Recently I saw this meme of Keanu Reeves:
Keanu Reeves throughout history?
Why has he aged so well? Perhaps he's been altering the code of the Matrix, or maybe it's because of his gracefully-ageing face shape. While it has recently become popular to find celebrity look-alikes in old photos and paintings, I don't think anyone has attracted as much attention as Reeves. The "Keanu is immortal" meme largely revolves around Reeves' resemblance to 19th century French actor Paul Mounet, but I do not think his face is nearly as narrow as Reeves'.
Paul Mounet.
Although I must admit the other painting looks nearly identical to him.
16th century Italian man, or Keanu Reeves in disguise?
His 500-year-old Oval face is even more stunning when contrasted side by side with Square-faced people. Here he is training jiu jitsu for his role in John Wick:
(Click to see full size).
Look at how much narrower his face is compared to these Square-faced men! He also looks thinner than them. I don't just think it's his slimming white outfit; his body type is much more ectomorphic than theirs.
This contrast is skillfully used in films such as The Matrix, when Neo fights against the Round-faced Agent Smith and the other wide-faced Agents.
Agent Smith (played by Hugo Weaving).
The Square-faced and wide-shouldered mesomorphic Upgraded Agents Jackson, Johnson, and Thompson.
Even in the profile view Neo contrasts noticeably with Agent Smith (who is not just his primary enemy, but complete spiritual opposite). Smith has a heavily-receding hairline and sloping profile, while Neo has a straight/vertical profile and minimally-receding hairline.
This scene wouldn't have been convincing if Neo faced someone who looked identical. It was an intentional choice to cast actors who looked like polar opposites.
To tie back to the beginning of this post, the secret behind convincing look-alike photo comparisons is that both individuals must have the same face shape! Identical photo angles, lighting, and hairstyles can only get you so far. The Face Shape galleries provide some interesting faces to compare side-by-side.
Actually Keanu Reeves face has become longer with time. The reason may be that he is a mouth breather ( very difficult to notice, but he breaths through the mouth ). According to Dr Mike Mew Mouth breathing makes faces longer and thinner. I believe this is the main reason Reeves uses a beard now. If you compare young and old Reeves (he was a nose breather before ) his face was slightly less long/thin.
ReplyDeleteI am only vaguely familiar with Mew's theories, but once a skull is fully grown in adulthood, it's not going to have much morphological change. From what I understand, Mew's ideas focus largely around children and adolescents whose jaws and skulls are still growing. I can't imagine tongue placement or jaw exercises would cause much of a perceptible change in the look of an adult's face.
DeleteAnd certainly the various vids and tutorials floating around the internet claiming you can go from a Keanu Reeves jaw to a Brad Pitt jaw just by chewing gum or changing posture or something are outright pseudoscience.
Are wide faces related to more testosterone, and therefore, act more aggressively? Maybe this is why we see so many wide faced villains, for example, Jack Nicholson in most of his roles, Leonardo DiCaprio in Django:Unchained Lord Voldermort, and the list goes on...
ReplyDeleteAlmost every short tempered, violent beyond belief villain has a wide face.
Yes, there are many scientific studies linking testosterone and aggression, wide faces and aggression (or perceived aggression), and wide/robust faces with testosterone levels.
DeleteHowever, as I warn, while this aesthetic of wide face = villain may work well in film and art, we must be careful not to hastily apply it to individuals in real life:
"But what if behind an "honest face" hides a liar? Or behind a "dumb face" lies a genius? Or behind an "evil countenance" a noble heart? Herein lies the problem of pre-judging an individual's character based solely off of their looks. While certain looks may carry aesthetic connotations which cause very real psychological reactions (which can lead us to hasty judgements), the only way to truly judge the quality of an individual is by getting to know them as an individual."
https://aryan-anthropology.blogspot.com/p/physiognomy.html
(I discuss how wide faces vs narrow faces are contrasted in art a bit in this article, you may find it interesting).
---
On this subject, one thing a friend pointed out to me is sometimes people with narrow faces are cast as villains. The contrast between their look and character is heightened, and this can be used to heighten the shock we receive from the villain's actions.
Contrast this with wide-faced villains--as you point out it is common and seems natural to view a wide-faced actor as a villainous character. But when someone who _looks like they should be a hero_ turns out to be a villain, that is quite the twist!