Beauty, Brains and Expectations

Assalamualaikum.

Currently I'm doing loads of work in Bahasa Melayu... so it might be English for a while in my blogs. Must keep both sharpened, see.

There is a particularly interesting drama series that I watched over some streaming sites, and one of the main protagonists is simply great-looking. To my eyes, at least. His hair, eyes, chin, posture, attire, and way of interpreting his role, which was of the cold-genius type that I simply adore. (Yeah, given the right circumstances, cold people are waaay cool. Maybe it's narcissism, liking the traits that one perceives to be in one's self, 'coz I'm don't think I'm very warm either in person, although not much of a genius, at least now, and in the field that I'm obliged to pursue.)

Apparently I was only another person within a million who thinks so, because in the comments given by the viewers show that they're absolutely gushing for the young actor. They were praising his - everything - voice, looks, acting, anything visible or audible he presented. And I started to have my doubts about his actual worth as an actor. Is it just because of his handsome pretty-boy looks that people are absolutely gaga over him? Is it just because of his style and the mysterious, popular character that he's carrying, that people praised his acting to high heavens?

I'm far from being a drama instructor or a movie critic, but I have dipped my fingers in acting and directing - albeit limited to small scopes and unambitious projects, so to speak - since I'm nine years old. So I tried to gather all the bits of knowledge and experience scattered all over my memory, and attempted to assess the actor's performance, all the while having this bias that "It's just because he's handsome and beautiful, and he gets to play the role that viewers love to love, chances are he's not that good an actor really."

Anyway, I ended up reluctantly agreeing to the mass. For a young actor with not very much experience yet in the glass and silver screen, with more time spent in dancing and singing with his talent agency, the way he carried the role is excellent. His facial expressions - especially his eyes - are commendable. And he's only 14 years old. I might put it to loads of training and a demanding, hardworking, skilled director, but I have to accept that this kid CAN act. His graces do play a role in charming viewers and helping him get more in character, but it does not account for all the acknowledgements he received.

My point?

People's expectations depend a lot on circumstantial situations. I wonder if looks play an important role in that, especially in terms of intelligence and skills estimations. Do people usually have elevated impressions towards a more beautiful individual, or is it the other way round? As in my case, having prejudices towards a fairly talented actor, are persons with good looks - men, sometimes, women, usually - would really be subjected to negative assumptions regarding the amount of brain and skills that they have?

But then again, we are drilled with the necessity to 'dress for success'. I, for one, am quite a believer and practitioner (er, I don't think it's the right word, but well~) of that theory, when conditions require it. Good appearances make both ourselves and our counterparts feel more confident with what we're worth, although it does not actually play any direct role in improving one's performances in a majority of things. Having a proper hair-do or that impeccable pair of threepiece suit is important in interviews, but it does nothing physically to interfere in the communications and question-answerings. Likewise, a properly ironed and color-matched headscarf and blouse (not very frequent for me when attending classes, to be honest) are not really significant in helping me pay more attention in lectures, but I feel that my steps have extra springs in them when I go to campus looking - ehm, nice. And I think stray researches somewhere had claimed that people are more comfortable and attracted to people with attractive (duh, how obvious) and beautiful appearances.

It's all psychology, is it?

Do people gain real advantages from their looks - apart from seducing bosses to win that promotion? Come to think of it, people who are in high statures in life look nice - maybe not too attractive, but not eyesores either. Is it because of their stature that they manage to beautify themselves or is it because of their beauty that they manage to achieve that high stature?

Is it true that beautiful people have all the advantages?

Would you choose beauty over brain? Not in the case of 100% beauty + 0% brain or 100% brain + 0% beauty... but somewhere in between, somewhere closer to reality. Say, are you willing to be a few notches less intelligent or skillful than you are now if you can lose those extra pounds of fat, get rid of the acne scars and somehow have your flat nose turning into a Grecian one?

I'm not indulging in very-lengthy discourses this time (or so I think). I guess I'd invite my readers who regularly come or somehow stumbled into this blog while they were researching something like my own name, 'kucing belang', 'resepi ayam masak kicap', 'wanita dan kucing' or anything of that kind (yeah, they did, and it's half-flattering and half-creepy when it was the first item aforementioned, though of course there are plenty other 'adibah abdullah's out there!); to give their say on this.

Have your say in the comments section, I'll be delighted to read them. (If no one says anything, I'll pretend to not be embarrassed.)

salam,
meow~