All sad beards of the world, a few words about the narrative meaning of male beard.

in #culture5 years ago (edited)

Before we start one point - during the search for examples to this post I realized that this thread, like all existing television tracks, has its own website at Tv Tropes. This awareness is often a peculiar obstacle to the topic - mainly because I have the impression that I could get over the rewriting of existing online studies. What has never been and is not my goal - after all, you can read everything at the source yourself. Therefore, not wanting to repeat an existing set of examples - whatever you add to it, I decided to look a little deeper at the problem. Creation of certain subcategories for my own needs and searching for examples which were not necessarily mentioned on the website. No less is it necessary to note the existence of such a trace - that no one would think that I'm ignored someone else's work.

The beard of a psychological crisis is a trail which on the one hand is very popular - on the other it often happens that after watching the movie, we quickly forget about it. According to my personally accepted classification, we distinguish at least several types of despair. I present them with examples, but I immediately mark (and I am asking you to read this sentence exactly) that it gives only examples and I am not trying to create a full list. Hence, it should be concluded that I have not forgotten about other example, but I deliberately chose another one. At the same time - it is in a way an imperfect typology because sometimes one beard can fall into several categories.

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There are two paths for the beards of desperation. There are weak and powerful beards. The weak beards - usually tousled and not very facial - appear mostly temporarily - they allow to create an atmosphere of sadness among the protagonist whom we knew before the crisis and whom we can also see after the crisis. One of the most important determinants of the beard is the fact that it usually does not match the beauty of the actor - in fact, it never adds charm or beauty. It also does not make the hero "valiant" - which often appears in the case of powerful beards. These, in turn, are more permanent beards - they may appear during the narrative, but the moment of shaving must not come. Sometimes a huge beard - in contrast to a loose beard - makes the actor more attractive, though - only in the outside of the film world. It should be noted that the beard (if it is the beard of desperation) is actually always considered unattractive (excluding the dwarves).

A typical example of a poor beard of desperation is Benedict Cumberbatch's beard at Doctor Strange. This beard definitely does not add a beauty to the hero - it is not facial and not prone. What's more - it appears perfectly in the scheme - happiness - the hero shaved smoothly, job loss / desperation - the beard of desperation and finally - training to find a new target - the cropped beard of the big ego (this kind of beard usually have heroes with a big ego). This is one of the most classic approaches to the beard of desperation in recent times. It is worth to make a small footnote here - that the poor beard of desperation is exceptionally nice to observe if the actor with a strange face - just like in Cumberbatch, it is easily noticeable in Matt Smith (observed in the episode of Doctor Who: Wedding of River Song, and return in the second season of The Crown). What is not so surprising that the actors with a strange face, after adding a beard are already quite weird. I still have the impression that if ever someone comes up with the idea that Eddie Redmayne would have something more on his face than just a small beard, then the world implode with an excess of strangeness.

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An interesting example of a beard of desperation is the figure of Charles Xavier in the films about the X-Men because there we have one movie where Xavier is shaved (X-Men: First Class), then there is a breakdown that involves the growth of beard and long hair ( X-men: Days of Future Past) and finally a new beginning, which begins with an optimistic beard shave and ends with a complete loss of hair (X-men: Apocalypse). However, in the case of the second film - it is definitely a shady beard. Still remaining in super-heroic circles - it's impossible to forget (mentioning poor beards) about Christian Bale as desperate Bruce Wayne in the last Batman. The beard of a hiding millionaire was definitely weak and not very facial. And of course it disappeared as soon as Batman remembered who he really was. Like such an innovative film series, but surprisingly often uses a fairly well-aimed narrative means. However, the most obvious beard have the hero of the Dexter series at the very end of the production - if I ever had to make a password to an encyclopedia describing this phenomenon, I would probably put a picture of Dexter there. I am also inviting you to discuss whether what Tom Hiddleston has on his face on first scenes of King Kong: Skull Island is already a poor beard of desperation or two days' stubble of sadness. Somehow I can not decide if I know what I am looking at.

