Spring Break
Makeup makes more than pretty face
Makeup can be used to enhance beauty, mask appearance or influence communications
Erin Beauchemin
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Diversions
Many of us use makeup at least on occasion, but rarely do we wonder about where this came from. Why the face?
The obvious answer is that no other part of us is looked at so much and so intently. It is only natural to spend extra time making it look as we would like it to. The face is the book from which we are read even before we are spoken to, for better or worse.
This is not, though, a complete exploration of the idea; one has not yet asked why until the answer lies so deep in our humanity that science is still looking for it.
Why are our faces seen the most? Still, this is a simple question. Its easiest answer is that we do not hide them beneath clothes - it is literally the most visible.
Imagine someone who does, and connotations will bloom from the image of someone wearing a mask.
Masks are associated with costumes - attempting to look like someone else - people robbing banks, for example. It is assumed that if one wears a good enough mask, it will become difficult to tell who they are - now we begin to see just how much importance rests on the human face. The face contains attributes that are confusing to cover up and are primal identifiers that immensely help establish who someone is.
Now to continue asking. What connects a face to an identity? Our innermost identities are closely tied to our personalities, which make their way to the outside through what we do and how we communicate - communication: that's it.
The words from our mouths and the expressions that surround them are at least of equal importance, if the expressions are not more vital.
What we visually project contributes to the meaning of words, and sometimes that projection alone, silently, can say more than words ever could.
No wonder losing one's face is the nightmarish king of all wounds; it is the loss of so much more than skin.
We could go on to ask about the origins of language, but by this time, we have overtaken ourselves. Now that we know that the face's importance lies much less in how it looks than what we do with it, we can see that the reason why we spend extra time on it lies back on the surface: because it is what is looked at the most, for whatever reasons.
However, because of those reasons, whatever we do with it will leave an extra strong impression. Just like an injury to the face gives an impression of being worse than the exact same injury on, say, the elbow, through the face is the way to go if you want to express something with extra impact, so have fun.
In closing, imagine a species much like ours on a faraway planet, but they speak with their feet; for one reason or another, the most they can say is through dance. Imagine their shoes!
Erin Beauchemin
diversions@dailybarometer.com
The obvious answer is that no other part of us is looked at so much and so intently. It is only natural to spend extra time making it look as we would like it to. The face is the book from which we are read even before we are spoken to, for better or worse.
This is not, though, a complete exploration of the idea; one has not yet asked why until the answer lies so deep in our humanity that science is still looking for it.
Why are our faces seen the most? Still, this is a simple question. Its easiest answer is that we do not hide them beneath clothes - it is literally the most visible.
Imagine someone who does, and connotations will bloom from the image of someone wearing a mask.
Masks are associated with costumes - attempting to look like someone else - people robbing banks, for example. It is assumed that if one wears a good enough mask, it will become difficult to tell who they are - now we begin to see just how much importance rests on the human face. The face contains attributes that are confusing to cover up and are primal identifiers that immensely help establish who someone is.
Now to continue asking. What connects a face to an identity? Our innermost identities are closely tied to our personalities, which make their way to the outside through what we do and how we communicate - communication: that's it.
The words from our mouths and the expressions that surround them are at least of equal importance, if the expressions are not more vital.
What we visually project contributes to the meaning of words, and sometimes that projection alone, silently, can say more than words ever could.
No wonder losing one's face is the nightmarish king of all wounds; it is the loss of so much more than skin.
We could go on to ask about the origins of language, but by this time, we have overtaken ourselves. Now that we know that the face's importance lies much less in how it looks than what we do with it, we can see that the reason why we spend extra time on it lies back on the surface: because it is what is looked at the most, for whatever reasons.
However, because of those reasons, whatever we do with it will leave an extra strong impression. Just like an injury to the face gives an impression of being worse than the exact same injury on, say, the elbow, through the face is the way to go if you want to express something with extra impact, so have fun.
In closing, imagine a species much like ours on a faraway planet, but they speak with their feet; for one reason or another, the most they can say is through dance. Imagine their shoes!
Erin Beauchemin
diversions@dailybarometer.com
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