Tuesday, July 28, 2009

[it's not in the lips] it's more in the character


Disclaimer - this applies equally to male and female.


The Maildotcom piece on lips makes the usual mistake:

Lips can say so much without ever uttering a single word. On a face, they really are the finishing touch to an entire look.

Why a mistake? Lips DO say so much. However, the nature of the person behind the lips also comes through and I don't like this female above. There's nothing "come hither" here but "I'm going all out for what I can get" in that determination and in the fixed stare of those glinting eyes.

The danger signals are the cold eyes and hard voice.


The other day, there were some comments on the character Linnet in Death on the Nile and we discussed accents. It finally registered in the brain - it wasn't her being dolled up or her accent or her poise or whatever - it was that she came across as a hard-nosed b--ch, where she's the sun and everyone else is a planet in orbit and I don't like those.

It comes out in the hard voice, in the look in the facial muscles, in the walk, in the talk.

You can doll yourself up all you like, male or female, but character always comes through.

Character can't be practiced but life changes can be effected.

[This post is part of #Silly Week.]
.

8 comments:

  1. There are forty muscles in the face, including the lips, which are meant to communicate something to the eye, or miscommunicate as the case may be.

    The primary interpreter is the amygdala, the smallest part of the brain, and directly behind the eye. Being the smallest, it is the easiest to fool, but its first function is to be the quickest by far to judge. Fight or flight.
    After that first glance, things go upstairs for further review. Sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It cuts both ways too. Sometimes a person tries to come over as a hard nut but just can't do it and it's amusing. They're just too nice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it is always the eyes that give the game away ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. hmm, part of silly week, yet jokes sometimes are half truths.

    There's much to be said about character, and yes, the eyes. The facial expressions need to match what the eyes are doing. The eyes always tell, they're the window to the soul. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eyes almost can't hide things and when they do, that tells us something too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. * Runs off to look at my eyes*

    Do I have the eyes of a murderer?
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Uber,
    that depends...where do your eyes glance when asked: 'where did you last see the decedent?' ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Now thoughts of the eyes and the smile has just brought back two funny memories of holidays in Communist countries LOL

    ReplyDelete

Comments need a moniker of your choosing before or after ... no moniker, not posted, sorry.