Beauty Week 4: An interlude for interfaces and inquiries

[imomus]

The relationship between beauty and change.
We discussed this yesterday.

The relationship between beauty and the beast.
"Returning home through the woods, Beauty's father leaves the path in search of a rose to give to his daughter and unwittingly enters the Beast's magical chateau. The next morning, he meets the fearsome Beast, who will only let him leave on condition that he sends one of his daughters to the chateau. The two ugly sisters refuse the proposition, whereas the virtuous, obedient Beauty consents. The Beast tries to hide his ugliness from her, but nevertheless she is able to discern his underlying goodness beneath the fearsome demeanour."

The relationship between beauty and death.
Classicism and Atrocity.

The relationship between beauty and sex.
Beauty makes me want to fuck.

The relationship between beauty and ethics.
Only what is ethically good can be beautiful?

The relationship between beauty and snobbism.
Here comes everybody! The beauty we regarded in solitary contemplation through our lorgnette must be abandoned.

The relationship between beauty and habit.
Use this cream daily. Beauty is a habit.

Google search on "beauty is": Results 1 - 10 of about 1,100,000 for "beauty is". (0.15 seconds)

New Scientist Breaking News - Beauty is in the nose of the beholder
Beauty is Shape - Fashion History of Body Shaping
Boxes and Arrows: Beauty is Only Screen Deep
CBS News Contest Proves Beauty Is Ageless (CBS) Beauty is not an age, but an attitude.
Eli Siegel's Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?' What is in common in every instance of beauty? -- beauty in art, nature, mind?
Beauty is in the eye of the blogger | Beauty is in the eye of the ...
BM Gallery-Beauty is skin deep; Explore the fascinating details on the surfaces of sea stars and other echinoderms.
Beauty Is But A Painted Hell Beauty is but a painted hell; Aye me, Aye me, Shee wounds them that admire it, Shee kils them that desire it. Give her pride but fuell, ...

And, speaking of painted hells...
Ten Visual Artists I Have Been Thinking About.

Comments

Re: "Only what is ethically good can be beautiful?"

[butterflyrobert.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is some "sticky territory" encountered over the past two days. Both a tsunami and a nuclear explosion are gorgeous to look at (on film or somesuch), but I'd never want to see either in person. And the "uneasy feeling" both arouse tend to move some "viewers" away from "beauty" and into "shuddering awe and terror".

What I find fascinating about the moral implications is that we all draw a line somewhere. I can find a tsunami beautiful, despite its aftermath and can almost appreciate the beauty of a mushroom cloud (though I admit to shuddering at the thought of ever having to see one in real life). Momus has said on one occasion that he thinks that mushroom clouds look pretty (possibly paraphrasing, because I am not going to bother myself to scour old posts to find the exact word), and, on another occasion that he doesn't find them beautiful (yes, the two words have slightly different meanings, so both can be true). He has also said that he doesn't find a tsunami beautiful because of it's devastation, though his opinion of it is likely to change with a does of neutral perspective and separation of perspective from event and aftermath.

This "sticky territory" is fascinating.