Richard Coniff writes in the January 2004 Smithsonian magazine about the work of UC San Fran prof Paul Ekman and his study of faces. It carries pictures of a work by artists Bill Viola and his wife Kira Perov.
Yeah, sure, the face is capable of 43 movements expressing 10,000 different expressions. Yeah, Bill’s work is interesting, but…
I have two complaints. First, there’s all this talk that facial expressions are confusing. Ekman’s work presents the expressions out of context for a second or less at a time. Oh my, how surprising that they mistake anger for disgust! Ekman tells us that it’s all in the nose (it’s scrunched up for disgust). And sure, surprise looks like fear, but with an open mouth, but isn’t there something foolish about suggesting that we’re bad at reading faces because the students usually goof half the expressions? What about context? Again, let me ask: WHAT ABOUT CONTEXT?
The fault is probably more with the writer’s gloss or un-nuanced delivery than with Ekman’s studies. Clearly the author didn’t have much room to maneuver in six paragraphs, a caption and a pull quote, and clearly, there wouldn’t be much to the story if the author suggested “but people are actually much better at understanding expressions in context, because, as it turns out, there’s a whole lot more to it that the angle of the brow.”
My second (real) complaint (and aint I full of complaints?(and appositives)) is that Viola’s work (which removes, ignores, or alters context for the sake of art) is such a knock-off. Let me introduce you to Human-InToFace, the somewhat less celebrated exploration of the face, its expressions and it’s connection to the person.
Related:
Posted June 6, 2004 by Casey
Categories: Books, Movies, Music. .
2 Comments
Comments RSS
TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
User contributed tags for this post:
ekman faces (484) - free faces of death pics (233) - ekman face (80) - ekman pictures (51) - paul ekman biography (44) - kira perov (43) - paul ekman video (38) - Ekman photos (37) - thailand sexs (33) - ekman video (31) - pictures of faces (31) - Paul Ekman face reading (28) - Paul Ekman pictures (27) - ekman test (26) - EKMAN IMAGES (24) - FACE EXPRESSIONS PICTURES (20) - paul ekman faces (20) - reading faces (19) - paul ekman facial expressions images (18) - ekman 60 faces test (18) - reading faces Ekman (18) - faces pictures (18) - paul ekman photos (18) - ekman face pictures (17) - expressions pics (16) - richard coniff (16) - Ekman faces test (14) - faces of death pics (14) - ekman faces pictures (14) - eckman faces (14) - faces pics (13) - paul ekman torrent (13) - expression pics (13) - my (13) - faces photos (12) - ekman photographs (12) - paul eckman (12) - paul ekman quotes (12) - ekman face reading (11) - Paul Ekman Photo (11) - www sex love com (11) - pics of faces (10) - all (10) - deathpics (10) - paul ekman test (10) - paul ekman (10) - bad faces pictures (9) - THAILAND SEXS COM (9) - ekman fear (9) - ekman faces images (9) - faces ekman (9) - pictures of faces with different expressions (8) - ekman faces fear (8) - read paul ekman online free (8) - Expressions pictures (8) - faces expressions pictures (8) - pictures of face expressions (8) - ekman reading faces (8) - ekman face images (8) - Ekman face picture (7) - ekman facial (7) - paul ekman images (7) - expressions faces (7) - bad faces photos (7) - facial expressions pics (7) - ekman photo (7) - expressive faces (7) - facial expression pictures (6) - study of faces (6) - Paul Ekman face reader AND pictures (6) - faces photographs (6) - pics of expressions (6) - eckman face (6) - scrunched up face pictures (6) - criticism of Paul Ekman (6) - funny faces pics (6) - ekman faces picture (6) - paul ekman photographs (5) - www pictures of love com (5) - www.arab funny faces,com (5) - face expressions pics (5) - paul ekman face reading pictures (5) - anger pics (5) - www.xxl love.com (5) - faces of disgust (5) - ekman faces image (5) - Ekman 60 Faces (5) - scrunched up face picture (5) - six faces ekman (5) - paul ekman pics (5) - www pictures love com (5) - scrunched up faces (5) - Paul Ekman 7 Faces (5) - face reading (4) - ekman and faces (4) - ekman faces intellectual property (4) - pictures of ekman faces (4) - ekman facial pictures (4) - facial reading in marketing (4) - pictures of faces ekman (4) - pictures of expressive faces (4) - Ekman faces photographs (4) - ekman face video (4) - ekman s faces (4) - WWW.INDIANGIRLSSEX.COM (4) - SEXS 43 (4) - eckman face test (4) - Reading Peoples Faces Ekman (4) - pic of faces (4) - paul ekman face photos (4) - paul ekman picture (4) - reading faces pictures (4) - ekman anger (4) - ekman face photograph (4) - uk (4) - faces expressions (4) - reading facial expressions pictures (4) - images of paul ekman (4) - expressive faces pictures (4) - the Ekman 60 faces test (4) - paul ekman videos (3) - mss (3) - Paul Ekman/Video (3) - www.india.sexy.com (3) - ekman face test (3) - funny faces com (3) - photos of digust faces (3) - ekman smithsonian faces (3) - paul eckman quotes (3) - Ekman 60 (3) - Eckman face reading (3) - ekman faces photos (3) - about (3) - PAUL EKMAN READING FACES (3) - www.pictures.love.com (3) - Ekman fear face (3) - pictures of faces of anger (3) - richard conniff reading faces (3) - criticisms to Paul Ekman (3) - facial expressions pictures (3) - picture of scrunched up face (3) - paul ekman bio (3) - Paul Ekman Facial Expressions (3) - disgust face picture (3) - sexs thailand photo (3) - pictures of expressions (3) - ekman facial test (3) - Paul Ekman blog (3) - anger faces pictures (3) - pictures of scrunched up faces (3) -
[...] The thing about this is that it reminds me of Troy Bennett’s Human-IntoFace, reported here back in 2002 and 2004. [...]
Ekman’s work is not about those times when you have all the context and time in the world to read a face. It’s about when all you have is a split second. That’s his context. Like a cop suddenly faced with a potential suspect for whatever crime. The only way he’s going to decipher in a split second the difference between anger and fear and surprise and disgust etc. is if he’s practiced looking in detail at the subtle differences. He may only have a split second in which to make a life/death decision. Or take a juror trying to read a witness and the flash of a look that witness betrays before he/she composes him/herself. It’s about catching the deeper truth.