Beauty Equals Goodness: Difference between revisions

Line 46:

* Played oh so straight for years on end with the family of [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] villain Dr. Sivana. Sivana himself could be kindly described as a stunted little troll with [[Bald of Evil|no hair]] and a face only a mother could love: evil. He has four kids. Georgia is basically her father, only female and with hair: evil. Thaddeus is his dad mark 2: evil. Magnificus apparently comes from a completely different family, with golden hair and absolutely no deformities: good. Beautia, winner of the All-Time Prize for Least Subtle Name, is absolutely stunning: good. Captain Marvel himself: physically Superman in red, and the hero. <ref>To be brutally honest, possibly the most difficult part of this to accept is how Dr Sivana managed to have ''any'' kids while looking like Gollum with [[Nerd Glasses]].</ref>

* Nancy Callahan in ''[[Sin City]]'' is the most noble and innocent character in the series and is described as the most beautiful.

* [[Captain America]] is the perfect male specimen, especially by Nazi standards, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a perfect body. His [[Arch Enemy]] [[Red Skull]] has a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|red skull]].

* [[Captain America (comics)]] is the perfect male specimen, especially by Nazi standards, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a perfect body. His [[Arch Enemy]] [[Red Skull]] has a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|red skull]].

Line 91:

* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s [[The Silmarillion|Middle]]-[[The Lord of the Rings|earth]] world, this trope shows up most prominently with the Elves and the Orcs. The Elves are especially fair while the Orcs are especially ugly. In their case, Elves are created to be especially fair among the children of [[God|Ilúvatar]] - "elven-fair" is a descriptor indicating great beauty. The Orcs are ugly due to the malicious corruption of the first Dark Lord Morgoth - they came into being through his twisting and corrupting of Elves. For Men, heroes like Aragorn and Túrin follow this trope, their looks even being compared to those of Elves. Hobbits and Dwarves tend to be plain-looking, if not ugly - but Frodo is fairer than most other hobbits.

** On the other hand, the trope is also subverted through elements like the Druédain or Wild Men, who are ugly compared to other Men but firmly aligned with good. They remain so for thousands of years while most of the Númenoreans, the most Elf-like of Men (specifically blessed by Ilúvatar to be so) are corrupted by Sauron - who himself had a fair physical form before the events of ''The Lord of the Rings''. While Frodo may follow this trope, Sam is not especially handsome. Hobbits generally look "good-natured rather than beautiful".

* An example who was once a subversion: To the vast surprise of most people, Lancelot in ''[[King Arthur|La Morte d'Arthur]]'' and other early Arthurian works is not the handsome "[[Prince Charming]]" figure he tends to be portrayed as in modern media, but a stocky, barrel-chested walking meat wall who is notably plain in appearance. (He's also a mentally unstable berserker given to complete psychotic breakdowns at the drop of a hat. Naturally, since [[John Cleese]] is an Arthurian scholar, ''[[Monty Python and ~~The~~ Holy Grail]]'' got him completely right.)

* An example who was once a subversion: To the vast surprise of most people, Lancelot in ''[[King Arthur|La Morte d'Arthur]]'' and other early Arthurian works is not the handsome "[[Prince Charming]]" figure he tends to be portrayed as in modern media, but a stocky, barrel-chested walking meat wall who is notably plain in appearance. (He's also a mentally unstable berserker given to complete psychotic breakdowns at the drop of a hat. Naturally, since [[John Cleese]] is an Arthurian scholar, ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' got him completely right.)

** T.H. White takes this even further in ''The Ill-Made Knight'', the third volume of ''[[The Once and Future King]]'', and makes his version of Lancelot extraordinarily ugly, so much so that he is said to resemble an ape.

*** Further subverted ''The Once and Future King'' series with Elaine. She starts off as being young and beautiful, but becomes plump and reclusive from society when Lancelot abandons her. The narrator even mentions that she did the "wrong thing", and ought to have turned "thin and interesting" as Guenever would have done in that situation. Elaine is still portrayed very sympathetically (even if she does [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|trick Lancelot into sleeping with her]] ''again'')

Line 206:

** Even more interesting: While Kennedy was the president who brought the US military into [[The Vietnam War]] full-force (before then, we were supplying troops but it was not an official war), the less-attractive [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] has tended to receive the lion's share of the blame for the conflict. Nixon was the one who eventually pulled us out, but this is rarely mentioned, mainly due to A. His initial escalation of the fighting and B. He's friggin' [[Richard Nixon]].

