Aesthetic Norms Research Articles

Ageing and Care in Agnès Varda

Abstract This article analyses selected works of Agnès Varda as original contributions to cultural gerontology. It focuses on Varda’s pronounced interest in older people throughout her career and explores how, in experimental portraits and self-portraits, she approaches ageing by harnessing surprising devices — temporal, spatial, aesthetic, haptic, and affective — to challenge ageism and assumptions of disability, and to encourage identification. The article pays particular attention to a series of interlinked video portraits of a fourth-age female nude in 7 p., cuis., s. de b… (à saisir) (1984) and to Varda’s bold and innovative exploration and performance of her own old age in her co-directed film Visages villages (2017). The latter foregrounds consistently the physical and affective dimensions of old age and may be read not only as an extended self-portrait, but more broadly as a protracted exercise in empathy with older people. The article examines how the film cuts across thematic and aesthetic norms both by foregrounding older subjects and by validating them as fascinating and beautiful. It also reads Visages villages as a powerful appeal to an intergenerational ethics of care, established in part through Varda’s creative partnership with street photographer and artist JR.

The ‘look’! Aesthetic labour, aesthetic norms and appearance-based recruitment in the runway modelling industry

Aesthetic labour in the runway modelling industry refers to the practice of recruitment of models-workers on the basis of desired corporeal and facial dispositions. Aesthetic labour theory foregrounds embodiment, which situates the value of physical appearance and aesthetic norms in the workplace context showcasing how the models-workers get recruited and stratified based on their looks. The study employs an explanatory sequential mixed-method design to investigate aesthetic norms including the desired corporeal and facial dispositions that are expected from models-workers in the runway modelling industry. The study included two phases, a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase. The main objective of the first, quantitative research phase, was to investigate the aesthetic norms among 609 international runway models who were recruited to perform in designer exclusive fashion shows during seven consecutive annual fashion week seasons from 2013 to 2020 in New York, Paris, London and/or Milan. The main objective of the second qualitative research phase was to qualify aesthetic norms through a visual content analysis, and in-depth exploration of 40 unretouched professional modelling snapshots (photographs of face and body) for the top new model talents in the 2019–20 fashion season. Model photos were extracted from the popular industry website, Models.com. The rationale for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data was to form a robust and comprehensive assessment of aesthetic norms in the runway modelling industry. The same level of comprehensiveness would not be obtained by using either type of data individually. This article advances academic research on aesthetic labour in the fashion and modelling industry by showcasing why appearance-based recruitment in this sector represents the practice of occupational segregation that creates social inequalities and negatively impacts the labour market.

Virtual Surgical Planning for Patients with Skeletal-Dental and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.

The integration of virtual surgical planning (VSP) for the treatment of skeletal, dental, and facial abnormalities and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with maxillofacial surgery has catapulted surgical planning. Although reported for treating skeletal dental abnormalities and dental implant surgery, a paucity of knowledge existed reporting the feasibility and resultant outcome measures when virtual surgical planning was employed for planning maxillary and mandibular surgery for OSA patients. The surgery first approach is at the forefront of advancing maxillofacial surgery. Case series reporting success with the surgery first approach for patients with skeletal-dental and sleep apnea patients have been reported. In sleep apnea patients, clinically significant reductions in AHI (apnea hypopnea index) and improvement of low oxyhemoglobin saturation have been achieved. More so, significant improvement in the posterior airway space at the occlusal and mandibular planes were achieved, while preserving aesthetic norms as measured by tooth to lip measurements. VSP is a feasible tool used for predicting surgical outcome measures in maxillomandibular advancement surgery for patients with skeletal, dental, facial and OSA derangements.

Tractors and Translators: Langston Hughes in Cold War Czechoslovakia

AbstractThe poet Langston Hughes was central to mid-century transnational exchanges and Cold War translation. This essay examines the poet's centrality through a new lens, presenting a case study on Czech translations of Hughes's poetry between 1950 and 1963 that draws on archival materials, especially the correspondence between Hughes and one of his Czech translators, Jiří Valja; paratexts; and analysis of translations. The essay shows how Hughes's poetry was translated into Czech against the backdrop of Cold War publishing politics and aesthetic norms, how the translations of Hughes's work operated in these contexts, and how Cold War translation emerged as a specific site of inquiry with its own challenges, contacts, and practices.