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As for the powerful beards of desperation, they do not occur at all that often - though they are undoubtedly striking. The king of that kind of beard is Brad Pitt, who, as he grows his beard, is really known that he broke his heart - which is clearly seen in Legends of The Fall - the worst it is, the more of this desperate beard. I must admit that I always included the beard that Ryan Gosling had in Notebook, but I recently watched the movie again and it turns out that his beard was not that amazing - it should be emphasized that Gosling's beard is always sad (cf. Half Nelson). Always! As for the powerful beards, probably one of the last ones we had on the screen was the one that Frank Castle had. There is absolutely no talk about a small beard or a shy hair - as the show itself told us, it was a beard so great that it deserved the adjective of hipster. Well, like every decent beard of desperation, it ended life when the hero found a purpose in life. It will not be too much to say that Mark Hamill have a powerful beard of desperation as Luke Skywalker on a small island, right at the end of the Force Awakens. At the end, to prove that not only the creators of entertainment and comic films reach for the beard of desperation, it is worth mentioning the almost Oscar-winning beard of desperation that Jake Gyllenhall wore at Nocturnal Animals.

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It should be added here that a completely separate - but a very clear category is something that you can call - a youthful beard of the desperation of Abraham Lincoln. This is the moment when we have a relatively young or smooth actor, who grows a beard, but comes out of his facial hair that is reminiscent of the Civil War period or when the actor grows a beard but does not have a mustache. This is a specific type of beard because due to its unattractiveness, the beard must disappear as soon as possible (in full - which is not necessarily required in the case of a normal shaving of despair beards), otherwise the film can not cope with the hero's visual unattractive character. The master of such a beard is Paul Dano - an actor who, though not very young, still has such a youthful face and round cheeks to which facial hair definitely does not fit. Whether in the Swiss Army Man or in War and Peace his beard shouted and begged for the hero to get rid of it as soon as possible. Interestingly - Leonardo DiCaprio had such a beard - and not in the film where he fought with the bear but many years ago in Aviator. It was a very sad, poor young man's beard - though the actor was not so young at the time. However, the most outstanding in recent years, the owner of a youthful despair was Dylan O'Brien in the movie American Assassin. Of course, it was released after losing her beloved in a terrorist attack. Nothing other than desperation could force him to do it.

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Another issue is the separation of fiends, desperation, occasional beards. The occasional beard appears when the circumstances in which the hero is found prevent him from shaving. In fact, you can safely say that this is the kind of beard that is the mother of all beings of desperation. There is no doubt that just from this - that someone who usually could shave found a situation where there is no access to the razor - such a simple combination of beard with unfavorable psychological and life conditions began. The occasional beard, despite appearing on the hero's face a bit against his intentions - continues to inform us about the psychological state of the hero - who we can presume - would like to return to its original and proper state as quickly as possible - ie shaved face. Here, of course, there is an infinite number of Robinson Cruzoe's adaptations and variations on the need to deal on the desert island. It can not be hidden that Tom Hanks in Cast Away and to some extent in Forrest Gump showed us this beard of desperation (when he started to run and he could not stop it). The beard of the desperation has a hero played by Daniel Radcliffe in the movie Jungle - which is not surprising because the guy got lost in the jungle so he can not shave there. It is also worth noting that we must also include Leonardo DiCaprio and his outstanding beard from Revenant in this list. At the same time - you may have noticed - I try, not to give historical examples, however, in the history of beard assessment is never simple. It's a completely different approach - even to a desperate historical beard than to a modern beard.

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There is also a specific beard of desperation that does not appear in the very course of the narrative but at the same time - I have no doubt that its goal is to strengthen our view of the hero through the prism of his problems - depression, nervous breakdown, dissatisfaction with life. Such a beard is often not released during the movie - the protagonist enters and goes out with a beard, but the facial hair is evident proof that his mental state is far from normal. If it is a beard or not a facial beard, even if it is not created in a classic way, we can include it in the depths of desperation. Here the typical and the first example that comes to mind is Steve Carell's beard in Little Miss Sunshine. Someone with chronic depression must have a beard. Another case - a character played by James McAvoy in the film Filth - nowhere is said that the untidy beard worn by him is the result of a difficult condition in which he found himself, but it is no doubt easier for the viewer to understand that our hero is not a particularly orderly life essence - just guided by the presence of a beard. To some extent, I also feel it in Macbeth with Michael Fassbender, especially since the film uses the trail "unhappy women have dissolved hair" in the case of Lady Macbeth very consistently. I would certainly add this default and not necessarily unambiguous beard of desperation to beard Lee Pace from the third season of Halt and Catch Fire. Because on the one hand is the beard that the hero takes in the middle of the series, which suggests a change in his mental state, on the other - it can not be hidden that the beard with glasses (and the passage of time) visually closes the hero to the computer icons of the era. Perhaps just then everyone was in the world of computers in a state of desperation.

