Controversial but Beautiful – What controversial object/person do you find beauty in?

[Black&Tan]

One of my first thoughts was art. Everybody has an opinion, especially about modern art.

But when you think back to the Renaissance, women were painted with an abundance of curves, and they were...plump. Rubenesque is a very good term for it. But that is also what society decided was the ideal of beauty. There are many theories as to why, perhaps a little extra weight was a sign of wealth.

Fast forward to today, when food is plentiful and overweight people more common. Now the pendulum has swung the other way, and fit, underweight people are more "attractive."

Or, I saw a slow motion video of a race car losing control and ploughing through a crowd, and all the bodies were tossed into the air like dolls. I think that was a kind of simultaneously pretty and horrifying image, most likely controversial.

And why is it we always slow down when passing an accident scene on the highway. We have to look. In auto racing, crashes are always given more airplay than anything else. Perhaps it reminds us of our mortality, our fear of death (to paraphrase John Mahoney in Moonstruck).

 

[Hummer]

 

[MarkCollette]

And why is it we always slow down when passing an accident scene on the highway. We have to look. In auto racing, crashes are always given more airplay than anything else. Perhaps it reminds us of our mortality, our fear of death (to paraphrase John Mahoney in Moonstruck).

Definitely. I think there's an element of curiosity, but also of education. People want to see horrible situations, so that they can understand them, and hope to avoid or mitigate them if ever the situation happens in their own lives. It's another reason why I don't believe in censorship or shielding people from seeing bad situations.

 

[pink-pony115]

I think connecting with your heritage, for me makes me feel safe and secure.
For example, I vistied Edinburgh last summer. I have never felt so comfortable. No, that is not an object...but I think it is beautiful.

 

[Queso]

Excessive body hair

 

[MacNut]

Storm surge, I love to see the power of an angry sea.

 

[Abstract]

But when you think back to the Renaissance, women were painted with an abundance of curves, and they were...plump. Rubenesque is a very good term for it. But that is also what society decided was the ideal of beauty. There are many theories as to why, perhaps a little extra weight was a sign of wealth.

Fast forward to today, when food is plentiful and overweight people more common. Now the pendulum has swung the other way, and fit, underweight people are more "attractive."

Maybe because back in the day, it was more difficult to be fat because eating too much was more of a sign of wealth, and because it was a more difficult body type to obtain and maintain, it was more desirable.

Today, since our food is pumped with growth hormone and artificial "stuff", and we're eating more than ever, being skinny is "more beautiful" because a skinny body type is harder to maintain.

 

[jsalzer]

A few more

Controversial yet beautiful:

Breast-feeding

Your prof would love that one.

 

[AP_piano295]

And why is it we always slow down when passing an accident scene on the highway. We have to look. In auto racing, crashes are always given more airplay than anything else. Perhaps it reminds us of our mortality, our fear of death (to paraphrase John Mahoney in Moonstruck).

People adore destruction...in a weird way, we are fascinated by absolute destruction. I remember when huricanw Isabel (i think thats the name) hit Virginia she was already cat 1, and not even that when she got inland but before she struck she was a cat 4/5 and while I'm happy my house wasnt knocked down and dammage was compareatively minimal, I wished (just a little) that it would have been far stronger.

(strange is the human mind)

 

[SMM]

Thai Sticks

 

[CanadaRAM]

"Pavilion, Rock and Shell" a public sculpture commissioned for the plaza in front of the new arena in Victoria BC. Howls of protest because it is "abstract art! looks like junk! doesn't mean anything! is an affront to veterans! (the arena that was torn down to make way for the new one was named "Memorial Arena") $120,000 for THAT?!? " The average of the responses appeared that they would have favored a statue of a hockey player walking arm in arm with a Second World War vet.

It's apparently so unpopular there isn't a single photo of it, or article with a photo, on Google

Well, I like it. I spent some time up close with it, examining the textures of stone and metal. It's intriguing, puzzling, I don't have a clue what it is 'supposed' to mean. But I like that it exists.

 

[The Mad Kiwi]

Andres Serrano's work Piss Christ.

Anyone who's seen the photographic print in a gallery will attest to it's beauty.

 

[BengalDuck]

Space/The Universe/Stars... basically anything past the atmosphere of Earth.

Granted it's not controversial as, say Marilyn Manson, but I'm sure you can write about Religion vs. Science and mention the beauty of the Universe. Take an astronomy class and if you have any amount of interest in the subject, you will definitely be entertained.

 

[Sutekidane]

unsnipped bent penises

LOL! You'd love me then.

 

[solvs]

Maybe because back in the day, it was more difficult to be fat because eating too much was more of a sign of wealth, and because it was a more difficult body type to obtain and maintain, it was more desirable.

