Everyday it seems as though the world in which the media dwells becomes more divorced from what I call 'reality land.' Now they have one more tool at their disposal to ensure that the people we see on TV look less like us normal folks (thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the link). Israeli researchers from Tel Aviv University are working on a program that would "automatically make photographed faces more attractive," as if air brushing and photo-shopping out every blemish from a model's face wasn't enough. I feel as though standards of attractiveness are already ludicrously high thanks to the constant media bombardment in our image obsessed society. As a side note: I feel infinitely more confident since I cancelled cable.
I suppose this raises the question of what is attractiveness? It is cliche to say that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Still, there are certain features that are found attractive across cultures. Facial symmetry is largely considered an indicator of attractiveness, apparently linking with sexual dimorphism, the existence of differing masculine and feminine forms. A few days ago I read an article saying that people are attracted to mates with different immune systems than their own, presumably to increase the range of illnesses to which their offspring would be resistant.
I'm sure I'll be discussing beauty and the like more in the future.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment