Here's Looking At You.
January 7, 2008 3:42 PM   Subscribe

Here's Looking At You. What do you think you look like? And what do others think of you? A film about first impressions from artists Lenka Clayton and James Price.
posted by chunking express (42 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
Fascinating.

Are beauty and success related? (an economist link from the same site)
posted by furtive at 3:53 PM on January 7, 2008


blink
posted by liza at 3:53 PM on January 7, 2008


Wow, that is one of the most interesting projects I've seen. Really great find chunking express.
posted by nola at 3:53 PM on January 7, 2008


Wow this is great. Everyone really comes off extremely awkward though. My favorite line: "he looks a bit annoying, I don't like small children." Hey maybe we could have our own Metafilter first impressions project!
posted by MaryDellamorte at 4:06 PM on January 7, 2008


Was just coming here to post this.
posted by dobbs at 4:09 PM on January 7, 2008


We do this with each other's new userpics all the time, right? (Stop looking at me!!)
posted by hermitosis at 4:15 PM on January 7, 2008


Wow, that was great.

And I kept thinking... I'm probably one of the people that would get "Wow. She looks tired."
posted by miss lynnster at 4:16 PM on January 7, 2008 [1 favorite]


Oh, and one of my favorites was when the guy said he wouldn't like being punched full-stop by a kid like that one. Because... ummm... who wants to be punched full-stop by anyone and why would that even be his first thought? Full-stop punching?
posted by miss lynnster at 4:18 PM on January 7, 2008


Was just coming here to post this.
posted by Flashman at 4:28 PM on January 7, 2008


You look tired and out of breath, Flashman. Sit down and get a load off your feet.
posted by maudlin at 4:32 PM on January 7, 2008


That was great. And depressing.
posted by nzero at 4:39 PM on January 7, 2008


What a great piece of video. I found two parts of it particularly affecting, mostly because of how it was cut: the first was the old man explaining the accidents he had been in immediately after being described by the other woman as squeezing his nose and mouth; the other was the young woman talking about how she'd ignore the (to me, completely harmless looking) man in the opposite frame if he came up to her, after being described by the old man previously as looking "rather charming." That was an unfortunate insight into her personality.

Thanks, chunking express!
posted by invitapriore at 4:43 PM on January 7, 2008


miss lynster: I'm pretty sure he said "approached full-stop".
posted by ssg at 4:45 PM on January 7, 2008


It was interesting also to watch everyone considering not only what they wanted to say, but for what they could or should say, within the boundaries of civility or acceptability--and aware that their own appearance was about to be judged in the same way. Most seemed to be commenting on the appearances of others while keeping their own physical and social appearances very much in mind.
posted by washburn at 4:51 PM on January 7, 2008


Fun and fascinating! I'd love to get this treatment, though I'm sure I'd finesse it by smiling. The differential in the impression a chubby blank-faced girl and a smiling, dimple-faced girl makes is enormous, in my experience.

That guy... looks like... a peanut.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:57 PM on January 7, 2008


Here's the correct link for furtive's story.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 4:59 PM on January 7, 2008


Was not coming here to post this.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:13 PM on January 7, 2008


(Also this is awesome, thanks.)
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:13 PM on January 7, 2008


Watching this reminded me that I didn't wash my hair this morning.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:23 PM on January 7, 2008


miss lynster: I'm pretty sure he said "approached full-stop"

Well, who's to say he wasn't approaching him to punch him, though?
posted by miss lynnster at 5:29 PM on January 7, 2008


Absolutely, miss lynster, I don't like the look of that kid at all.
posted by ssg at 5:41 PM on January 7, 2008


Oh, and one of my favorites was when the guy said he wouldn't like being punched full-stop by a kid like that one.


He actually says:
"I would be very wary if a child or a young person of that age approached me. Full stop.(meaning:Period.)"

Interesting film. I wonder what all the participants thought when they saw it ?
posted by oneirodynia at 5:46 PM on January 7, 2008


Yeah, fascinating. Thanks for the link. I thought the gentleman who had been in the accidents was very gracious, and it didn't seem like a roll, like he might try to find the best qualities in everyone.
posted by maxwelton at 5:55 PM on January 7, 2008


Tangent: back during the decade or so that I was actively wandering around the planet, I continually got people in country X telling me I looked Xian -- Greeks said I looked Greek, Spaniards Spanish, Scots Scottish, hell, I've even had people here in Korea tell me I look Korean, which doesn't really make a goddamn lick of sense.