Today, since our food is pumped with growth hormone and artificial "stuff", and we're eating more than ever, being skinny is "more beautiful" because a skinny body type is harder to maintain.

Pretty much, yeah. "Rubenesque" women were generally considered "healthy" and probably had more money (vs. the starving masses and sickly dying). Today, being skinny takes work and restraint to maintain a healthy weight. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder though, as some people nowadays like their women chubby or anorexic just the same, and I'm sure there were skinny chasers back then. Rich people, the ones paying for the art, seemed to like their women of the hourglass figure variety.

Personally, I've always liked art that looks like it comes from pain. If you can create beauty out of pain, it seems more appealing to me than beauty out of beauty or nothing. Sometimes when coming from imagination, it can either be really good or really bad. Again, eye of the beholder. Pretty much any kind of art: painting, sculpture, the written word, music, etc.

 

[leekohler]

I've always been a huge fan of Marilyn Manson, because he's made a conventionally unattractive person attractive albeit in an unusual way. He has a lot to say, and I think most of what he says people agree with, even if his method is questionable. I feel the same way about Madonna. Madonna is OK in the attractiveness area, but not great. It's her personality that attracts people- her vibe, her attitude.

 

[Abstract]

Hair "down there" on women.

I'm sorry, but I think it's just fine and natural for women to have hair down there. I don't want to be sleeping with something that looks prepubescent, even though it's probably an unconscious sick desire that leads to men liking that look. I know some will say it's about hygiene and what not, but it just seems like a 'convenient' reason to give to people.

 

[2nyRiggz]

Beach sand on women..
Scars on animals
Lizards eating a butterfly

Plastic bag blowing in the wind......

Bless

 

[MOFS]

A bit of an abstract one but...

people.

Maybe its because I'm a caring sort (I'm studying medicine). Or maybe its because we get a bad press from ourselves! But I just love the way we act, we behave, we laugh, we cry, we are.

 

[devilot]

Hair "down there" on women.

...even though it's probably an unconscious sick desire that leads to men liking that look. I know some will say it's about hygiene and what not, but it just seems like a 'convenient' reason to give to people.

That's working from the assumption that women are managing their pubic hair for the sake of men, I think that comes across androcentric.

Can't a woman decide for herself, independent of a partner (who might not even be male), if she prefers her body hair to be one way or another?

 

[thedude110]

Well, I like it. I spent some time up close with it, examining the textures of stone and metal. It's intriguing, puzzling, I don't have a clue what it is 'supposed' to mean. But I like that it exists.

You make me happy.

I like my art heavy on the passion, especially as it veers toward madness. For example, last year's inscribed floorboards in Paris or the poems of Hannah Weiner.

Similar to Ram's point about abstraction -- I see beauty in the evocation (especially evocation of a life), tyranny in meaning.

Communication's a fraud, etc. .....

 

[scem0]

Y'all obviously have a lot more to say about this than I do .

I finished my essay. I think I used Marilyn Manson, a picture of two men kissing, drag queens, Mariah Carey's music, and steak as my examples .

Thank you so much, everyone.

e

 

[Doctor Q]

Please let us know what you hear back about your paper from the philosophy instructor, scem0. Any comments you get on it might be interesting, and we'd also like to know how well we did on our paper!

 

[MarkCollette]

I don't want to be sleeping with something that looks prepubescent, even though it's probably an unconscious sick desire that leads to men liking that look. I know some will say it's about hygiene and what not, but it just seems like a 'convenient' reason to give to people.

I don't really see hard-wired biological desires as "sick".

You could take each individual desire, out of context, and try to judge them, but I don't think that makes sense. For example, the bald vagina desire equates to a desire for youth. And the large breast desire equates to breast feeding and nurturing of young. Does that mean, that one is a sick desire for young girls, and the other is some desire to find pregnant women, or mothers? Possibly in isolation... But nothing exists in isolation. Each is a balancing force, one for a less mature body, and one for a more mature body, resulting in a healthy desire for a fairly youthful yet fully developped woman, ie one of ideal childbirthing age.

I'd hate to get all math geeky here, but I think it describes my view well. Think of it as a summation of vectors. The resulting vector is the relevent one, and you can't read too much into each individual vector.

Can't a woman decide for herself, independent of a partner (who might not even be male), if she prefers her body hair to be one way or another?

Damn straight! Maybe I've been single too long, but I realised that I have to look at my body way more than anyone else, so whatever I do to it, is inevitably more for me than anyone else.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Grouping "people" and "things" together -- is that a deliberately interesting concept?

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you my favorite beautifully ugly object, the 1950 Studebaker Starlight Coupe: