Female Beauty

[stoutfellow]

It begins with an advertisement. It's not on the air anymore; in fact, I'm not sure when it was aired, for how long, or even what was being advertised. (Really effective ad, no?) The ad opens with Cybill Shepherd saying, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

Now, that sentence bugs me on a number of levels, but I'm just going to focus on the presupposition.

I don't see Cybill Shepherd as beautiful. I know that there are those who do, and they are numerous, or influential, or both; but I don't see it. I've wasted spent some time trying to figure out why she's not appealing to me.

Faces are important. If a face doesn't strike me well, there's not much that can retrieve the situation. Now, I'll grant that CS has nice eyes. (Eyes can do a lot. Elizabeth Rohm's eyes almost make up for her shortcomings as an actress.) The problem seems to have to do with the lower half of her face. For a while I thought it was the strength of her jawline, but Phylicia Rashad has a comparably strong jaw, and she's gorgeous. I've decided it has to be the width of her mouth. I'm not sure why that turns me off, but - well, I'm not impressed with Julia Roberts either.

There are two kinds of faces that I like. An oval or heart-shaped face with delicate features, like Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman, is very attractive. Glenn Close fits here too. At the lower end, this shades into cuteness - Meg Ryan or Helen Hunt. (Helen Hunt fails, for me, because her chin is too weak. I'm not sure why Meg Ryan misses the cut.) On the other hand, a longish face with strong features merits a second look too. Katharine Hepburn is the exemplar in this group, but there are a lot of recent contenders too, including Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, and Claudia Black. The lower end here includes what my father calls "handsome" women; Claudia Christian is one, Allison Janney another.

Voices matter a lot, too. There's a particular sort of voice that really attracts me, but it seems rare; I've only noticed it three times. Kate Jackson has (had? haven't seen her in a while) it, and so does Claudia Black. So did (sigh) one of my students, quite a few years ago. (Ethics, boy, ethics!)

Not that anyone was asking...

Comments

Hate me because ...

[rikkios.livejournal.com]

Now I understand the birthcard my wife bought for her sister
"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful
Hate me because I'm younger than you"

For what it's worth: I think oval faces are very attractive.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

"It begins with an advertisement. It's not on the air anymore; in fact, I'm not sure when it was aired, for how long, or even what was being advertised. (Really effective ad, no?) The ad opens with Cybill Shepherd saying, 'Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.'"

I don't remember the version with Cybill Shepherd, but Andie MacDowell has also done the ad. The line itself disgusts me. My immediate thought whenever I hear it is "Who said you were beautiful?" I don't know what L'Oreal (IIRC) was thinking about when they agreed to go with this ad campaign. I think it is a trigger that irritates women, rather than the target response sought, "Oh, I want to have hair just like her; in fact, I want to *be* her!" I have known a couple of women who were beautiful, focused on it constantly, belittled women who weren't - and frankly, I *never* wanted to be like them. So, yes, as an ad campaign, it sucked big time.

"Faces are important. If a face doesn't strike me well, there's not much that can retrieve the situation. Now, I'll grant that CS has nice eyes. (Eyes can do a lot. Elizabeth Rohm's eyes almost make up for her shortcomings as an actress.) The problem seems to have to do with the lower half of her face. For a while I thought it was the strength of her jawline, but Phylicia Rashad has a comparably strong jaw, and she's gorgeous. I've decided it has to be the width of her mouth. I'm not sure why that turns me off, but - well, I'm not impressed with Julia Roberts either."

LOL. The Teflon Spouse calls Julia Roberts "Donald Duck" because of her mouth.

I agree that faces are important [see my earlier post on the poor older man whose long, greasy hair, and tongue hanging out of his mouth made it hard for me to warm up to him in the hospital room, shallow thing that I can be (g)).

But I also think that we see faces *differently* as we get to know the person *in* the face. People that I have not thought were particularly physically attractive have come to be so, in my eyes, if they have especially endearing traits. By the same token, beautiful faces, no matter how symmetrical, how lovely the eyes, etc., become truly ugly to me if the occupant is unpleasant.

"There are two kinds of faces that I like. An oval or heart-shaped face with delicate features, like Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman, is very attractive. Glenn Close fits here too. At the lower end, this shades into cuteness - Meg Ryan or Helen Hunt. (Helen Hunt fails, for me, because her chin is too weak. I'm not sure why Meg Ryan misses the cut.) On the other hand, a longish face with strong features merits a second look too. Katharine Hepburn is the exemplar in this group, but there are a lot of recent contenders too, including Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, and Claudia Black. The lower end here includes what my father calls "handsome" women; Claudia Christian is one, Allison Janney another."

I would also add Grace Kelly to the elegant faces list and Emma Thompson to the handsome list. I don't find Glenn Close the least bit attractive, oddly enough. I don't know why. Julianne Moore, OTOH, strikes me as gorgeous.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Andie MacDowell? No, I don't remember her in the role at all. She's vivacious as all get out (which is a very nice quality too), but not beautiful, not to my eyes.

But I also think that we see faces *differently* as we get to know the person *in* the face.

A good point. As regards people in the entertainment industry, though, I rarely bother to learn enough about them for that factor to kick in. In face-to-face life, yes, definitely.

(It occurs to me that I have a short but select list of ugly actors whom I love - Charles Laughton, Ernest Borgnine, James Coburn, maybe a few others - but I haven't put any women on that list. I'm not sure whether that says more about me or about the entertainment industry.)

Grace Kelly, yes, definitely. For some reason, I can't call the faces of the other two you mention to mind. (Huh. I just flipped through the 2004 Maltin Guide, and realized that I haven't seen any of Emma Thompson's movies. I'll have to do something about that. Ditto for Julianne Moore, although I do have a couple of them on tape.)

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

"...realized that I haven't seen any of Emma Thompson's movies. I'll have to do something about that."

Yes, definitely! She's wonderful in Sense and Sensibility, Much Ado About Nothing, Howard's End, and Dead Again. I didn't much care for Love, Actually, although she was great in it. Betrayal is not one of my favorite themes.

"A good point. As regards people in the entertainment industry, though, I rarely bother to learn enough about them for that factor to kick in."

Oh, that's true. I was thinking of faces belonging to occupants I know. It does work for me regarding a *character* the actor plays, however. For example, Vincent D'Onofrio is not a particularly handsome man, per se, but I love his offbeat, obsessive detective Bobby Gorin character in Law & Order: Criminal Intent so much that he appears *very* handsome to me. The same is true in reverse for Tom Cruise. I understand that he is a handsome man, but I rarely care about the characters he portrays, so he doesn't touch my "cute guy" radar, at all. (I *do* understand that the actors are *not* their characters, btw! (g))

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I think I have Sense and Sensibility on tape. Maybe I'll dig it out and watch it this weekend.