For centuries, human variation has primarily been thought of in terms of ethnic groups or even cruder traits, such as skin color.
The fact is that the shape of an individual's face is of vastly greater significance in determining their overall "look" than skin color. Indeed, the face is the center of what we perceive to be an individual. A body shown without a face is merely an anonymous torso, but a face shown without a body is just as clearly a distinct individual as when a face is shown with its body. All it takes is a black bar across the eyes, a bandanna covering the jaw, or sometimes just a new hairstyle in order to obscure our perception of an individual's face.
Face shape is such a significant part of the human phenotype, yet its full significance has been ignored by traditional crude, ethnocentric classifications of "race" and human variation. A less crude and non-ethnocentric way of looking at human variation must start with re-evaluating how we look at faces.
Face shape transcends ethnic group. In every nationality and ethnic cluster one can find examples of every face shape. Once we break free from the aesthetic poison of fixating on skin color or superficial ethnic features, it becomes quite clear that, visually and metrically, an Oval-shaped face from one ethnic group looks more similar to an Oval-shaped face from a different ethnic group than to a Square-shaped face from the same ethnic group! Don't just take my word for it, convince yourself by visiting the Face Shape Gallery pages!
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Have a suggestion for an individual who should be included in one of the Face Shape Galleries? Post it here! Public figures (e.g. models, actors, musicians, athletes, celebrities) only please--no private individuals.
Other questions or comments are encouraged as well.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI would like to contact you privately, if you care to take the time. My email is bergtrolletfraskane@gmail.com.
Greetings,
DeleteI finally got around to setting up a contact page! If you are still interested in contacting me please use the form on this page:
https://aryan-anthropology.blogspot.com/p/contact.html
(I say this in case you're a spambot or something, I'm rather new to blogging and don't need my mail ending up on a spam list, you know)
HELLO.
ReplyDeleteI HAVE SOME SUGGESTIONS OF FACESHAPES/INDIVIDUALS FOR THE FACESHAPES GALLERIES.
O V A L .
— SAOIRSE RONAN, ACTRESS.
— AMBER HEARD, ACTRESS.
— KEANU REEVES, ACTOR.
— SETSUKO HARA, ACTRESS.
— ALLISON STOKKE, ATHLETE.
— ANGELA KARANTONI, MODEL.
— MATTHEW FOX, ACTOR.
O B L O N G .
— BENJAMIN AFFLECK, ACTOR.
— RYAN GOSLING, ACTOR.
— LAURA DERN, ACTRESS.
— SARAH PAULSON, ACTRESS.
— BENJAMIN JOSEPH NOVAK, ACTOR.
— ROBERT ALFONS, MUSICIAN.
— DYLAN MINNETTE, ACTOR.
S Q U A R E .
— KYLE MACLACHLAN, ACTOR.
— CARA DELEVINGNE, MODEL/ACTRESS.
— ELIZABETH MOSS, ACTRESS.
— WILLIAM BRADLEY PITT, ACTOR.
— EMILY DESCHANEL, ACTRESS.
— TILMAN VALENTIN SCHWEIGER, ACTOR.
— MIA WASIKOWSKA, ACTRESS.
P E N T A G O N A L .
— JOHN CHRISTOPHER DEPP II, ACTOR.
— ANNEMARIJE RUS, MODEL.
— JUDE LAW, ACTOR.
— ALYCIA DEBNAM CARTER, ACTRESS.
— EAMON FARREN, ACTOR.
— CATE BLANCHETT, ACTRESS.
— SASHA PIVOVAROVA, MODEL.
R O U N D .
— KEN WATANABE, ACTOR.
— BRANDON FLOWERS, MUSICIAN.
— DIEGO LUNA, ACTOR.
— SATOSHI TSUMABUKI, ACTOR.
— ALLISON PILL, ACTRESS.
— CLAIRE BOUCHER ("GRIMES"), MUSICIAN.
— ERROLSON HUGH, FASHION DESIGNER.
Thank you very much for the multitude of suggestions! I will look into the people you have listed.
DeleteCan you explain how some face shapes are terminal or "dead ends"
ReplyDeleteThe idea is, how can we classify face shapes considering _both_ the evolutionary pressures and aesthetics? (Aesthetic preferences being one of the driving forces behind the evolution of face shape, but not the only one).
DeleteTerminal would mean a shape is unlikely to evolve into another shape either (a) due to certain genetic or physical constraints, or (b) the shape has reached some sort of "stable" aesthetic archetype (rather than an "intermediate" shape).
Is there a specific page here where we call something terminal? These days, I wonder if things are so complex that no face shape can really be called terminal in the evolutionary sense. Perhaps nothing is truly a dead end.