Beauty Turned Inside-Out

Two of my favorite films are Penelope and Beastly. Both films tell a similar tale of what I call beauty turned inside-out. Penelope Wilhern, is a sweet girl looking for love.  Yet, she was cursed because of a distant relative’s wickedness. Her curse is a snout shaped nose. Kyle Kingsbury, from the movies Beastly, is a vain young man looking for laughs. He too is cursed with ugliness, because he makes fun of a witch for her strange looks. The cures for these curses are similar. For Penelope to be cured, “one of her own” must love her for who she is on the inside. The same is true for Kyle’s curse, though he must first make his heart loveable before he can find someone who will love him for who he is on the inside. In the end, both Penelope and Kyle find someone who really loves them despite their looks. These are beautiful stories, though they are only fairy tales. In reality, a woman with a pig-nose or a man with scars would probably be passed over because they are considered “ugly.”

I think when you truly love someone you will see their beauty turned inside out. When you look at someone you love you won’t see the flaw, the oddity, the scar, or the deformity.  When you look at someone you love, you see who they are. When you see who they are then you will see something beautiful. I don’t believe in love at first sight, because it takes a long time to fall in love with who a person is. Love at first sight is all about the physical appearance and I think the physical appearance is highly overrated. I also don’t think people should form a “type” that is based on the outward appearance because as I mentioned already it is the inside that counts.

I understand this is a little controversial, but I am not afraid to have a controversial kind of love and an inside-out idea of beauty. Christian’s are not supposed to fit in, they are supposed to be different than non-believers.  The culture prizes the physical appearance so highly, but the truth is “ugliness” can also be only skin-deep. Despite what someone looks like on the outside, they should seem beautiful to you if they have a beautiful heart. The opposite is also true, even if someone is really physically beautiful on the outside they should not be considered an attractive person if they have an ugly heart. If I ever get married, I want my husband to think I am beautiful, but that shouldn’t depend on how I look on the outside. The truth is, my physical appearance is only going to deteriorate with time. I want a husband with an inside-out perception of beauty so that even when I am old and wrinkled he can still call me pretty. I think that would be truly a beautiful thing.