I like the theme of accepting ourselves as we are right now. I am trying to emphasize there are alternatives to the natural biological template we use to viscerally decide that the biologically ripe are beautiful and the over-60 crowd is at best acceptable. I realize it is difficult to fight or even nudge biology and basic drives. I can see that the 22-year olds have clear and inviting skin and shapes and that the 72-years do not have their shape.
I have read that the same basic shapes and attributes that make us think of mating are the shapes that a young person would have if that person is healthy, likely to live a long life and hold their end of being parents and family. But I know that those who have been healthy, have lived long lives and have held up their end in the family are beautiful, too. I think the problem is that we are not wired to consider the old ones to be attractive. Of course, many oldsters are not and have not been aiming at being attractive and they certainly don't equate being attractive in a relationship/sexy way with the worth of an individual. However, those who have been lightning rods for attention, who have been raised to believe that the beauty of those in their 20's is THE beauty we all must strive for, can be downcast by their bodies and minds in the conditions of life after 60.
My wife knows about the beauty game and played it well. However, she sometimes gets annoyed by the AARP magazine and other media that select those older people who look most like the young and hold them up as successful at aging. I see the same thing in the admittedly interesting book Growing Old Is Not For Sissies and the new companion volume that just came out: G.O.I.N.F.S.II . The first of the two books clearly shows older people whose bodies seem to be surprisingly close to what we expect of people in their 20's. The second volume shows many of the same people, now even older, and we can see that many of them are still surprisingly like 20-year olds. From the magazine and the books, it is easy to conclude that those photographed have 'won' and the more we are like them, the more we are 'winners', too.
I find it is difficult to find anything with people who are old and look old, celebrated for their looks. The small stature by August Rodin, titled "She Who Was Once the Helmet-maker's Beautiful Wife" depicts an older woman but the title and her pose say that she was once something good but look at her now. She seems to hang her head in shame, shame I bet for not being young. Entering the linked title in Google will show many photos of the statue from many angles.
About the only art I know of that seems to celebrate the looks of the old is the British movie and later stage play, "Calendar Girls", where a group of older women make an art calendar of themselves in the nude to make something to sell for charity. The story is somewhat along the lines of the movie The Full Monty, but the men in that story would never qualify as older.
(My copyeditor tells me that this post does not clearly state that I am advocating the beauty of those over 60. I am advocating their beauty, especially when it diverges from that of the 20-yr old.)
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
