The Beauty Test, Human Face Options

[lojay]

I found this really interesting.
In my Sociology class we watched the mini series of The Human Face with John Cleese as the host and Elizabeth Hurley who assists. In one of the series it is mentioned that what makes people physically attractive is the symmetry in the face (This is a reason why athletes are attractive - their symmetry helps them run faster, and since their faces are symmetric, they are attractive as well). Anyway, it goes on about the Golden Theory and explains about how everything that is considered perfect is a ratio of 1 to 1.618. And this one guy made up a mask devised of all these ratios of 1 to 1.618. Anyway, long story short, it explains that the closer your face is to this "face mask" the more attractive you are. Tom Cruise's face fits the mask perfectly, same with Kate Moss. This mask is also used by plastic surgeons to determine what they need to do to make someone more "beautiful." So, instead of everyone asking if they are attractive, they can just Photoshop this mask onto their face and find out for themselves!

Here is the mask:



How close is your face?

[lojay]

That's what I thought before I saw the movie -- that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and such. But then when they started talking about the mask and comparing it to faces it was pretty cool. Obviously all the celebrities they showed fit the mask, and they compared the theory to this model and everything on her face was to the ratio of 1 to 1.618. I don't know, I just think the concept is really bizarre. I suppose it is supposed to fit to what society views as beautiful?