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One of the important factors in classifying the beard of desperation is the fact that nothing says "the hero has depression, he has a nervous breakdown and is bad at all" like a gray beard of desperation. Well, such a beard appears when an actor - usually "not so old" (old age and youth is a highly relative concept in Hollywood) has a gray beard, which of course his hero's antiquity. It is important that such a beard appears in the case of actors whom nobody perceives as gray (be it because the beards are graying faster than the hair on the head, or because many people dye their hair and still few people dye the beard) - because it automatically matures. It requires an actor's courage because he reminds viewers that not everyone is young throughout his career. The specialist for such a desperate beard of middle age is Brad Pitt, who in Babel reminded us that he can be saddened with a gray beard. In the same category should be attributed to the Hugh Jackman beard from Logan, which clearly indicates that the hero, has grown old (which seemed impossible a dozen years ago). Undoubtedly, the desperate beard of middle age is always caught by Chris Pine - which is clearly seen in "Wrinkles in Time".

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It is also worth noting that there is a conscious beard of desperation. It is the result of the fact that this trail is so worn out that it is possible to use it in a comedy and witty way. The conscious beard of desperation is the best proof that we are dealing with a trail that should slowly go to a loss. This is because it is with the most popular tracks - if they become so transparent that they can become the subject of comedy, they usually lose their consistency with the world presented. What does it mean? It means that seeing a hero who has a beard because he is sad and badly less often we see a beard as a result of actions or mental state of the hero and more often as a procedure proposed by the director. What makes a beard separate from a hero in a way. What makes us understand it faster on the one hand - it throws us out of the world of the story. Such a beard of desperation usually appears in comedy productions - we find it in How I met your mother, in Chuck or in Anchorman. In Last Man on Earth, a beard that comes out of necessity (actually there are no people) is also played at least partially comedy. At the same time, sometimes the use of the beard of desperation is fully conscious, not necessarily being comedic. Beard which has the character played by Luke Wilson in Royal Tannenbaums is such evidently readable director's work that it should be treated from the beginning as a wink to viewers. Interestingly - with Wes Anderson, shaving the beard at the same time is the culmination of the breakdown as well as the beginning of going straight.

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Finally, I would like to draw your attention to what is actually the beard of desperation telling us about contemporary canons of beauty - or about how they should be arranged by film makers. There is no doubt that apart from the fact - quite pointless and primitive - combining the beard with a kind of sloppy or neglect (or rather reluctance to look the best), the beard of desperation tells us quite clearly that a man should be shaved basically. Of course, the bearded heroes appear from time to time (and they may be attractive), but the two-day facial hair or beard - more often in the cinematography indicate sadness or neglect. Of course, of course - from time to time, some film or television creators realize that their hero looks better overgrown - which does not change the fact that in moments of happiness or a better mental state they make him shave. At the same time - sometimes this tragedy clearly shows that the creators do not fully shoot themselves into the canons of beauty. A great example is, for example, Chris Evans in the Avengers: Infinity War. The actor's beard - clearly planned at least partly as a beard of desperation - unfortunately turned out to be adding beauty and charm to it. And so the beard of desperation became the beard of excitement. Besides, one should think about the extent to which a beard as an undesirable element - but it is derived mainly from the Anglo-Saxon culture - after all, it can not be concealed that many countries in the world recognize beard as a highly desirable thing. No less when you see a bearded hero (and this is not Jason Momoa), you can expect that a razor blade will appear somewhere soon.

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Well enough for today - I would like to admit that I could spend a lot of time talking about, for example, whether we can recognize Superman's beard from Men of Steel:for the beard of desperation or, for example, for the beard of searching for himself. And will we ever see a time when it will not be so popular to use male facial hair for narrative purposes. I leave you with my qualifications for a short while and promises that we will return to the narrative features of facial hair soon when I will talk about the "two days of sadness" - something that is equally fascinating though in a slightly different context.

Ps. I forgot to add that this post was inspired by Thor’s great beard of depression.

#culture #movie #blog

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I will never see a bearded actor again without having to decide what kind of beard he is wearing! This was a very entertaining post that you clearly put a lot of thought into! I'm not musical, but if I were, I think Beards of Desperation would be a great name for a band!

Hahaha, thank you I really try to write something not too serious but still entertaining. And yes you are right Beard of Desperation will work pretty well as a name for a band.

Thank you for passing by and your kind words.

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