Aspect Assignment

The work that I chose to focus on was from Volume 11 of Aspect.  The artist was Jessica Lagunas and I was pulling ideas from her three short videos, Para verte major, Para besarte major, and Para acariciarte major.  These three pieces focused on the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” and how she perceived the wolf that was disguised as her grandmother.  The three titles are literally translated to what better to see you with my dear, what better to kiss you with my dear, and what better to caress you with my dear.   Lagunas is commenting on the disguise that woman is meant to wear in order to appear “better” and more beautiful to men.  As a generative topic, I would like to focus on the idea of beauty and what it means to be beautiful, and/or what is beauty. 

 

The definition of beauty according to dictionary.com is as follows,

noun, plural -ties.

1.the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

2.a beautiful person, esp. a woman.

3.a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.

4.Often, beauties. something that is beautiful in nature or in some natural or artificial environment.

5.an individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm: a vivid blue area that is the one real beauty of the painting.

6.Informal. a particular advantage: One of the beauties of this medicine is the freedom from after effects.

7.(usually used ironically) something extraordinary: My sunburn was a real beauty.

8.something excellent of its kind: My old car was a beauty.

 

The following video, The Evolution of Beauty, shows how easy it is to make a person beautiful, not only with traditional make up, but now with the use of technology as well.  The video is from Dove’s campaign for real beauty.  More information on the campaign is offered at Campaignforrealbeauty.com. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knEIM16NuPg

 

While doing my research I only focused on the word beauty and I found it interesting what information popped up when I googled the word.  The first things that appeared on the menu paired the word beauty with words like hairstyle, makeup, nails, and cosmetics.  These words all relate to the idea of beauty being something that anyone can attain by covering up with products; essentially putting on a disguise to appear to be something else.  Beauty is not something that someone is lucky to have but something that anyone can attain with money, products, Photoshop, and plastic surgery.  This is very similar to the ideas of Lagunas and the disguise of the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood”.

 

A further exploration of this generative topic could be what it means to be beautiful in other cultures.