Law in the Social Regulators System: Is its Future Cloudless?

A developing system of social norms is based on such a criterion as a way of regulation or a way of ordering, normalizing and stabilizing the society. At the same time, an evolutionary key is used, i.e., the historical time of the appearance of a particular type of norms, which makes it possible to see how the relay race of social norms took place, to trace the entire path of development of social regulation. The society in its development has passed two epochs: the pre-state period (the era of the primitive system and the transition of society from anthropology gathering to production) and the state period that in turn, is divided into three stages: agrarian, industrial, post-industrial (information) society. In a pre-agrarian society, there were: 1) myths, 2) rituals, 3) ceremonies, 4) customs. The agrarian society enriched the mankind with such norms as: 5) traditions, 6) religious norms, 7) business habits. The industrial society consolidated: 8) legal norms, 9) political norms that declared themselves to the utmost. In the information society, the following norms become significant: 10) etiquette norms, 11) aesthetic norms, 12) moral standards.The author draws the following conclusions. The system of social regulators is quite extensive. In the process of economic transformation, the humanity has been developing more and more effective ways of regulation that correspond to social reality. Social norms did not arise simultaneously, but matured gradually accumulating their potential. In the future, when more progressive norms enter the arena of human existence, the previously arisen norms will not disappear, but will recede into the background and perform a secondary role in ordering the life of the society. Law today is the main means of regulation. However, law is by no means guaranteed a leading role in the future, since norms with a more powerful regulatory potential (for example, morality) have been created.

Legislating Taste

Abstract My aesthetic judgements seem to make claims on you. While some popular accounts of aesthetic normativity say that the force of these claims is third-personal, I argue that it is actually second-personal. This point may sound like a bland technicality, but it points to a novel idea about what aesthetic judgements ultimately are and what they do. It suggests, in particular, that aesthetic judgements are motions in the collective legislation of the nature of aesthetic activity. This conception is recommended by its ability to explain some important but otherwise recondite features of aesthetic practice and, more importantly, by allowing us to ground the normativity of aesthetic judgement in the familiar normativity of practice. It also offers a more systematic way of understanding the rivalry between the ideals of aesthetic universality and diversity.

Universalism and the Problem of Aesthetic Diversity

AbstractThis essay examines a recent line of thought in aesthetics that challenges realist-leaning aesthetic theories. According to this line of thought, aesthetic diversity and disagreement are good, and our aesthetic judgments, responses, and attachments are deeply personal and even identity-constituting. These facts are further used to support anti-realist theories of aesthetic normativity. I aim to achieve two goals: (1) to disentangle arguments concerning diversity, disagreement, and personality; and (2) to offer realist-friendly replies to all three.

Exemplars and expertise: what we cannot learn from saints and heroes

ABSTRACT According to a popular line of thought, moral exemplars have a key role to play in moral development and moral education and by paying attention to moral exemplars we can learn about what morality requires of us. However, when we pay attention to what many moral exemplars say about their actions, it seems that our moral obligations are much more demanding than we typically think they are. Some philosophers have argued that this exemplar testimony gives us reason to accept a radically demanding view of morality. We argue against this view by appealing to similar testimony from aesthetic exemplars. If we accept that the testimony of moral exemplars gives us reason to accept a radically demanding view of morality, then we should accept that the testimony of aesthetic exemplars supports a radically demanding view of aesthetic normativity. We argue that we should reject both arguments for radically demanding views, and instead see the testimony of exemplars as having something important to tell us about the nature of ideals. What we learn about morality and aesthetics from attending to the lives of moral exemplars is that those who embody an ideal are subject to obligations that others are not.

“HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL QUEEN”: #JUSTICEFORBRE AND THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT ON INSTAGRAM

On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman from Louisville, Kentucky, was killed by police officers during a raid on her apartment. In this study, we analyze the complex intersections between race, gender, and the aesthetic norms dominant on Instagram, as they played out in the political expression around the killing of Breonna Taylor, as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. On a theoretical level, this research offers a model explaining how social media platforms (in this case, Instagram) can enable—as well as constrain—certain forms of political expression, through the interaction between their affordances, norms, and contents. An analysis of 5779 Instagram posts and 2173 related comments show how the conversation around #justiceforbre manifested in a collection of posts that was rather uniform, centered on reposting a limited set of posts that were visually appealing, highlighting Taylor’s femininity. A dominant norm in the corpus was connecting political expression around the killing of Breonna Taylor to the user’s own identity, so that the “right” way to speak around the issue varied based on one’s racial group. Through this analysis, this study points at how the interaction between affordances, norms and contents uniquely shaped the kind of political expression that was enabled on Instagram. While adopting the Instagram aesthetic made a powerful impact for the BLM movement, the analyzed contents also show the limits posed on activist action around race relations when it is confined to aesthetically pleasing forms of expression that focus on femininity and beauty.

