As you all know by now, I’m doing this #beyoubebeautifulchallenge2k15. I’m loving it, too! Three days, we post photos of us with no filter and no makeup to show the world that we’re beautiful. (If you haven’t seen them, catch up on Day 1’s Post and Day 2’s Post.)
Anyway, today’s post revolves around two different things I’ve seen around the interwebs as of late. Let’s start with the part of the title, fitting in. This revolves around an article I saw on Hello Giggles that led me to this post on Imgur about Beauty and the Beast.
Beauty and the Beast happens to be one of my all time favorite Disney movies. I never could quite explain why I loved it so much. Maybe it was the book loving girl who turns into a princess. Maybe it was because – in some ways – I could relate to the beast. I don’t know, but when I read this article, I was like – whoa. This is why I felt such a strong pull to the movie as a kid. I didn’t fit in.
If you haven’t read the article or post, let me share what I mean. The writer of the Imgur post says, “Gaston demonstrates that bullies are rewarded and beloved by society as long as they possess a certain set of characteristics, while nice people who don’t are ostracized.”
Hmm… if you ask me, that’s pretty relevant to what I’ve been discussing these past few days.
What gets me the most is when the user says, “Notice how the Beast reacts when the whole town comes for him. He’s not angry, he’s sad. He’s tired. And he almost gives up because he has nothing to live for. But then he sees that Belle has come back for him, and suddenly he does…. he waits for [Belle] to love him, because he cannot love himself. That’s how badly being ostracized from society and told that you’re a monster all your life can mess with your head and make you stop seeing yourself as human.”
And it does. Oh my gosh does it. You stop loving yourself. You hate yourself, and that’s what these “bullies” are trying to do. They’re trying to turn you into something, someone you’re not.
“DibThing wraps up the theory by suggesting that Beauty and the Beast is so much more than a “be yourself” movie because, ‘if someone doesn’t fit in, then they have to be put in their place, or destroyed. And this movie demonstrates that this line of thinking is wrong.'”
*standing ovation*
Be you. Don’t worry about conforming to everyone else’s “idea”, and that’s all it is, of beauty. Beauty is defined by YOU. Either you believe that you’re beautiful, or you don’t. It’s up to you. Not what anyone else says. You’re beautiful.
Let’s go on to labels, now. I saw where Melissa McCarthy is trying to get rid of the “plus-size” label. Good for her! You know why? Because we’re all just “sizes”. My size isn’t determined to how valuable of a person I am, and it isn’t yours. Whether you’re big or small, you’re still a beautiful person.
Melissa was quoted saying, “Women come in all sizes. Seventy percent of women in the United States are a size 14 or above, and that’s technically ‘plus-size,’ so you’re taking your biggest category of people and telling them, ‘You’re not really worthy.’ I find that very strange,” she told Refinery29. “I just think, if you’re going to make women’s clothing, make women’s clothing. Designers that put everyone in categories are over-complicating something that should be easy.”
Again *standing ovation*
Bravo, Melissa McCarthy. Bravo. Now, if only you’d sell your clothes at a price people without two Oscars could afford.
The whole point of this jumbled blog post was to say that just because you don’t “fit in” to society stands and are “plus-size”, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t valuable. You’re of more value than you think. Stop letting others put a label on you. Label yourself as lovable, beautiful, and down right awesome. Because you are!!
Day three’s no makeup, no filter image is below. Share yours with me using the hashtag #beyoubebeautifulchallenge2k15 and @emeraldbarnes on Twitter and Instagram!
❤