I believe for this reason that I can trace my lineage directly back to Genghis Khan, whose genetic heritage is so widespread and informs my insane bloodlust, my love of the open steppes, and my enjoyment of the occasional tipple.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:13 PM on January 7, 2008


"Full-stop" - British

"Period" - American
posted by wfc123 at 6:23 PM on January 7, 2008


I remember ABC News did a story several years ago about a study that had just been released that found you actually can judge a book by its cover, most of the time. Something like 70% of first impressions are correct, it turns out. Perhaps there a mefite out there who knows the study I'm talking about. Good and interesting post, chunking express.
posted by wsg at 6:24 PM on January 7, 2008


This was great, I only wish it were a bit longer to allow for more juxtapositions.
posted by stagewhisper at 7:14 PM on January 7, 2008


I was coming here to post a peanut-head comment, but Ambrosia Voyeur cracked that nut first. The widow lady couldn't stop laughing, so I liked her. The guy with the beard they thought was hiding something, my first thought was how symmetrical his face was.
Anyway, enough of my burbling, very thought-provoking and a great post.
posted by Abiezer at 7:40 PM on January 7, 2008


Well, I'm half deaf. No, really.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:54 PM on January 7, 2008


The woman pegging the kid as the son of someone rich right before he pegged her as someone's secretary made me laugh.
posted by topynate at 7:55 PM on January 7, 2008


I loved this project. Great post.

I'm in a line of work where I deal with a lot of people. Senators, crack-addled hookers, housewives, college kids, small children, prisoners etc....

I've developed a pretty good read on people. Once, on the first day of a new class back in college, the prof. told the class to write down as many factoids about him as we could think of based solely upon first-impressions. My list kinda freaked him out. I even guessed the make and model of his car.

For the most part, I get a pretty good feeling about people, even the crack-hos. I'd like to think I can tell when someone's good at heart.

Every so often, I meet someone and get the chills. I can just tell they're bad news, but I can't prove it. These people are usually well-liked by everyone else. When I voice my concern that something ain't right, I get laughed at.

Does that ever happen to anyone else? Ever look into another's eyes and see nothing there?
posted by TheGoldenOne at 8:16 PM on January 7, 2008


Does that ever happen to anyone else? Ever look into another's eyes and see nothing there?

My wife has mentioned it. (Thanks! I'll be here all week.)
posted by maxwelton at 9:41 PM on January 7, 2008


Why was everyone bagging on that kid?? He's just a kid, people!!
posted by zardoz at 9:42 PM on January 7, 2008


Yeah but that kid looks like an annoying little shit.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 9:47 PM on January 7, 2008


Does that ever happen to anyone else? Ever look into another's eyes and see nothing there?

I'm with you on this one and I've tried mentioning it to people before as well and I get the same reaction. As you, I'm also a damn good people reader. For most of my life, I hardly talked so all I did was observe, and observe patterns. People follow patterns. But it's deeper than just saying that "all people that have/do x are y." It may be true some of the time, but you have to look at combinations of traits and the results those yield. I don't know, I could go on and on.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 9:52 PM on January 7, 2008


that kid looks like he has tattoos on his arms.
posted by CitizenD at 12:33 AM on January 8, 2008


Does that ever happen to anyone else? Ever look into another's eyes and see nothing there?

Definitely. It's usually greeted by remarks such as 'But s/he's so nice!' or something similarly innocuous and I come across as too judgmental. Nonetheless, I think instincts are a lot stronger and fool-proof than we sometimes think.
posted by nonmerci at 3:52 AM on January 8, 2008


Does that ever happen to anyone else? Ever look into another's eyes and see nothing there?

Definitely. It's usually greeted by remarks such as 'But s/he's so nice!' or something similarly innocuous and I come across as too judgmental.


Maybe a sociopath? Great FPP!
posted by Scoo at 6:40 AM on January 8, 2008


Reminds me of Gift Hub and MetaFilter.
posted by Anything at 1:41 PM on January 8, 2008


I can tell X, Y, and Z about a person by just looking in their eyes!

I find this extremely difficult to believe, as well as moderately disagreeable.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems much more likely to be positive bias confirmation on your part.
posted by nzero at 11:58 AM on January 9, 2008


Also: Any psychology buffs out there know of any studies confirming or contradicting claims like these?
posted by nzero at 12:01 PM on January 9, 2008


Err, positive confirmation bias, I meant.
posted by nzero at 12:02 PM on January 9, 2008


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