ANY PERSON WITH EYES
You are beautiful.
BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS
No, I'm really not.
Here is another one.
ANY PERSON WITH EYES
You are beautiful.
BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS
I really don't want to be defined by my looks.
It's not important. I am an actress.
And that's great, that's wonderful. I get it, the first one is the big fat ole' inner-critic, putting yourself down and devaluing the other person who called you beautiful as being a) wrong b) just perving c) malicious in some way.
And the second conversation, which happens a lot - is that an actress doesn't just want to be 'the hot blonde one.' I get that, I respect that. And I support that, in many ways, I do. BUT,
There is nothing wrong with being beautiful! By some fated-fucking by your beautiful parents, or by some bizarre fluke of nature, you are, clearly, BEAUTIFUL! And everyone has been telling you this. And, it's a gift, it's a wonderful privilege. If people have kept telling you you're beautiful, you probably are.
I guess what I'm saying is -- of course, by all means - a woman doesn't want to be judged just by her looks. But, they shouldn't hide away from the fact they are beautiful. If you happen to look incredible but you don't accept it, believe it, and use it -- then you will spend all your time trying to get roles but not using this natural gift you have.
That's what was wonderful about Marilyn Monroe - YES, she was gorgeous, YES, everyone talks about how sexy she was... but nobody thinks any less of her for it. Nobody doubts how amazing she was. She took her looks and she used them-- they were a big part of who she was, the woman she was.
Somewhere along the line, it just seems to happen... one minute, a girl knows she has that thing, that spark, that charisma, that skin and that face that people define as something beautiful. And some time after that, they feel a little uneasy about it, a little judged because of it. And then they spend the rest of the time with this disowned part of themselves; the beautiful part. Grab a hold of it, be proud of it, accept the power of it - kick the weirdo-staring guys in the face--- and use your looks for their greater good, in being part of the wonderful powerhouse of incredible acting talent that you are. Don't become a victim of something about you that is actually a really powerful, important, and brilliant thing.
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ReplyDelete(Removed for typos)
ReplyDeleteI think any woman who reads this post today will fill a lot more beautiful because of this and, as a woman, I thank you.
Come on ladies! As a man would hike up their pants, hold their heads high and feel powerful in thier looks, let's do the same. Let's hike up our bras, put our chins up and make people stare at your natural beauty. Make sure to add a wink for good measure.
-Meaghan
Maybe these women would like to be seen for their talent and not 'just' their looks. And let's be honest, the industry has more than its fair share of scumbags who don't give a crap about talent and would rather have pretty girls around them.
ReplyDeleteMichael - so often I feel like you don't actually read the things I write, you just get a general gist and leave a comment.
ReplyDeleteBut what SHOULD Beautiful Actress say? "Thank you"? As if she could somehow take personal credit for the fact that she's beautiful? I don't like false modesty, but I can see how someone would feel awkward in this situation, and might just want to give some sort of an "aw shucks" or "that doesn't matter" kind of answer.
ReplyDeleteHey Bob - yeah, totally - I get what you're saying. But I just think it's that thing where, we often don't really accept our privileges, when we really should. Like when a poor person judges a rich person for being rich, or says, "you only have that swimming pool because your family are rich." And the thing is that, yes, that may be true, but the rich person doesn't need to feel bad about it. So they could say, "yes, you're right. I am so lucky and really appreciate what I have," rather than "um, oh, well- uh.. I work hard, and my rich parents make me pay them and work for them."
ReplyDeleteAll I'm really saying is-- is that, even if not in an outspoken way, sometimes it's a more inner thing, people tend to get an aversion to important parts of themselves, whether they're born with them or it's something they learned.
Ouch. All I'm saying is it's very hard to overcome your own self-doubt about your looks, in this case, when you also have to deal with people who have nefarious motives and their are a lot of people like this. Maybe I've been scarred by the countless amounts of people I've had the displeasure of running into while trying to make it in the business. It hasn't always been pats on the back for me.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying. Motivational and believing in what you're capable of. I was just merely adding, rather than criticizing.
Michael - I completely agree, and despite my little 'let's be inspired' routine that I promote around here - I, too, have had no end of scumbags, let-downs and been witness to countless amounts of plain wrongness; so I get what you're saying.
ReplyDeleteI just think, if a woman is more in control of and confident of this image, they'll be in a stronger place than if they're afraid of it, or in doubt of it - that's when the scumbags take advantage.
Well said, sometimes we need to put aside our personal quests and know what our strengths are and use it to benefit the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteWoody Allen, a perfect example and one of my all time favorites.