* The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] took this very, ''very'' seriously. ''Kaloi k'agathoi'' ("the beautiful and good ones") was what Greek aristocrats called themselves. To be beautiful was considered a gift from the gods and was a sign of their favor. This allowed good-looking Greeks to [[Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful|get away with things just because they were beautiful]], and occasionally hurt ugly people when accused of a crime. For instance:

** Phryne, an Athenian [[High Class Call Girl|courtesan]] known for her beauty, was once accused of a form of blasphemy. At trial, her defense consisted, at least in part, of stripping off her clothes and saying to the (all-male) jury: "Would you dare destroy ''this''?" She was acquitted.

** Phryne, an Athenian [[High-Class Call Girl|courtesan]] known for her beauty, was once accused of a form of blasphemy. At trial, her defense consisted, at least in part, of stripping off her clothes and saying to the (all-male) jury: "Would you dare destroy ''this''?" She was acquitted.

** [[Socrates]], on the other hand, was famously ugly (both [[Aristophanes]] and [[Plato]] make quite a few "ugly guy" jokes at Socrates' expense). This may have figured into the decision to convict Socrates at trial (the decision to execute him, on the other hand, was more or less because of what he said).

* Public opinion in any trial by media scenario will often fall in line with this trope. [[Missing White Woman Syndrome]] (always pretty, young girls) is an obvious real-life relation, and people often have harsher reactions to unusual looking suspects (as opposed to attractive serial killers mentioned below, who often get fanmail or marriage proposals). Even non-criminal media scandals get this reaction. Take, for example, public perception of the British Royal Family. Princess Diana is lovingly remembered, despite having affairs as her former husband did, while Prince Charles is unpopular and Lady Camilla is largely hated, and both are mocked for their appearance.

Line 302:

** On the other hand, a lot of ''younger'' female heroes are portrayed as quite attractive, especially love interests; look at Angua, Sacharissa, Susan, Adora Belle Dearheart, and Cohen the Barbarian's daughter Conina.

** In the manner of middle ground, Moist von Lipwig, one of the more recent protagonists, is described as being utterly unmemorable, a trait he used to his advantage in his previous job... as a con man. Unmemorable to the extent that his own mother previously took the wrong child home from kindergarten, and he has to attract attention to himself while shaving.

** Not that there aren't ''any'' good-looking heroes or unattractive villains on the Disc; for instance, Captain Carrot, [[The Cape]], is as handsome as fits the character type (described by a ''female vampire'' as having godlike proportions--the better class of god, even), and Mr. Teatime, from ''Hogfather'', is boyishly handsome but has [[Eyepatch of Power|one glass eye]], and [[Red Right Hand|one "normal" eye that's even more disturbing]]. Sensibly, there's no easy way to tell alignment from appearance on the Disc. Not even if said appearance is standing on top of a massive pile of skulls... because said person might just happen to be Cohen the Barbarian.

** Not that there aren't ''any'' good-looking heroes or unattractive villains on the Disc; for instance, Captain Carrot, [[The Cape (trope)]], is as handsome as fits the character type (described by a ''female vampire'' as having godlike proportions--the better class of god, even), and Mr. Teatime, from ''Hogfather'', is boyishly handsome but has [[Eyepatch of Power|one glass eye]], and [[Red Right Hand|one "normal" eye that's even more disturbing]]. Sensibly, there's no easy way to tell alignment from appearance on the Disc. Not even if said appearance is standing on top of a massive pile of skulls... because said person might just happen to be Cohen the Barbarian.

** Played straight and sarcastically lampshaded in ''Going Postal''. A minor villain is described as being obese and looking like "a piglet having a bright idea", with a voice like "a small, breathless, neurotic but ridiculously expensive dog". He has exactly the personality one would [[Fat Idiot|stereotypically]] associate with these physical traits. In a [[Footnote Fever|footnote]], the author notes that "it is wrong to judge by appearances" and that "snap judgements can be so unfair" but strongly suggests that such judgements are actually correct most of the time.

** IN SHORT: Discworld averts this trope ''hard'' (most of the time).