Reframing Migrant Narratives through Arts Practice

In this article, we reflect on our collaborative practice-as-research piece Project Finding Home, that arose from our experiences of working and living in the UK as ‘non-British’ citizens. Engaging with other refugee and migrant artists over three years, we worked deliberately as co-researchers and co-creators in a non-hierarchical dynamic to produce a series of four films reflecting on how we find home when it is so impacted by government policy, social and cultural integration, and intergenerational relationships. This article focuses on two of these films, one made with the participatory theatre company of Sanctuary, PSYCHEdelight, and one made with conceptual artist, Khaled Barakeh. Through observations of their work, we discuss how their respective uses of comedy (in PSYCHEdelight’s show Mohand and Peter) and visual representation (in Barakeh’s installation On the Ropes) resist singular views of migrant narratives. Additionally, we analyse our creative and ethical processes for making films with them about their work. Discussing how their aesthetics informed our processes for showcasing who they are and what they do as artists to a wider audience, we examine how artistic practice, its documentation, and its dissemination can question dominant aesthetic norms and existing migration and cultural policies in the UK and Europe.

Parliamentary Dress

Parliamentary Dress

Redefining Beauty: A Qualitative Study Exploring Adult Women's Motivations for Lip Filler Resulting in Anatomical Distortion.

Lip filler enhancement has fast become one of the most popular minimally invasive cosmetic procedures. Motivations for "overtreatment" with lip fillers are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to explore female motivations for and experiences of procedures that achieve an aesthetic of distorted lip anatomy. Twenty-four females who had undergone lip filler procedures resulting in strikingly distorted lip anatomy, determined by the Harris classification of filler spread, took part in semistructured interviews about their motivations, experiences, and perceptions related to lip fillers. A qualitative thematic analysis was carried out. Four major themes are discussed: (1) the normalization of lip fillers, (2) perceptual drift which is mediated by exposure to repetitive images of larger lips on social media, (3) perceived financial and social benefits of larger lips, and (4) the relation between mental health and seeking repeated lip filler procedures. Motivations for seeking lip fillers vary, but most subjects described social media impacting perceived aesthetic norms. A process of perceptual drift occurs whereby mental schema encoding expectations of "natural" facial anatomy can adapt through repeated exposure to enhanced images. The results can inform aesthetic practitioners and policymakers seeking to understand and support those seeking minimally invasive cosmetic procedures.

In search of the social in social semiotics: a historical perspective

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on the importance of the social to the analysis of historical multimodal texts and how some concepts and analytical tools from SFL can prevent researchers from getting the most from their data. Building on the work of Ledin and Machin (2018), it looks at three main areas of concern when dealing with historical multimodal texts—context, attention to micro, meso and macro levels, and historically-developed affordances—and uses examples of Edwardian book inscriptions to suggest ways that archival research can help overcome these problems. Overall, it argues how greater attention to the social brings to the fore how semiotic choices can be used strategically to foreground individual positions and/or subvert aesthetic norms. In doing so, it frames historical multimodal texts not as static representations of communication, but as dynamic, highly contextual and involved in a complex process of co-construction between producers, their imagined audiences and broader sociocultural meanings. It also suggests that a focus on historical context can also move multimodal studies beyond a predominant focus on the contemporary, as well as challenge the supposed novelty of certain communicative practices, thereby fostering more nuanced interpretations that recognise the broader lineage of patterned practices and uses.

Current Trends in Ideal Nasal Aesthetics Show Younger Patients Have a Preference Toward Longer Augmented Noses.

