I was going to call this “The Facial Thread” but it would have been SOOOO misleading. 'Cause it’s really just about looking at faces.
I do not subscribe to the notion that faces tell you a lot about the mind behind them. A beautiful face can hide an ugly mind, a blank, cowlike face can hide a sharp mind, and a pair of eagle eyes can be matched with a set of empty frontal lobes. There’s just no telling.
There’s plenty of evidence to back up my theory. For example, Danni Ashe. Her face is that of a mindless hooker, as is her body – she has a cheerful, bland look to her. Actually, she’s demonstrably one of the smarter people on the planet, tumbling to the potential of online porn well before others did, and exploiting it with the skill of a top business leader. If she’d been a man, you’d have to figure she’d be one of those CEOs making 400 times the salary of the average employee.
Then there’s Kate Winslet. She’s capable of looking like a pop tart and little else, or like a uni prof who’s written a very insightful book about the Boer War. There’s no telling who’s really behind that mask.
I welcome other examples, counterexamples and general argumentation. With pix, of course.
Faces fascinate me. As a child (about 5), I became frustrated with the notion that everyone has a nose, two eyes on either side and a mouth below, yet there seemed to be infinite combinations of these basics, with wildly disparate results. I became obsessed, and started drawing - I’d spend a month drawing nothing but eyes, copying them out of magazines, newspapers and family albums. Then I’d move on to a month of drawing mouths, ears, noses, hair. It’s no wonder I became a portrait artist, and nearly half a century later, my drawings and doodles are almost always faces of people or animals. I was lucky enough to find a mate who shares this fascination, and we never watch TV (or people in general) without pointing out what famous person someone resembles. (Mr. singular bears strong resemblance to a lighter Cary Elwes, and he tells me I favor Ally Sheedy.)
Having said all that, I have to agree that one can look like a moron and not in fact be one. The first that comes to mind is Ethan Supplee. He plays Randy on MNIE as a loveable halfwit, but listening to him in the DVD extras reveals a quick wit and a nimble mind. Ann Coulter looks like a bimbo, but is an unfortunately intelligent harpy. A little dumbing down would help her immensely.
Yeah, I think being “into” faces might make one more prone to realize how deceptive they can be, not more inclined to read things into them. Still, faces are interesting. I’ve always liked Katherine Heigl’s face. Like Winslet, she has a face that can look dull, but can also look brilliant and piercing.
As for guys who can convincingly play all kinds of roles, how about Hugh Laurie? Most Americans know him as the brilliant-but-tormented doctor in House. But he also played the compleat royal idiot in Blackadder the Third.
