That healthy, airbrushed look

So I was watchin' some late-night TV and trying to ignore the AC-less HEAT. A commercial came on, advertising skin cream for "that healthy, airbrushed look". No joke.

I also spent the evening on the Santa Monica pier, looking at all the beautiful people (and the people who want to be beautiful). It's set me thinking. I'm not talking about the obvious reflections we've all heard too many times about real beauty vs. interior beauty...I'm talking about perception. How we see people. How I see people.

And I've gotta admit, it's hard to look past the externals. Much of that's due to entertainment's portrayal of beauty/sexiness as good. The good guys are beautiful hunks or babes. The bad guys usually aren't (unless they have to be a love interest of our hero).

But, obviously, physical symmetry and 'airbrushed skin' doesn't equal good. It means you got lucky, you buy too much skin cream and you eat too little food. I think that's a challenge for filmmakers. Showing eye candy and calling it "hero" is easy. Building character and truth and humanity without flash isn't, but it's what we have to do. That's telling the truth.