'Beastly', 'Sex and the City 2' and why sometimes being hit with the ugly stick isn't all bad.......

I think it’s quite funny that, on reading my blog recently, I’ve gone to serious posts after I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to do them.  Who knew I actually had a brain?  Certainly my doctor’s will be as surprised as I am I’m sure.  Not sure how long my few brain cells will be firing on all cylinders but, whilst they are, I’ll be making the most of it so please bear with me. 

Continuing the serious blog theme, I watched a couple of movies today with my daughter (she's on half term).  One was called ‘Beastly’ and the other was ‘Sex and the City 2’; now the films themselves are relevant as they’re both about beauty.  One’s a remake of the Beauty and the Beast theme, quite well done actually; and the other is about people’s obsession with beauty – not that that was case, but it’s certainly what I took from it.

Beastly I think gave the better story - that it’s more important to see the person on the inside than their exterior looks.  Certainly it seems, when you look at the ultra beautiful celebrities, that being attractive doesn’t do them any favours.  The women seem to spend their time, and money, trying to hold back the ravages of age and only end up making themselves look so much worse than if they just aged naturally.  That and the fact that all that plastic means standing near any open fire is only going to end badly......

Look at Joan Rivers, the poster child for excessive plastic surgery – well, after the ‘Bride of Wildenstein.”  It’s sad because these women were very attractive before all the surgery; certainly Joan Rivers was.  Yet if S&TC2 is to be believed being ultra attractive and buying (and wearing) horrifyingly expensive clothes is the only real way to be happy in this life.

Of course, as I said, Beastly puts paid to that theory and, being aimed at teens, hopefully shows that substance really does matters over style.  Now, you have to understand that I am not beautiful – Lord, I’m not even remotely attractive.  I think I’ve said before to picture me as a female Quasimodo with specs and, apart from the bells fixation, you’ve got me pretty well down.

Aside from that I’ve never been attractive; there was a time, in my mid twenties, when I was slightly less ugly than I am now, but overall I’ve been pretty awful all my life.  The best compliment I got from a friend (female) was that I was “homely” – seriously, that was the best.

So, as someone who was an unappealing baby, a plain child, gawky teenager and ugly adult, I can speak with some knowledge about how to survive being clubbed into a coma with the ugly stick.  It makes you present a better persona to the world – okay as a child/teen I was painfully shy (and I mean excruciatingly shy), but I had a pleasant personality and had developed a really good sense of humour about myself.  I was told that I was warm, thoughtful, loyal, very funny and good at keeping confidences (there are some I’ve been told that I will, quite literally, take to my grave).

Does this mean I’m happy with the way I look?  Not even remotely; I remember, when aged seventeen, lamenting the fact that boys I knew thought of me as ‘one of the lads’ (truly the worst thing you can ever tell a female.....ever) or just didn’t think of me at all because I was so ugly and shy.  My late beloved mum, God rest her, hugged me and told me it was what was on the inside that counted, and one day I’d find a man that would see that and nothing else.  I bitterly replied that to get a man to see my personality, I had to have the wrappings to get him interested in the first place.

Of course she was right, as all wise mums are (and mine was probably the wisest); but at the time it was small consolation to an ugly seventeen year old.  Okay I kissed a few really horrible frogs – not to look at, but on the inside they were nasty (a whole different story there and I'm not sharing, don't worry).  But I did meet a man that saw beyond the homely wrapping and liked what it hid; to my supreme surprise he was really good looking too.

I still, even after being with him for twenty two years (of which we’ve been happily married for twenty), wonder how I snagged my hunk of a husband, who's a total saint (albeit a juvenile one).  I can only assume that he was going through a blind stage when we met or was wearing invisible drunk glasses (where everyone looks gorgeous).

However, I digress; what I’m trying to say is this – if you see a truly good looking man with a plain woman, or a stunning woman with an ugly guy, remember the plain one might be the nicest, sweetest person in the world and the stunningly attractive partner might be counting their blessings that they snagged them.  Oh and don't automatically dismiss the plain girl or geeky guy you know - you might be passing up your soulmate.

As for me?  Well, let’s just say I’m always rooting for the underdog; the more unattractive they look, the more I look for their personality.  I've yet to be disappointed with what I found...

This is Simi, thanks for reading......