a meditation
the non-being in being cute
No one can be the Alison that has been created to fit the lovely creature that blessed us with her presence for those halcyon weeks at the start of Project Runway's 3rd Season. The sweet creature that loves animals and whose world is filled with rainbows and sparkles and care bears: we know she doesn't exist. Does it matter? Not one iota.
Nonetheless, Alison Kelly appears to be a sport of nature: although it feels weird to say this about an adult woman, but she actually is cute as a button.
Here is a show filled with gorgeous models including Heidi Klum, considered one of the world's most beautiful women, and yet it is Alison who has captured the imagination of so many. She is mesmerizing: it is a bit like when you are talking to someone who has those light light blue eyes: you just keep staring at their eyes because they seem so alien.
Don't get me wrong: the models are beautiful. But beautiful is different from pretty and from cute. The models fit a more contemporary standard of beauty. Less northern European. More emaciated. (You win some. You lose some). Alison's appeal is more old fashioned.This isn't the end: click here to continue reading "the unbearable cuteness of being."
(If that link doesn't work try this one.)
Note to the reader: I am only discussing images presented in popular media, not the actual person. (Please read
For the Record if you haven't already.
4 comments:
She is adorable, but I'm still annoyed with her for calling a size-six model "big."
"The years when one has a penchant for bad boys. The years when one's girlhood is smashed to smithereens."
This is good stuff. As a default position (pending better evidence) I'd always subscribed to an additive process view of formation of self. One starts out tabula rasa and experience just adds stuff along the way. Anyway, a more complex version contrary to the additive is the Jungian analysis done by Robert Johnson in She. He the Cupid/Psyche story to basically frame things the way you stated them.
Bad boys? Is there another kind? There is not a more reprehensible creature than the 13-25 year old guy. A lot of my fellow men peak in that time of life; physically speaking, I get the point but the rest is not even worth revisiting. I'm so glad and grateful to be past that era it's not even funny. Sophia hasn't the time for the wet behind the ears, so the only thing the youthful has is the cuteness you mention.
Hey ruthie -- You posted your comment before I put up part 2 -- so I just wanted to say that I completely agree with you. That was not just annoying but irresponsible. Is it any wonder that those models were fainting on the runway?!
bungle -- thanks so much for your kind and thoughtful comments. I am also very taken with the Cupid and Psyche story. It is so rich and layered. Boys/young men may be beastly at that age but girls can be pretty monstrous as well -- they are just more psychologically sophisticated about how they go about it!!
That second picture of her doesn't say cute or adorable. I've never seen this light that shines from her that everyone loves. Her EW interview, among others, says more about her.
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