Aesthetic norms fluctuate over time and often result in generational differences in preferred ideal nasal aesthetics. While some traditional concepts of the ideal nasal aesthetic have been suggested in our literature, there has been no study to date that has identified contemporary preferences across different age groups. To understand the general population's current perception of ideal nasal profiles. Two-dimensional images of female noses (n = 10) of varying ethnicities were simulated to alter either the radix height or nasolabial angle (NLA) independently. Radix height was manipulated by increasing or decreasing the height by 5 mm relative to baseline. For NLA, 3 images were created with the following measurements: (1) 90°, (2) 100°, and (3) 110°. Groups were categorized by generation and age at the time of completing the study: Generation Z (Gen Z; age 18-23), Millennial 20s (age 24-30), Millennial 30s (age 31-39), and Generation X (Gen X; age 40-55). Each figure consisted of either 3 variations in radix height (n = 10) or 3 variations in NLA (n = 10). Within each figure, volunteers were asked to choose their preferred nose. The younger generations, Gen Z and Millennial 20s and 30s, preferred a more augmented radix compared to Gen X which preferred a baseline radix height. Gen Z, Millennial 20s, and Gen X preferred a 90° NLA, while Millennial 30s preferred an NLA of 100°. The authors found that younger populations (Gen Z, Millennial 20s, and Millennial 30s) preferred a more augmented appearance to the nasal radix and, on average, a more acute NLA than published data suggest.

Police and Politics in Aesthetics‐Based Urban Governance: Redevelopment and Grassroots Struggles in Enninglu, Guangzhou, China

AbstractRancière's theorisation of police, politics, and aesthetics offers an illustrative framework to understand urban (re)developments. While extant works have examined separately the art of governing through aesthetics and the political subjectivities of those having no part in the frame of visibility and intelligibility, this study argues that hegemonic aesthetic regime and bottom‐up aesthetic practices can be mutually constitutive and reside in relationships of co‐existence and mutual negotiation. Drawing on over a decade's investigation in Enninglu, a neighbourhood district in Guangzhou that underwent several rounds of political struggles related to redevelopment and conservation, we reveal how local residents negotiated aesthetic norms enacted by the state. Particular attention is paid to the interactions between the aesthetic regime imposed by the state and grassroots people reclaiming their own aesthetic sensibilities, culminating in a contingent, inconclusive, and “impure” space of politics. Both political subjectivities and aesthetic norms are redefined ongoingly in this process.

The Phenomenon of Freakishness in Russian Popular Music: Concerning the Study of the Problem

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of freakishness in popular music in Russia — as a rule, a conscious modeling of eccentric behavior in popular music on the part of various types of performers (starting from the late 1980s). The interest towards freaks in popular music is stipulated by the artistic manifestation of a number of colorful and provocative characters, the perception of whom is conducive towards the cognition of profound processes taking place in Russian culture (as a part of world culture). A positive perception of freakishness proves the total legalization and emancipation of what was previously perceived as unhealthy, eccentric, or ugly, which is presently taking place not only in Russia, but also in other countries. At the same time, freakishness in popular music may serve as a solution of the important social aims of the loosening-up of personality, the departure from the conditions of supra-civilization, supra-glossiness, as well as the pressure of social morality and social standards. The highlight of the movement of freaks in Russian popular music in the 1990s became a sign of the post-perestroika era and the values of the disorientation of Russian society. The emergence of abnormal, marginal phenomena, the violation of previous prohibitions, the wish to feel the edge, the limit manifested itself in the work of pseudo-freakish characters (Zhanna Aguzarova, Vitas, Shura). The demand of originality, the popularity of the new heroes — the representatives of creative industries, has provoked the generation of yet more unusual images and manners of performance. Total freakishness, the promotion of abnormality, non-standard behavior and even pathologies, the aspiration towards provocative behavior and the search for continuously new forms of artistic “shocking” of broad auditorium testifies of the transformation of many aesthetic norms, of the fatigue, the loss of faith in culture and progress, of the yearning for further searches for the “boundaries” of the normal. The author observes in conclusion that the intensifying or abating presence of freakish heroes, the expansion or, on the other hand, the narrowing of the zone of their influence and involvement into the cultural space of contemporaneity bears witness of processes the comprehension of which makes it possible to catch hold of certain tendencies in the social, spiritual life of society, which, obviously, merits further research.

