“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”
The last lines of John Keats’ poem “Ode to a Grecian Urn” reference how truth and beauty are the same when people bear witness to art and human nature. The poem was written in 1819, before the technological revolution of the internet and social media, and people admired beauty through vases and paintings. Not through a screen of a distorted reality.
In the United States, people have firmly attached their identities and self-esteem to appearance. There is nothing wrong with looking good to feel good, but when that is the only way to feel truly fulfilled, the happiness disappears. When everyone meets the mainstream beauty standard, there is no individuality since everyone looks the same. Beauty standards are unoriginal. Nitpicking what is deemed as “hot” and it’s frivolous with no afterthought. It has unique features and eats away at individuality and perpetuates featurism, racism, colorism, and ageism. Young women today fall the biggest victim to this. 23-year-olds are getting fillers because they’re terrified of looking 30 when they’re 30. Big lips are pretty on Kylie Jenner, even though Black girls still get bullied for it.
Beauty standards promote exceptionalism and exclusivity to the darkest ends of the earth. If you’re darker, you need your skin to be lighter, even if it takes cancerous chemicals to do it. If you are naturally very fair, darkening your skin is trendy and marketable like Ariana Grande from 2018-2021 during her Sweetener and Thank U, Next tours.
People are too obsessed with their phones and need to go outside and touch some grass. Beauty standards are forever changing and ultimately unattainable. When people accept themselves, it eventually becomes the trend. After leaving the anti-hero era of the 2000s, which encouraged becoming anorexic, weighing 90 pounds, and eating tapeworms. When ethnic women started loving themselves and embracing their curves and brown skin, white women started wanting it too, so that’s why everyone wants to get BBLs, bigger lips, and hip dips. K-Pop idols are wearing curly wigs and afros because it’s profitable now.
Cameron Diaz appreciates aging because she does not have to worry about looking young. The era has already left her, and she’s accepted it. When we detach ourselves from beauty standards and release ourselves from the striving for the extremely subjective view of perfection, focusing instead on our unique attributes outside of our appearances, such as our artistic and intellectual talents, we will be able to be happy simply by being ourselves. When we appreciate all the world’s beauty through an objective lens, when we choose to enjoy our natural state and be honest with ourselves and take time to compliment what is real, the truth will be beauty and the beauty will be truth, as John Keats told us.
References
LitCharts. (n.d.). Ode on a grecian urn summary & analysis by John Keats. LitCharts. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/john-keats/ode-on-a-grecian-urn