Limelight:
Mysteries of beauty
By
Lubna Abdel-Aziz
Beauty is a terrible and awful thing. It is terrible because it has not been fathomed.
Fyodor Dostoevsky Skin deep or not, the world and its inhabitants have become unconditional slaves to beauty. Why else would 97 per cent of women express dissatisfaction with their bodies; 69 per cent with their faces. Similar figures apply to males. An accident of nature, a rare occurrence, beauty has no rhyme or reason. While it can be genetically explained, it is never quite wholly understood. Revered, cherished and sought after, beauty has us reeling and kneeling at its feet, and rightly so. "It is a gift of God," said Aristotle. Many believe it is a form of genius. "It is higher indeed than genius" writes Oscar Wilde "because it stands no explanation." Intangible, indescribable, unintelligible, it speaks to our senses, whispering its mysteries, filling us with delight and wonder. It is met with an overwhelming measure of approval and acceptance that is great and glorious and able to arrest and retain the attention of the masses. Why? The true mysteries of the world are the visible not the invisible. Beauty is the wonder of wonders.
What is beauty? How do we define it? What does beauty do for us? Are we all better for it? Has it quickened our passions? Lightened our burdens? Purified our taste? Beauty, wherever it is, is hard to avoid. It is immediate and striking, pleasing and arousing. Shakespeare remarks:
Beauty itself, doth of itself persuade
The eyes of man, without an orator.
It draws you to it like an irresistible magnetic force of nature. The varying degrees of tastes in beauty have been greatly diminished by the universality of our media and our ever shrinking world. While classic beauty criteria have varied greatly across time and culture, today finds us generally possessing similar tastes and goals. We all wish to be thin, healthy and beautiful, whatever language we speak. Beauty is elusive, capricious, changeable. Compare the ideal female body shape of the past -- full, voluptuous -- to the slim emaciated role models of today. Faces too have undergone several changes, but certain classic standards shine through the ages, defying the whims and caprices of fashion fads and Father Time. Until the 20th century, apart from the visible beauty of nature, human beauty was confined to the pen of the poet, the brush of the painter, the clay of the sculptor and the songs of the troubadour. We read of the beauteous Helen of Troy who caused her lands to blaze with wars; of the alluring Cleopatra, who made Caesar and Anthony abandon the glory of Rome for the shores of Alexandria. Even by today's supermodel standards, the bust of the perfect beauty of Queen Nefertiti is admired by thousands at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. But when she was alive her beauty was viewed by so few.
Such is not the case today. Hundreds of glossy magazines, billboards, commercials, television and films, bombard us with new concepts of beauty, make-up, clothes, hair and figure. We strive to be like those superstar beauties. They, in reality, do not look quite like their pictures. They are handled by make-up artists, hairdressers, designers, photographers, and lighting experts before they become stars. "Even Cindy Crawford does not look like Cindy Crawford when she wakes up," says Cindy Crawford.
The screen gave beauty a public forum and established a universal criterion for beauty. Its stars became our beauty icons conjuring visions of rhapsody and romance. Their flimsy talent mattered little. Such was the case with stars like Hedy Lamarr, Linda Darnell, Kim Novak, still remembered for their great beauty. Beautiful women came to Hollywood from many countries. Sweden gave us Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman and Anita Ekberg. Germany boasted of her unique Marlene Dietrich, France outdid herself with Michéle Morgan, Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot. Holland sent the delectable Miss Audrey Hepburn, Italy the voluptuous Sophia Loren, Australia the adorable Nicole Kidman. Even Iran gave us Empress Soraya whose dazzling beauty could not survive more than one film. The UK contributed the longest string of beauties, all similar in features and colouring. England's English roses include Margaret Leighton, Vivien Leigh, Joan Collins, Leslie Ann Downe, Jean Simmons, Elizabeth Hurley. Even the beauty of the age, Elizabeth Taylor, was born in London.
Blessed with stunning good looks since birth, Miss Taylor returned to the US with her American parents at age six and started acting at age nine. Unlike many child stars, Liz made the successful transition to adulthood, but for many years was considered just a pretty face. She developed her serious acting ability after tragedy struck with the loss of husband number three Mike Todd. She won two Oscars, was nominated six times, and ironically her great tour de force was portraying the dumpy disillusioned Virginia Woolf stripped of all of her beauty and glamour.
Numerous American beauties have adorned the silver screen regularly. The goddess of beauty Ava Gardner tops the list, followed by the royal Grace Kelly, the sensual Lana Turner, the ethereal Gene Tierney, the sexy Sharon Stone, and on, and on. And then there is Marilyn Monroe. Fragile, tragic Marilyn, is perhaps the most famous woman of the 20th century. Dead at 36, beauty did not procure her much happiness, "since beauty and wisdom are rarely conjoined."
We have a new beauty queen in residence, with subjects bowing in adoration. Another British import, Catherine Zeta-Jones, 34, has already appeared in more than a dozen films, but as Velma Kelley in the highly acclaimed Chicago, she has been showered with awards and is nominated for an Oscar. According to recent polls, she is the fifth most beautiful woman in the world, though she surpasses the first four by far. She is married to superstar and film mogul Michael Douglas and the couple is expecting their second child. If she wins an Oscar it will be the icing on a very big multi-layered, breathtaking, delicious cake.
Men too, more than ever, seek beauty. They wish to appear masculine, strong, rugged, handsome, and they too have a number of role models in magazines and films to follow. Gone are the simple colognes and aftershaves. They now have moisturisers, tenderisers, hand creams, night creams, sun-creams, exfoliants, cleansers, you name it, they have it. Their health products list is even longer, and many subject themselves to the surgeon's knife for aesthetic improvements.
Pretty boys have thrilled both sexes on the screen for decades. Errol Flynn, Robert Taylor and Tyrone Power lead the herd followed by Clint Eastwood, Montgomery Clift, Sean Connery, James Dean, Rock Hudson, Warren Beatty, Tom Cruise. The king of the hill was and may always be Clark Gable, the ideal picture of the perfect male. Though many have tried, none have come close to succeeding the king. Today, George Clooney is claiming the throne as Gable's successor. He is smart, talented and works hard at his craft. He is adored by women, admired by men, and may well be crowned next king of Hollywood.
Our increasing preoccupation with beauty resonates deeply in the human psyche. So does our adulation of youth. Beauty and youth go hand in hand, therein lies its brevity, its superficiality. But what the gods give they quickly take away. "Time is jealous of you and wars against your lilies and roses...the world belongs to you for a season." But when youth goes, so does beauty. "If you are not incredibly, inordinately, calamitously, hearteningly, adorably beautiful" -- take heart. Even among the stars, the beautiful are few. Cultivate that inner beauty that time can -never touch- "good nature is more agreeable than beauty... and more amiable." Moreover, some lovers of beauty believe it exists in all ages:
As a white candle in a holy place,
So is the beauty in an aged face.
John Donne
Here, here!
