of beauty was raw and not

guided and subjected to any conceptual theories and methods, therewere people who were trying to bring a structure to the image.

One of them were to try and connect them to mathematical formula and

structure. "Pythagoras was the first to maintain that the origin on all

things lay in numbers."

"According to common sense we judge a well - proportioned things

beautiful. Since ancient times, beauty has been identified with proportion.

Proportion must always be accompanied by the pleasantness of colour

and of light. " Symmetry was the next to guide the evolution, especially

on the buildings and structures.

"Beauty is not only symmetry and proportion, but harmony too.Harmony is not the absence of but the equilibrium between opposites".

"Beauty does not correspond to what we see...the sight of the senses

must be overcome by intellectual sight, which requires a knowledge of

dialectical art, in other words philosophy. And so, not every one is able to

grasp true beauty..... A Japanese sculpture is made to be touched, while

a Tibetan sand mandala requires interaction. For the Greeks, however,

beauty was expressed by those senses that permit a distance to be

maintained between the object and the observer; sight and hearing

rather than touch , taste and smell."

The early ages of representation of aesthetics through paintings and

sculpture were largely guided by the religious and spiritual bodies,

followed by the patrons of the art, usually the Feudal Landlords and the

rich. Towards, renaissance and the period after that, the practitioners

themselves have become rich and independent, thus with the ability to

experiment and improve their art.

"In the twilight of Renaissance civilisation, a significant idea began to

gain ground; Beauty did not so much spring from balanced proportion,

but from a sort of torsion, a restless reaching out for something lyingbeyond the mathematical rules that govern the physical world."

One of the aspect of beauty was the understanding and use of light.

"Light is the substantial form of bodies. In this sense light is the principle

of all Beauty".

Eco also discusses the "Beautiful representation of Ugliness". Ugliness as

the antithesis of Beauty , was there since the initial stages. The monsters

and the other deformed and shapeless creatures were abundant in the

early years as well.


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indeed a worthy collection for those interested in art and aesthetics. The

pages contain some of the gorgeous and famous paintings you have

heard. The discussion is guided by the chronological evolution, but the

chapters are segregated under common topics irrespective of their time

and period.I have read elsewhere that only nine of the 17 chapters were written by

Eco; the rest are by the Italian novelist Girolamo de Michele. However, I

haven't seen any mention of his name in the credits. As the title suggests,

this was the study under the 'western/ European' history of aesthetics.

Each stage I was trying to make parallels to the eastern ( Indian to be

precise) way of aesthetics. While there are striking similarities, I am not

sure if we have done a study at this depth.

concept of beauty

Documents