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Do Sharp Chins & Arched Eyebrows Make a Villain?
Do you take a look at Captain Hook and suddenly feel threatened? Or perhaps Maleficent, Jafar or The Evil Queen give you the heebie-jeebies? Well, it turns out there is good reason why they do and it has nothing to do with their actions in such iconic films at Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin or Snow White. New studies are showing that they cause us to be uncomfortable due to their chins and eyebrows.
Why?
In a paper called “Emotion” that was published in the journal of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Derrick Watson and Dr. Elisabeth Blagrove explored how the shapes of facial features influence how people react to others in a positive or a negative way. “We know from previous studies that simple geometric shapes are effective at capturing or guiding attention, particularly if these shapes carry the features present within negative or positive faces.” One of their big findings is that the “study shows that downward pointing triangles in particular convey negative emotions and we can pick up on them quickly and perceive them as a threat.” So those pointy chins of the Captain Hook variety? They are apparently playing on some deep-seeded emotions.
They continue their point, saying, “If we look at cartoon characters, the classic baddie will often be drawn with the evil eyebrows that come to a downward point in the middle. This could go some way to explain why we associate the downward pointing triangle with negative faces. These shapes correspond with our own facial features and we are unconsciously making that link.”
Do you think that the shape of the chins and a set arched eyebrows make characters more evil?
But they have the best designs, though D:
-You should check out this KICK ASS crossover gif set by Petitetiaras.
-And there's a new Learn To Draw book for the villains that just came out this week!