Horrors of History

I'm currently writing a paper on La Amistad, and one of the articles I've read makes a point I want to explore further. It is discussing the unsanitized and realistic depiction of the trans-Atlantic crossing of slave ships and the author, Joseph K. Adjaye, says:

As painful as this episode of the past is, it cannot and should not be erased from historical memory. 

 I think this is true of most horrors to be found in history. I have a personal obsession with the Rwandan genocide and trying to understand that. The atrocities of history need to be remembered and remain horrific and unsanitized to remind us that they are horrors and should not be repeated.

Quincy Adams in the film Amistad: "Whoever tells the best story wins." Oddly true to history, not just the illustrious court case. Another article I just read for the same class was discussing the representations of WWII in works of history, film and fiction. The grittier, more true-to-life representation of war will likely be forgotten because it's not the one the public wants to hear. And yet it is what should be remembered. If we don't remember how horrible these things actually were, then we are more inclined to repeat them. There is a reason people say history repeats itself. It only takes the right conditions...

The Invisible Beauty

I was watching a movie last week that brought up an interesting point. Dennis Hopper's character in Elegy was talking to his friend about how beautiful women are invisible. Ben Kingsley's character disagreed, saying that he couldn't help but notice them because they were gorgeous. Hopper argues that you don't really see them. You see only the outer shell which is beautiful, but the inner person is ignored because of the outer beauty.

There's a certain extent to which I tend to think extremely beautiful people are more inclined to be uninteresting or ugly in their personalities because they've come to take for granted that they can get by on their looks and thus lack personal development. This is why I thought it was an interesting take on beautiful people, it challenged what I normally think... and yet, I've met exceptions to my own 'rule'. Hopper's speech seems to be true, too, when one considers Hollywood. We all marvel at the beauty of the actors we love (and sometimes their talent as well), but do we really know them? Whatever we believe about these beautiful people, we do not actually know them, only our perceptions of them.

Then again, do we ever really know anyone? Everyone gets judged for how they look. Perhaps with the ugly, ordinary or less beautiful people know to look past what they see to the true personality. I've always found that to be far more attractive than however a person may look. Appearances fade, personality does not.

Let me know your thoughts... I think I'm still pondering this one myself.