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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Clockwise from top left, Representative Anthony Weiner of New York, former
Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York,
former Representative Eric J. Massa of New York, President Bill Clinton and
former Senator John Ensign of Nevada.
The names may change, but the face remains essentially the same.
Politician after politician, in scandal after scandal, faces the cameras
with his lips pursed and pulled tight, narrowing them. The chin boss — the
fleshy bump above the chin bone — is pushed upward, pulling the lips into
an upside-down smile. Add a downward-cast gaze, perhaps a shake of the head,
and: Instant Disgraced Pol.
On Monday, Representative Anthony D. Weiner became the latest in a long and
unfortunately distinguished line of officials whose faces appeared all over
the news wearing an expression that instantly telegraphs powerful-guy-
confesses-impropriety.
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York is perhaps the standard-bearer of this
parade as he admitted to patronizing high-priced prostitutes.
But President Bill Clinton, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and former
Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, when he announced that he was gay and
had carried on an affair with a man, wore it too during their public falls
from grace.
Likewise, there were Eric Massa, a former New York congressman who resigned
after admitting to an inappropriate exchange with a state aide, and former
Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who resigned during an ethics investigation
related to his affair with the wife of a former top aide.
To interpret the meaning of that now-familiar face, City Room called upon
Dan Hill, the president of Sensory Logic, a market-research firm in
Minneapolis that uses facial expressions to quantify emotional response. He
is also the author of “Emotionomics.” Here, in an e-mail and in a
telephone interview, was his explanation:
Lips pursed and pulled tight is a sign of anger. Anger as an emotion
typically means you feel like you’re not in control of circumstances. It
arises from lack of progress, confusion, feelings that one’s being dealt
with unfairly, i.e. resentment. These are powerful men used to being in
charge. So it likely signifies feeling vulnerable (not in control).
The chin raiser, where the chin boss pushes upward, causing the lower
lip to push upward, could also be called an upside-down smile. It’s a
muscle movement implicated in expressions of anger, disgust and sadness.
Disgust is an emotion that relates back, in evolutionary terms, to “bad
taste” or “bad smell.” The bad-taste version is as if to protect the
mouth from taking in something that is poisonous. Clearly, these scandals
are (sometimes fatally) poisonous to the politicians’ careers. It’s as if
the whiff of scandal tastes bad to them.
Eyes and head down both correspond to sadness, i.e., disappointment in
oneself. Regret. Like disgust, it’s a sign of withdrawal, as if to remove
oneself from what has caused shame or embarrassment.
The basic package you’ve got here is anger, disgust and sadness. |
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