Reflections of beauty and the beast
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Eng. 0950-110
Reflections of Beauty and the Beast In the essay “Beauty and the Beast” by Dave Barry he discusses the different views on how men see their appearance in comparison to women. He talks about how “most men form an opinion of how they look in the seventh grade, and they stick to it for the rest of their lives.”(368) While women on the other hand “No matter how attractive a woman may appear to be to others, when she looks at herself in the mirror, she thinks: woof.” (369) In my opinion I believe Barry is hitting the nail on the head so to speak. This is coming from a women’s perspective, from the time we are able to talk and walk, the importance of appearance is noticed. We watch our mothers, we play dress up, and we pay attention to detail in our dolls and the Disney movies we watch reflect it. Whereas men are the total opposite, I believe they never really notice their appearance until a woman speaks up about it. Appearance, it’s not a worry for men like it is for women. Little girls have high standards to live up to. We grow up watching Cinderella, a girl who with the help of her fairy godmother transforms her appearance from poor servant maid to a beautiful princess. In doing this, she is able to go off to the ball and find her prince charming whom is captivated by her beauty and they fall in love and live happily ever after. I cannot really agree with Barry when he states “men don’t even notice 97 percent of the beauty efforts you make anyway” (370) You think if Cinderella would’ve shown up to the ball in her rags Mr. Prince Charming would’ve gave her a second look? I beg to differ.
As we grow older, it only gets worse. Later in life the panic having a perfect appearance is only a competition with other women. We aren’t even getting ready for the attention of men anymore, and it’s all about being the prettiest one in the room. It really is ridiculous when you break it down that way but hey, it’s the truth. It’s keeping up with the
Eng. 0950-110
Reflections of Beauty and the Beast In the essay “Beauty and the Beast” by Dave Barry he discusses the different views on how men see their appearance in comparison to women. He talks about how “most men form an opinion of how they look in the seventh grade, and they stick to it for the rest of their lives.”(368) While women on the other hand “No matter how attractive a woman may appear to be to others, when she looks at herself in the mirror, she thinks: woof.” (369) In my opinion I believe Barry is hitting the nail on the head so to speak. This is coming from a women’s perspective, from the time we are able to talk and walk, the importance of appearance is noticed. We watch our mothers, we play dress up, and we pay attention to detail in our dolls and the Disney movies we watch reflect it. Whereas men are the total opposite, I believe they never really notice their appearance until a woman speaks up about it. Appearance, it’s not a worry for men like it is for women. Little girls have high standards to live up to. We grow up watching Cinderella, a girl who with the help of her fairy godmother transforms her appearance from poor servant maid to a beautiful princess. In doing this, she is able to go off to the ball and find her prince charming whom is captivated by her beauty and they fall in love and live happily ever after. I cannot really agree with Barry when he states “men don’t even notice 97 percent of the beauty efforts you make anyway” (370) You think if Cinderella would’ve shown up to the ball in her rags Mr. Prince Charming would’ve gave her a second look? I beg to differ.
As we grow older, it only gets worse. Later in life the panic having a perfect appearance is only a competition with other women. We aren’t even getting ready for the attention of men anymore, and it’s all about being the prettiest one in the room. It really is ridiculous when you break it down that way but hey, it’s the truth. It’s keeping up with the