Brent Clanfield Post #1

In Denis Dutton’s Ted talk, Dutton mentions that, “some people, especially academics prefer, beauty is in the culturally conditioned eye of the beholder.” To me, this is the truth of beauty. One of the biggest examples that came to mind when I read this was movies. Movies are a piece of art. Cinematography can be extremely moving, and trigger many emotions. That said, when I watch very old movies these emotions are not triggered. For example, the movie Ben-Hur won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Cinematography in 1959. This was considered a beautiful movie. When I watch it today, I find it to be very boring, slow moving, and washed out in color. Now take some of the movies of today that I find beautiful. Inception and Gravity both won Oscars for Best Cinematography. These are some of my favorite movies. I find them to be visually and mentally stimulating in so many ways, and they continue to amaze me when I watch them again. They are beautiful pieces of art. I think the idea that my eye is culturally conditioned to prefer the modern and vast world that was created in Inception and Gravity over the old-fashioned Ben-Hur makes total sense. I have grown up with CGI filled, fast moving, action packed movies, and so I find these movies to be “beautiful.” Those who grew up with movies like Ben-Hur usually prefer to watch these old style movies. The culture surrounding the eye defines what it likes. 

In a way, Dutton and I are acting out the Science Wars. We have differing views on the science of beauty. The stakes of this debate are low in my opinion. Does it matter why we find things beautiful? Unless you are trying to scientifically calculate what people will find beautiful for business sake, I feel beauty is beauty. Some find things beautiful, and others are indifferent. I feel the most valuable reason for the meaning and purpose behind beauty is to simply rationalize why you may find something beautiful. Why do I find Leonardo DiCaprio dreaming about dreaming in Inception beautiful? My eye is culturally conditioned to do so.