Pretty Dangerous: beauty, storytelling, and allusions of safety

Vision is a sense that provides us with information about our immediate surroundings and is deeply significant in helping us to form judgments that affect our next steps. Seeing and judging rightly becomes complicated when dangerous objects appear beautiful or enticing. Similarly, when harmless objects, or even needy entities, appear unattractive or repulsive. 

Beauty can draw us in so closely we become blind (pun very much intended) to the realities of a situation. We may become mesmerized by flame, fall in love with a beautiful liar, or be tempted by something that looks so good we forget the only things we have been told about it. Our cultural and evolutionary values on particular elements of attractiveness may cause us to look away from those in need even responding with fear. 

I thought up this reflection while at my work with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities when Disney’s The Hunchbak of Notre Dame was selected for our background movie during morning arrival. I am somewhat embarrassed to say I have never seen the film fully but had to keep reminding myself I was working when I would get too pulled in. Disability representation in media has been a topic that pops up in a lot of my classes. From special education to a sociology class on disability studies and social psychology courses it fits right in with my studies and occupation. 

I did not grow up among many physically or intellectually disabled people and did not know what to expect from the field or myself when I started working in human services. I am so grateful for all that I have learned from my experiences with the populations I serve and join many in the vision of a future where individuals can receive the supports they need without the current and historical levels of isolation. Thoughtless depictions of disability in media lead to thoughtless audiences who fail to critically interpret real-life scenarios. Villains in children’s media often appear with clear markers of deformity or disability ranging from Scar in The Lion King to general hags. 

“Children learn implicitly that good people are beautiful and bad people are ugly, and society restates that message in many subtle ways as they grow older.”
-Dian Akerman A Natural History of the Senses

The stories we tell have a real psychological impact. The “Halo effect” of attractiveness sometimes referred to as “pretty privilege” leads us to assume that those who are physically attractive must also be honest, successful, and virtuous. We go out of our way to help them even when they may be the least in need of assistance. Conversely, those who may require additional supports, such as the ill and injured, are further rejected at large socially and interpersonally. Additionally, we are less likely to be aware of or prepared for the chance that a beautiful object may be dangerous.

Beautiful and dangerous together are not always villainous though, God’s holiness is a mix of beauty, danger, and goodness. Darkness and sin are exposed by divine light and mortals cannot stand the full vision of God without protection. Beautiful appearances may veil dark truths, disfavored appearances may cause us to overlook need, and truly good beauty can overwhelm us leaving us in fear and trembling.

Vision includes more than sight when it is used to form judgments. The more aware we become of what impacts our vision the more able we are to see with new eyes. From then we can take many small steps to form better judgements of ourselves and others.

Free use images found at pexels.com