Aesthetic Commitments and Aesthetic Obligations

Resolving to finish reading a novel, staying true to your punk style, or dedicating your life to an artistic project: these are examples of aesthetic commitments. I develop an account of the nature of such commitments, and I argue that they are significant insofar as they help us manage the temporally extended nature of our aesthetic agency and our relationships with aesthetic objects. At the same time, focusing on aesthetic commitments can give us a better grasp on the nature of aesthetic normativity; this is because, in making aesthetic commitments, we are capable of giving aesthetic concerns the weight of obligation. I argue that appealing to aesthetic commitments allows us to account for the existence of aesthetic obligations as well as their grounding. I conclude by arguing that, although the aesthetic domain is a domain of play and freedom of choice, there is nevertheless an important place in it for both aesthetic commitments and the aesthetic obligations they generate.

Компаративный анализ философии дзэн: Риндзай и Сото

The practical methods of studying Zen, known as ‘pure zazen’ and the ‘koan method’ of the Buddhist schools of Rinzai and Soto are subjected to comparative analysis. This study focuses on the comprehension of Zen philosophy, and also analyzes the basic attitudes regarding the difference from the old Buddhist schools in Japan: practical activity, self-improvememt and indifference to death come first, as well as new aesthetic norms and ideals. Simplicity, the absence of any authority, the absence of rituals and anti-intellectualism corresponded to the spirit of the era when the once unshakable moral values were collapsing. Comparing the two Buddhist schools, the authors of the article note that the distinguishing feature of Soto, founded in Japan by Dogen, is absolute immersion in the meditative practice of ‘Silent illumination of Zen’ (黙想 mokuso), which outlines the path to enlightenment through sitting meditation. At the same time the emphasis is placed on the fact that this is a complex and not fast process of passing through certain stages in comprehending the teaching. Rinzai Zen in Japan is most associated with learning through koan work, and the origin of this practice dates back to master Linji from the time of the Song dynasty, namely Daie Soko, who collected and arranged all the major koans in a specific order for ease of use. But the very practice of comprehending the teaching is distinguished by its rather harsh and cruel methods, since the teachers considered it necessary to tear the student out of everyday life and the fastest way is to hit or to shout at a person. It was this philosophical practice of Rinzai Zen that was spread in Japan by Eisai. As a result of the study, the authors came to the conclusion that the masters of the Rinzai school proclaim the importance of ‘sudden enlightenment’, and the masters of the Soto school teach to follow the path of ‘progressive enlightenment’, and thus Soto and Rinzai become Zen schools that use opposite methods to achieve insight.

Forehead lifting with hyaluronic acid filling: A new technique called ‘Crown Lift’

AbstractBackgroundThe forehead is an important region to be evaluated in the treatment of facial rejuvenation and knowledge of techniques, the anatomy of the region and aesthetic norms are essential for patient treatment. The present study aims to demonstrate a new filling technique with hyaluronic acid for elevation and lifting effect of the entire forehead region, repositioning and rising the eyebrow with satisfactory and lasting results.MethodsA prospective, 30‐day follow‐up, open‐label, quasi‐experimental (before‐after) single‐centre study was conducted with 10 patients.ResultsThe new technique support the frontal musculature, in its upper portion, producing a lifting effect of the entire frontal region, repositioning and elevating the eyebrow.ConclusionAnalysis of the vectors provided by the comparison of D0 and D30 images revealed a significant lifting effect on the face corroborating with the results of GAIS and PGAIS.

Pathologizing Ugliness: A Conceptual Analysis of the Naturalist and Normativist Claims in "Aesthetic Pathology".

Pathologizing ugliness refers to the use of disease language and medical processes to foster and support the claim that undesirable features are pathological conditions requiring medical or surgical intervention. Primarily situated in cosmetic surgery, the practice appeals to the concept of "aesthetic pathology", which is a medical designation for features that deviate from some designated aesthetic norms. This article offers a two-pronged conceptual analysis of aesthetic pathology. First, I argue that three sets of claims, derived from normativist and naturalistic accounts of disease, inform the framing of ugliness as a disease. These claims concern: (1) aesthetic harms, (2) aesthetic dysfunction, and (3) aesthetic deviation. Second, I introduce the notion of a hybridization loop in medicine, which merges the naturalist and normative understanding of the disease that potentially enables pathologizing practices. In the context of cosmetic surgery, the loop simultaneously promotes the framing of beauty ideals as normal biological attributes and the framing of normal appearance as an aesthetic ideal to legitimize the need for cosmetic interventions. The article thus offers an original discussion of the conceptual problems arising from a specific practice in cosmetic surgery that depicts ugliness as the disease.