Notes, On Beauty 4/13

People we love may turn into objects for us, like the albatross in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." There is thus an extent to which we objectify others, particularly those who are close to us. The notion of beauty has been impoverished in our culture, and we objectify the "beauty" that we see. In reality, (non-objectified) beauty is about lines and juxtapositions and contours.

To what extent is there a battle between non-objectified beauty and the conventional definition of beauty within On Beauty?
Zora thinks of her mother as "having let herself go" once she got married. Howard claims that he married a slim, black woman, and that Kiki is no longer that woman. He even goes so far as to say that physicality played a role in his affair. Carlene also comments on Kiki's weight, but tells her that she "carries her weight well" and that it "looks very well on her." Later, Carlene tells Kiki that she is beautiful. If you look at Kiki without objectifying her, she is a beautiful woman.

Claire's body is also objectified. She is constantly being described as petite, thin, and much much
smaller than Kiki. When Claire takes her students to the Bus Stop, she does what she has done her entire life, and orders a salad for dinner. Clearly, the idea of starving oneself is linked to Claire's tiny figure. At the anniversary party, Howard sees Claire for the first time in a year. She is described as tan, and youthful with a thin, yogic body. When Howard is watching her, he can't stop thinking about her body, how it moves, and what she looks like underneath her clothes. In the scene where Howard and Claire interact, it is clear that he values her intellectual ability--something which Kiki lacks and for which Howard continually makes fun of her. Claire tells Kiki that she should be in a fountain in Rome; this is not really a compliment, because the ideal Roman woman is full-figured and in contrast to contemporary (thin) notions of beauty.

Howard is a parody machine--he makes fun of "high" art, he makes fun of Kiki, and he argues against the notion of genius. When they go to see Mozart, Howard makes snide comments about the composer and the Requiem, saying that he prefers music that doesn't "try to fake him into some metaphysical idea" (72). Carl is listening to this conversation, and wants to tell the family that Mozart died before it was finished, and that someone else completed it. This thus redefines the notion of genius, adding a component of collaboration to it. The idea of the genius is even further defined by its constant gendering.




p. 207 Howard and Kiki argument