Aesthetics: What Makes A Person Beautiful Or Attractive?

I have a long day ahead, so this is my first philosophical post on beauty.  I noticed that everytime I talk about attractiveness and what makes a person really beautiful, other people always place a responsibility on the individual and make it seem like it's that person's fault for feeling like they are not beautiful. They say things like "you need to have confidence", "if you do not see yourself as beautiful, then no one else will" and "if you feel good about yourself then other people will pick up on that and be drawn to you". The comment that I hate the most is "it's what's on the inside that counts". Living in America, and being constantly surrounded by media images about what socially beautiful, we all know that "self confidence" is a load of crap.

For my philosophy class, we read this book called Appetites by Caroline Knapp. In my women's studies class, we read an excerp from The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. These readings were amazing and they at least address what no one wants to talk about. What makes a person attractive is really external. People do not know if others are a kind genuine person until they actually meet and speak to the person. I want to say that every culture has a different standard of what is considered attractive in a woman, but living in a multiracial society, I can attest to the fact that every ethiniticity's definition of beauty is the same: long legged, long straight and preferrably blonde hair, lighter skin,  and sharp aquinine features. Within every ethnicity, preference in body shape and proportions vary. Within white America it's the women who are featured in magazines such as Elle, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated and pretty much all of the Victoria Secret models. For black American men it's most of the girls featured in music videos and hiphop magazines. Within the Latino cultures it's mostly in their media what they find beautiful in their women. Same can be said of Asian Americans and Asians and other ethnicities.

What is Not Addressed When Talking About Beauty

In America, beauty is capitalized. It's not really about what makes a person beautiful but how many people they attract. A perfect example of this is in my own experience of going "natural" (going from straightened, chemically relaxed hair to wearing it in its natural state). When I used to wear my hair straightened, I did not dress the best but I guys did walk up to me and one guy in a store commented on how beautiful I was. After being natural, I have family members telling me that I need to straighten my hair and I don't need to wear it the way it's grown out of my scalp.

At the same time, when I was in Reno, I had a white woman tell me that "black women do not look right with straighten hair because it looks fake and unnatural". She is unaware that black people have hair textures from loosely wavy to extremely kinky. These comments on both sides perpetuate the narrow definition of beauty. It also shows that women's bodies do not belong to them, but to society.

To fight all the external pressures of beauty and what is considered beautiful, it's best to think of it this way when it comes to dating: dress like the kind of woman you would be with if you were a guy. I learned that I can't make everyone in the world happy. When it comes to dating a guy: date the kind of guy you would want that woman to date. The whole idea of the word "self-confidence" is such a subjective and washed out term. If it means changing your hair from natural to straighten, then it means that.

A New Direction for this Blog

I decided to change the direction of this blog from one being about art to one about philosophical and aesthetic commentary about current events or anything I come across offline. So much has happen that I want to write about it, moreso than discuss it with others. I find that my way of viewing controversial topics comes from a more objective approach than others.

In the future, I hope to write as much as I can and readers will at least somewhat understand all sides of an argument.

Some Cool Websites Pertaining to Comics and Graphic Novels

These are some interesting website for those who want to create their own graphic novels or comicbooks.

Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphics

http://www.kubertsworld.com/

I was given a link to this school through someone I know at the current school I go to now. It's not only a trade school, but a private school that specializes in illustration. It looks very promising, considering the art program I'm in at my school. I hope to be write and illustrate graphic novels when I graduate from college. When it comes to art, I recommend having a mentor over taking art courses.

Artist Statement/Author's Commentary on future comicbook

Unlike the previous comicbook that I proposed, an old story that I wrote a long time ago will serve as the dialogue of the comicbook. I want this to be a graphic novel more so than a regular comicbook. I have read graphic novels, animes and classic style comicbooks and I came to the conclusion that classic comicbooks do not do a good job sending a compelling message. Instead, they tend to trivialize it even more. I fine that anime lacks diversity in presenting its characters. They seem to me to be cookie-cutter. I think that a more individualistic approach to creating the characters will be best for this graphic novel, especially when the themes are topics such as libertarianism, culture shift, human rights and collectivism. The story and the graphics will still be science fiction themed. I hope to either eventually add color, or make an adult version of a coloring book. I think if I had more supplies, I'd add color to the graphic novel.

Upcoming Comics and Works of Art

This summer will be more hectic than last because I have a class (core humanities), but I'll still be sketching out new paintings on paper and coming up with storylines for comicbooks. After my digital media project was a disaster, I decided NOT to bite off more than I can chew, especially when it comes to art. I plan on working on three politically and socially conscious paintings just to see if I can do a painting so deep in subject matter, and I'll be working on sketches for my comicbook. The original idea I had would be a post apocalyptic future trying to understand its history. I think that I will still use that concept, except I'll make it shorter and embed it in a story that is already written. I realized that after my last critique that the story is too epic and too complicated for a five series comicbook.

About the digital media project...I think if I had worked on the project right away with the skills I had, I would have gotten an A on the project instead of a B-. What I do like about the digital media class (program) is that I get to learn how to incorporate technology into my own art. I plan on using what I learned from photoshop in my future art projects.