Does "Finding their own beauty" mean...?

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Does "finding their own beauty" mean "discoverying their own (these faces' own) beauty"?

Context:

Ruben Plasencia, a 27-year-old Spanish photographer, has produced a picture collection of blind people titled "Obscure". He worked on the project for over two months with a Spanish organization. He explains: "The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty. I spent two wonderful months surrounded by people who opened my eyes, and my heart, to a whole new world of sensations." [Photo/icpress.cn]

MOre:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/slides/2014-03/06/content_17327611.htm

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 979 • Replies: 25

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View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

Yes.

0 Replies

The idea of their own (individual) beauty is placed in opposition to that of an external stereotype of beauty.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

The idea of their own (individual) beauty is placed in opposition to that of an external stereotype of beauty.

Thanks.

Does "that idealized desire" refer to "The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes"?

1 Reply

@oristarA,

Quote:

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty.

You may better understand what is meant in that sentence by adding a word or two:

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, but however these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty.

It is contrasting the accepted stereotype of "beauty" with a more natural, different beauty.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Quote:
The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty.

You may better understand what is meant in that sentence by adding a word or two:

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, but however these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty.

It is contrasting the accepted stereotype of "beauty" with a more natural, different beauty.

Thanks.
But it is still vague for me about what "that idealized desire" refers to.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

Quote:

But it is still vague for me about what "that idealized desire" refers to.

It is not a good phrase. I think it really refers to the "look" of the photographic models who are currently in fashion. Ideal women?
Women (apparently) desire to achieve that stereotypical look, the images accepted as the best examples of beauty.
That "look" is what fashion magazines present to their readers as ideal.

0 Replies

To idealise something is to regard it as perfect, better than reality (or better than it actually is).

1 Reply

@contrex,

Yes.
"That idealised desire" is not a good phrase, as stated above, and may be misleading because it is the image (the "look") which being idealised, and not the desire.

3 Replies

@McTag,

You had no trouble understanding it from the get go, McTag, and neither did Contrex and all of a sudden it's not a good phrase.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Yes, but for a foreign student...it's not idealised desire, it's a desire for an idealised image. Sloppy writing, in other words.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Yes.
"That idealised desire" is not a good phrase, as stated above, and may be misleading because it is the image (the "look") which being idealised, and not the desire.

The phrase 'idealised desire' is one which is often used to denote a desire which is created or required by external influences, e.g. social expectations, advertising,religion, etc, as opposed to a 'real' desire, i.e. one felt spontaneously or naturally, and seems entirely appropriate here.

Quote:

The conflicts between reality and idealism, custom and education, reach a climax in Jude the Obscure. The novel depicts stonemason Jude Fawley's idealised desire for a university education and his eschewal of marriage.

Quote:

The idea of God is the collection of idealised desires and of our lower needs, such as the need of a master. Nietzsche rebels against this situation

Quote:

"Most people's ultimate sexual fantasies, their idealised desires, are built of clay,

Quote:

The positive corrective to normalising or idealised desires in Korine's films is daring to stare directly at the actual state of people's alienation

Quote:

Moreover, the role of abstract, idealised desires in normativity, and how these are related to other desires, deserves clarification

Quote:

People obviously have (un-idealised) desires for all the stuff that is the target of traditional economistic, growth-driven thinking

Quote:

The strategy of 'idealising' desires so that they match with people's interests may go so far that the idealised desires are hardly human desires at all

0 Replies

@McTag,

We don't write for foreign students. It is up to these students to get up to speed in the target language.

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Yes.
"That idealised desire" is not a good phrase, as stated above, and may be misleading because it is the image (the "look") which being idealised, and not the desire.

The image is the desire. A desire can be a feeling of wanting something or a thing that is wanted.

1 Reply

@contrex,

You may very well think that. Others may choose to differ.
Note, I'm trying to be clear, straightforward, and helpful to a foreigner here. Abstruse flights of the imagination and literary flourishes are therefore eschewed.

(Note to diary: Contrex agrees with JTT. Hell freezes over.)

2 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

You may very well think that. Others may choose to differ.

I'm not sure which thing that I think that you are talking about, (and about which some alleged 'others' may differ) so I'll have a go at both the things I have mentioned.

1. The phrase 'idealized desire' (I use the American spelling of the original quote) - this exact phrase is, you might say, a technical term, commonly used in fields such as psychology, philosophy, ethics, and so on. It is often used when considering the topic of the human condition. It has precisely the same meaning as in the original quote, that is, a desire which is 'idealized' is one for a condition or goal which can not be satisfied in the real world. This is to be contrasted with a practical or 'real' desire, which can be satisfied in the real world. You might say in simple language that an idealized desire is something that people want because they have been told that they do. The distinction between an idealized desire and a real one is the whole point of the section quoted. I think that for me to say this is not abstruse nor is it a literary flourish.

2. The fact that a desire can be the wanting of a thing or the thing itself. I would have thought that this was both an innocuous and thunderingly obvious thing to say. I feel a desire (inside myself) for the chief accountant's job. My desire is the chief account's job (which outside myself, there, in the world), I feel a desire (in my head, and also further down) for a juicy steak. My desire is the steak which I can smell being cooked in the kitchen (out there). I should have thought that this was a fairly relevant thing to remark upon.

Also, the fact of my 'agreeing with JTT'. This is purely a coincidence. Should disagree with him on principle? That would be silly.

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag: Note, I'm trying to be clear, straightforward, and helpful to a foreigner here. Abstruse flights of the imagination and literary flourishes are therefore eschewed.
////////

You might think you are helping but what good is it to hide them from reality? Life and language aren't McTag simple.

0 Replies

Well I hope these notes are useful to the OP. They are not to me. I think they are daft. Just as there is no "ideal desire" there can be no logical "idealised desire". The meaning is a desire for the ideal. It is a technical convolution or jargon which does not stand close scrutiny.

1 Reply

@McTag,

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty.
/////////

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially to continually advance the usual notions of beauty but these faces create a mockery of that idealized thing that people desire; these (new) faces I show illustrate their own beauty.

Perhaps you look too much thru the eyes of an engineer, McTag.

2 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially, these faces create a mockery of that idealized desire, finding their own beauty.
/////////

The incessant race prejudices and stereotypes grow exponentially to continually advance the usual notions of beauty but these faces create a mockery of that idealized thing that people desire; these (new) faces I show illustrate their own beauty.

Perhaps you look too much thru the eyes of an engineer, McTag.

An engineer's eyes? It reminds me of a question: Do you care about genetically engineered food, McTag? Are you relaxed when you eat food which contains ingredients from GE corn because FDA has always done a good job, including examining and approving GEF (or GMF).

1 Reply

Does "Finding their own beauty" mean...?

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