History Main / TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside

** Parodied in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'' -- Nobby Nobbs, who is so ugly that he has to carry around a paper from the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork stating he is human, complains that women won't date him. Angua points out to him that maybe he should lower his standards, as he shouldn't expect to be able to date the more sought-after women. Nobby eventually settles on a Verity "Hammerhead" Pushpram, an ill-tempered fish seller whose eyes don't face the same direction and who usually reacts to seeing Nobby by [[SlapSlapKiss telling him to bugger off and throwing fish at him]] (because hey, free seafood). When Nobby does land himself a gorgeous girlfriend, Tawnee, in a later book, Angua is horrified for her, though fortunately by the end of the book Nobby is back with Verity (largely because she's [[ThroughHisStomach a better cook]]), while Tawneee is cured of [[AttractivenessIsolation "jerk syndrome"]], the cause of the situation.
** Also parodied in ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', where the plump and plain Agnes Nitt is sick of condescending comments like this, and thinks to herself that boys don't normally fall for an attractive pair of kidneys. It's also played with in that the local standards of attractiveness in her native Lancre (but not in the city the story takes place in) actually favor large women; her main problem is her extreme emotional isolation. The end of the book actually suberts the trope; Agnes is still looked over for the much more outwardly appealing Chritine, despite the fact that Agnes is clearly the better singer and Christine has a voice like a violin if they'd just tied a cat to it instead of strings.

Compare BeautyEqualsGoodness and BeautyIsBad. Related to EvilIsSexy. Often paired with UglyHeroGoodLookingVillain. In settings with InterspeciesRomance, this can override the belief of the non-human party that HumansAreUgly, and can even explain ''why'' characters from different species with vastly different standards of beauty would still be attracted to each other.

* Music/MichaelJackson's ''[[Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts Ghosts]]'' short film tried to impart this moral as well as disprove LonersAreFreaks. Jackson played two characters at odds with each other -- a Mayor and the mysterious Maestro (really, Jackson himself) -- and stated in the making-of documentary that the Mayor's problem was his inability to see a person's inner beauty; just because a person looks and acts strange doesn't mean they're bad. But it's a BrokenAesop -- Maestro is a JerkSue and the Mayor himself is presented as an AcceptableTarget: a fat, middle-aged white guy whose concern over [[Main/RealitySubtext young boys secretly meeting up with Maestro for ghost stories]] is seen as merely bigotry against anyone who's different.

* "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" by TheTemptations.

->''"Yes, it's a mixed up life in our inside-out world,"''
->''"Bit it all couldn't be any clearer."''
->''"We may be pinstriped, checkered or polka-dot swirled,"''
->''"But we love what we see in the mirror."''
--> -- '''Full Cast''', ''WesternAnimation/UglyDolls''

** Played with in Tyrion's case. While he's '''far''' from the paragon of virtue, but relatively speaking, he's far more virtuous than the rest of his physically attractive family.

** Tyrion is a good example - nowhere near as attractive as his siblings, nor anywhere near as morally declined.

* Folklorists Identify the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loathly_lady Loathly Lady]] motif; a hideous old crone or actual monster who is actually a beautiful woman, transformed. Many loathly ladies were the innocent victims of curses, and could be restored to their true, externally beautiful forms by an act of TrueLove; some might be enchantresses teaching the hero AnAesop.

* Parodied in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'' -- Nobby Nobbs, who is so ugly that he has to carry around a paper from the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork stating he is human, complains that women won't date him. Angua points out to him that maybe he should lower his standards, as he shouldn't expect to be able to date the more sought-after women. Nobby eventually settles on a Verity "Hammerhead" Pushpram, an ill-tempered fish seller whose eyes don't face the same direction and who usually reacts to seeing Nobby by [[SlapSlapKiss telling him to bugger off and throwing fish at him]] (because hey, free seafood). When Nobby does land himself a gorgeous girlfriend in a later book, Angua is horrified for her, though fortunately by the end of the book Nobby is back with Verity (largely because she's [[ThroughHisStomach a better cook]]), while Tawneee is cured of [[AttractivenessIsolation "jerk syndrome"]].
** Also parodied in ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', where the plump and plain Agnes Nitt is sick of condescending comments like this, and thinks to herself that boys don't normally fall for an attractive pair of kidneys. It's also played with in that the local standards of attractiveness in her native Lancre (but not in the city the story takes place in) actually favor large women; her main problem is her extreme emotional isolation.
** The end of the book actually suberts the trope, by the end of it Agnes is still looked over for the much more outwardly appealing Chritine, despite the fact that Agnes is clearly the better singer and Christine has a voice like a violin if they'd just tied a cat to it instead of strings.
*** For the most part, though, this is played straight, albeit silently. Most of the people who can be termed "heroes" in this world tend not to be the best lookers.

