The bigger, the better, right? For a generation of kids, doe eyes are all the rage. Photos of young women in both Asia and the West show that this trend isnât going anywhere. Big eyes are here to stay.
The look is a melding of both the real and the unreal. Eyes that existed only in comic books and video games are entering our three dimensional world. Or, are they? Ideals are taking their cues from computerized images, and beauty isnât skin deep, itâs pixel deep.
The big-eyed look isnât new. I wrote about them in 2005, when black contact lenses became all the rage. Before that, young Japanese women seemed more interested in contacts that made their eyes blue or green. The black contacts made them appear larger, thanks to black circles that increased the size of the iris. After the lenses, which initially were not prescription, hit big in Japan, contact lens makers began selling prescription versions. The trend coincided with a movement towards pale skin. For centuries, even before the arrival of Westerners, pale skin was highly prized in Japan. Coupled with a movement back towards dark eyes, shows this trend was part of a larger return to traditional Japanese beauty.
But large, bright eyes arenât necessarily âtraditionalâ at all. Yet, in Japan, characters with enormous eyes show up all over the placeâmaking the look appear to be Japanese. However, American cartoonsâmost notably Walt Disneyâinfluenced the look in cute Japanese characters. Tezuka Osamu, the famed Japanese artist and animator, grew up before World War II a huge Disney fan. When he came of age in the years following the war, his manga characters didnât simply ape Disneyâs designs, but did carry their influence. There were big-eyed characters here and there before Tezuka, but since he was so influential (and so talented), his characters and his style set the tone for Japanese manga and anime. The âbig-eyed lookâ is now synonymous with Japanese anime.
Around the same time that black contact lenses were taking off in Japan, Japanese sticker machine makers began filling arcades with sticker machines that would make peopleâs eyes bigger. It was a software trick, and the onboard computer would locate your eyes and the make them appear âlargerâ by adding rings around your irisâmuch like the contact lens did.
This big-eyed trend continued throughout the end of the last decade in Japan. Online make-up artist Michelle Phan helped spread the big-eyed look to the West with her make-up videos. CBS News reported that teens were snapping up non-prescription âcircle lensesâ from Asia, warning that the lenses could damage your iris. In the West, the contact trend was apparently inspired by Lady Gagaâs âBad Romanceâ video.
In it, Lady Gaga appeared with enormous, computer altered googly eyes. Since then, more and more young women in both Asia and the West started going all googly eyed. Honestly, I doubt that Lady Gagaâs video influence the majorityâthough, Iâm sure it influenced some of them. Rather, her video is a mainstream turning point for the lookâit helps mark when the trend was no longer grounded in reality. Itâs a moment that the trend became altered and crystallized. Itâs something we can point to.
Nicki Minajâs video âStupid Hoeâ is pitching up that googly-eyed torch and running with it. Internet person Dakota Rose, who finally became famous because of her huge eyes, is set to make her debut in Japan
https://lastchance.cc/will-the-real-dakota-rose-please-stand-up-5899704%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
In the past few months, more and more photos have surfaced in Japan, in China, and in the West that depict individuals with abnormally large eyes. The photos have been either altered with software or camera tricks. The googly eyed look walks the fine line between anime cute and totally disturbingâwith, more often than not, it veering into freaky.
https://lastchance.cc/why-you-dont-want-realistic-anime-characters-ever-5893851%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes even awesomeâgame related and beyond.
