I saw a short film in my last English class. Actually, I have only got the main content of this film. The story happened on an island, where the man took cattle as bride-price when they got married. Then the number of cattle for bride-price was a measure of the bride’s worth, that is to say, a beautiful bride may need 4 or 5 heads of cattle to marry while an ugly bride only need 2 heads of cattle. There was a girl named Mahana. All of her family was worried about whether anyone wanted to marry her, because they treated her as an ugly girl. The girl didn’t have confidence in herself either. There was a man whose name was Johny Lingo. He decided to marry the girl. When the man talked to the girl’s father about the number of cattle needed for bride-price, the girl’s father said ‘3’ with uncertainty and thought the man would refuse this request. The man did refuse the request, but he gave a number ‘8’, and everyone on the island thought he was crazy. Things changed after they married. The girl looked much more beautiful than before, and everyone including the girl’s father agreed that the girl’s worth was more than 8 heads of cattle.
The girl was still the girl, but everyone changed their ideas. What has happened? Firstly, I think it is the confidence that made the girl beautiful. And second, while beautifulness is something subjective rather than objective. Since on the island a girl’s beautifulness is relate to the number of cattle, the people’s view would be changed with the number of cattle. Finally, I would like to say, a woman’s beautifulness needs a man who love her to realize.
