Perhaps this question about beauty, appearance and appeal can best be discussed by considering some criteria for choices.
There was a time when the criteria for beauty were considered to be eternal and absolute. There's lots of discussion of the Venus de Milo and the David as perfect representations of female and male form. Yet at the same time art over the centuries has given us various versions of attractiveness: Reubens' female forms would not be considered desireable by today's standards of anorexic fashion models. Even Marilyn Monroe, one of the most desireable of all Hollywood sex symbols, would by today's standards be considered a tad fleshy. And how would Brad Pitt measure up against John Wayne? Or Greory Peck against Johnny Depp?
Is it always youth and the fullness of health? Or do some forms of beauty evoke wisdom, maturity, calmness, self-possession? Or is the hint and thrill of danger an attractive aspect of beauty?
The threads on Novice and Newcomers aren't expected to have the depth (or dryness
) of the threads in Books, yet still at the Barrow Downs some form of reasoned opinion is expected. Maybe we could get away from unexamined or unexplained opinion (which leads so quickly to personal insult) and more into the reasons why each one of us finds different characters appealing.
For starters, here's a bit of background on
Aesthetic relativism. I'm sure it's boring enough to drive the petty insults away before the mods find this thread.
And while we are at it, here's Barrow Downs' very own perfection:
