Un Ugliness

New York is a big city, filled with people from all over the world and all walks of life. You see it everywhere: from the time you step through the gate of the International terminal at JFK to bumping into people on the streets of Manhattan. I haven’t seen that many different-looking people in any other place I’ve been to. There is usually some sense of sameness. For whatever reason (genetic, cultural, political), people are either born into or actively migrate towards similarity: in the way they dress and carry themselves, their interests and views. These groups of same-minded and same-looking people are like little islands of homogeneity, albeit dissimilar from one another. Individual features begin to fade away, and you no longer notice how different people are. Instead, you focus on what unifies them.

In New York, it’s all mixed in and tossed together. Looking at these people, you can’t help but notice all the features that make them different from one another: tall and short, fat and skinny, big boobs, skinny butts, dark, light, funny noses, crossed eyes, long necks, short legs, big heads, deformed arms – all the grotesqueness of human flesh is right there, staring you in the face. You can’t avoid it, and all you can do is marvel at the glory of people’s ugliness. There are no beautiful people. Everyone is funny looking in his own way. Put two beautiful but contrasting people side by side and all you’ll notice is how different they are and how bizarre this difference is. I never had this feeling before, but once I paid attention I couldn’t help but notice it all around me, or even in my own reflection in the mirror. People are like impressionistic paintings – every feature taken separately may seem ugly, but put together they create some fascinating-looking characters.

This point got taken to a new level for my by an accidental encounter in Boston with a book edited by Umberto Eco called On Ugliness. It’s a fascinating anthology of historical, literary, and artistic views on what people consider ugly and why. Of course, perceptions of ugliness (and beauty, for that matter) are subjective and change over time. What is ugly for one is beautiful to another, and what appears ugly at first may grow on us with more familiarity. But the fact that, as a society, we see ugliness everywhere and are mesmerized by it is quite peculiar. I recon that Eco’s volume will require more detailed studying from me to further explore and expand on this observation.