* Appears in all the "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast" adaptations as it is the crucial linchpin of the story: Beauty must come to understand that just because beast is a hideous monster doesn't mean he's a bad person. Which is weird considering the fact that in many cases he's been made into a hideous monster specifically because he's a bad person.
** But he's gotten ''better''.

* OlderThanPrint with ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'': in the Wife of Bath's tale, the DesignatedHero knight of the story finds himself wedded to a smart woman with a great personality -- who's also a terribly ugly crone. She catches on to his distress and delivers this Aesop to him (along with a few others regarding wealth and noble birth), and then offers him a choice: as an enchantress, she could make herself young and beautiful, but then he'd always have to risk her sleeping around with his friends -- or she could remain old and ugly, but be the best wife he could possibly ask for. His choice. He [[spoiler: [[TakeAThirdOption humbly says that the choice is up to her]], and she, delighted that he's learned how to respect her, announces that she will be both beautiful ''and'' faithful. And they all life HappilyEverAfter]].
** This enchantress has appeared in many legends and is known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loathly_lady Loathly Lady]].

->''"That's just something ugly people say."''
--> -- '''Fletcher''', ''Film/LiarLiar''

* It's a well-treaded Aesop, but it [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped still bears repeating]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqQUojBg84 "More Beautiful You" by Johnny Diaz]] does it in a rather heartwarming way from a Christian perspective, telling young women that they were put here for a special purpose, and as such, nothing they change on the outside could make them more beautiful than they already are. And as a bonus, the video even shows the two young ladies' "flaws" being photoshopped away to help make the point that the standard of beauty promoted by popular media doesn't actually exist.

* It's a well-treaded Aesop, but it [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped still bears repeating]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXSkd8apbWM "More Beautiful You" by Johnny Diaz]] does it in a rather heartwarming way from a Christian perspective, telling young women that they were put here for a special purpose, and as such, nothing they change on the outside could make them more beautiful than they already are. And as a bonus, the video even shows the two young ladies' "flaws" being photoshopped away to help make the point that the standard of beauty promoted by popular media doesn't actually exist.

* It's a well-treaded Aesop, but it [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped still bears repeating]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXSkd8apbWM "More Beautiful You" by Johnny Diaz]] does it in a rather heartwarming way, telling young women that they were put here for a special purpose, and as such, nothing they change on the outside could make them more beautiful than they already are. [[note]]Yeah, it's a Christian song, but give it a shot anyway, won't you?[[/note]] And as a bonus, the video even shows the two young ladies' "flaws" being photoshopped away to help make the point that the standard of beauty promoted by popular media doesn't actually exist.

* Played with in ''ComicBook/Deadpool'' and the GreatLakesAvengers: Deadpool goes on a date with Big Bertha, and is obviously disappointed when she shows up in her slender form rather than her Big Bertha form. Big Bertha lectures him about how it isn't any better than people who pursue her just because of her slender form's beauty, to which Deadpool replies he's been waiting for someone to say that for a long time - at which point [[BodyHorror he unmasks]]. Cue Big Bertha [[BrownNote vomiting]] from the mere sight of Deadpool's face.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', [[FrenchJerk Fleur]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Delacour]] [[spoiler:says that Bill's scars just show how heroic he is. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming She still wants to marry him, no matters how he looks]]]].

Compare BeautyEqualsGoodness and BeautyIsBad. Related to EvilIsSexy. Often paired with UglyHeroGoodLookingVillain.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': Both [[BadAssPrincess Marianne]] and [[EvilOverlord the Bog King]] are burned by past relationships where they fell in love with somebody because they were good looking. [[spoiler: The two fall in love with each other even though the two are nothing like what they each consider attractive [[note]]Marianne is from a typical good looking fairy race. The Bog King is a insect humanoid and his past love was a frog humanoid.[[/note]] because they are able to look past their different appearances and see similar personalities.]]

Compare BeautyEqualsGoodness and BeautyIsBad. Related to EvilIsSexy.

* There's a short story by Dick King Smith about a male fairy who is mocked for being bald. He mentions there is one red-haired fairy who isn't beautiful but has a kind face. After he learns his Aesop about vanity the red-haired fairy sits down next to him and tells him [[JustTheWayYouAre she finds him perfect the way he is]]. He is then said to see that she doesn't just have a kind face, she is beautiful, providing a suggestion that people often seem more beautiful when they are good-hearted.