Cliché Month: Beauty is Only Skin Deep; plus Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
I’m bringing you two related clichés today because they are parts along the same line of looking at real beauty vs false beauty. I write from the point of view of someone who’s never really liked what she saw in the mirror, though I haven’t hated what I see either. It just always seemed like most others were prettier than me. There have been moments where I fixed myself up into something I was more pleased with, but even those never made me feel gorgeous or beautiful.
On the other hand, my acceptance of being more plain than those “real” beauties in my life has driven me to develop inner beauty. Caring how others feel, trying to be helpful to almost everyone, and freely talking about my various failures in life to make sure no one feels like I think I’m better than them has always been among my goals. Even with winning behaviors or skills, if they made someone else feel loss, it took the wind right out of my sails. (Hmm, that’s another cliché, huh?)
Sometime during my travels with the photo studio, a TV was on with a show called Monsters. The episode I watched back then (around 1990) has stuck with me for years even though I didn’t actually know the show or what the episode was called until a few weeks of deep searching gave me the result: Season 2, episode 23, called “The Bargain.” I’ve linked to it on YouTube, but the summary goes like this:
A woman owns a bookstore and has feelings for a customer who doesn’t seem to feel the same. She decides it’s because she’s plain, so when she sees an ad for a new face, she calls the number. Her new face is beautiful but comes with a few prices. In the end, the woman with her old face gets the guy who’d been in love with her inner beauty all along, so she lost everything by focusing on the outer shell. I guess this actually goes a little with yesterday’s cliché to not judge a book by its cover as well.
Now, the second cliché makes a similar point, and the illustration of it is shown perfectly in the old Twilight Zone episode called Eye of the Beholder from season 1, episode 39. But I was unable to find that in a full original episode without commentary. I have linked to the unveiling moment in the remake from 2002 since the point is still shown, and the videography still pulls off some of the tricks of the original.
If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to spoil this one, so I’ll just tell you that it’s an episode about a woman who has plastic surgery to “fix” her face to give her the beauty of those around her. The surgery fails and the lights come on to reveal that beauty—both hers and others—is not exactly what most expect it to be.
On a side note, if you watch (or rewatch) this full episode, pay attention to the amazing use of shadows and camera angles that hide the actual faces of the cast until the reveal at about 16 minutes in. The strength of the film is in the audio until the lights come on, and you never realize something is being purposely hidden from the audience. It’s done brilliantly.
So how do we look at the world when we’ve been so trained to judge on outward appearances and yet somehow know they are not the answer? The Bible speaks to this in three different ways.
Proverbs 31:30 BSB
[30] Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.31.30.BSB
1 Samuel 16:7 BSB
[7] But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the Lord does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord sees the heart.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/1sa.16.7.BSB
1 Peter 3:3-4 BSB
[3] Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, [4] but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/1pe.3.3-4.BSB
Each of us should work on our inner beauty, and we should also strive to see the inner beauty of others. It is that true beauty that will allow us to make genuine connections to each other; connections so strong that they supercede any abundance or lack of external beauty.
This message is portrayed beautifully in the Pure Flix movie called “A Hot Cocoa Christmas” (formerly called “Much Ado About Christmas”) and one I highly recommend is worth renting. I wish I could find the karaoke scene that shows the connection between the couple, but here’s the trailer for the whole movie:
Just imagine a world where the insides truly mean more than the outsides to most people. No more harming others because they’re wearing the shoes someone else thinks they deserve; no more attacking people because of any outward display (age, race, gender, etc.) someone dislikes; no more graffiti and damage to the outsides of buildings or cars or wherever people feel their appearances need to be made; and people dedicated to bringing out the best in others, so their inner beauty can shine. All that would be Heavenly. Dream with me, and let your own inner beauty sparkle. ✨🤩
Shout out to both Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot for helping me find the info for that old show and for pointing out the symmetry arc my mind naturally found by looking at these three sources to present my points.
Share this post on:
My Latest Flickr Photos
Others’ Posts I’ve Liked
Crystal Writes A Blog 