Why do we judge characters on their hair and clothes?

[Burnouts3s3]

How come we associate certain groups with the way characters dress and wear their hair?

For example, if a male character wears long hair that covers their eyes, such as Peter Parker from Spider-man 3, they are labeled 'emo'. Emo, in the modern context, denotes someone who is depressed on purpose and additionally, comes from a middle-class household and complain about trivial problems. But in the movie, Peter mainly just wears black and prances around and sings jazz at one point, traits and actions not associated with the emo subculture.

Also, when a character dresses in a counter-culture fashion, such as wearing clothing associated with Hot Topic, (black clothing, anti-authority labels, etc.), we label them as 'trying too hard' and posing or posturing, when it's possible the actual attitude the person expresses might be the opposite. Why is that?

Why do we label certain characters emo/tryhard based on their clothing and hairstyle and not their attitudes or actions?

 

[tippy2k2]

Humans put everything into a box. It's easier for our tiny little monkey brains to process it that way.

That's really about it.

A few X's start wearing A's
Person Y notices that a few X's like to wear A's
Therefore, everyone who wears A must be a X

Everyone gets grouped up. Sometimes this ends up being negative (racism) but generally it's just easier to stereotype than it is to think that everyone is their own individual with their own hopes and dreams and whatnot.

Basically it's this...

Spoiler: XKCD

...in practice.

 

[Eddie the head]

Well the short way of saying it is "Scripts." The slightly longer way of saying it is our brains are built to put things into categorys. We see black hair over eyes and we say "emo."

 

[Vault101]

in fiction this is visual short hand

you want to comunicate to the audience quickly and easyly what the charachter is like, you do that by playing into their "ideas" of what means what, (unlss your being subversive)

a guy with lots of tattoos and a shaved head you assume is tough, a guy who is a little eccentric looking you assume is smart...and eccentric

 

[Zhukov]

In real life the way people present themselves tell you something about that person. At the very least, it tells you how they wish to be seen.

In fiction, the way a character looks should tell you something about that character. Unless the person who made the character is kind of a hack.

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

Because character design is a deliberate choice. If a design element has come to symbolize a certain trait, it's likely to indicate that trait unless the person who created the character is deliberately subverting a stereotype (or is a hack).

 

[William Fleming]

(This covers colour):
As far as I'm aware, it has something to do with how we interpret colours and how its got so deep in our psyche. Obvious ones are red:danger, yellow:caution, green:safety (an obvious one just to demonstrate my point) so we have come to associate, say, super heroes who we are to admire with multiple bright and stand out colours (like Superman) and villains with black, purple or other dark colours. There are exceptions to this rule, however, such as Batman.

(and this covers clothing itself):
I have no clue other than it can help us judge a character based on our biases like if we see a character wearing a tuxedo we can assume that they are rich, a spy or both. Similarly, if we see someone wearing armour and has multiple scars we can assume that they are a battle hardened veteran.

It's all part of the "show, don't tell" motto. No idea what was up with the way Parker dressed when dancing but he does get depressed at points through the movie.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

In a game, how they dress helps us learn what that character is. Smart people have glasses, strong guys have armour. We judge by what we see. In games, if the character wears generic gear thats not identifiable then it confuses things.

 

[Loop Stricken]

How come we associate certain groups with the way characters dress and wear their hair?

Here's a quick test for you - what attributes would you associate with this person?

Spoiler

 

[pilouuuu]

Because Johnny Storm isn't and will never be black. Nick Fury isn't bald and black. Well, actually he is and he is amazing!

I think some of the things that stand out the most is hair and clothing can't change how we perceive a character.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

This thread makes me wonder how we would judge NPCs in a game that takes place on a nudist colony...

Brings a new meaning to the term "art assets."

 

[Scars Unseen]

This thread makes me wonder how we would judge NPCs in a game that takes place on a nudist colony...

Brings a new meaning to the term "art assets."

Kill la Kill: The Video Game? Call it the beach episode.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Because I can say "For every person that had at least made a better life choice than me, there's somebody who does the contrary". Ok ok, I was joking there.

We've been taught in life to categorize everything from day 1. At the basics, it can be a great skill that can take you far in life. However, we never taught anyone to 1. stop categorizing everything and 2. realize that everyone wants to have something that stands out. We just took things too far and never took the time to learn to judge appropriately.

Besides, if you want us to label based on attitude or actions, I'm pretty sure that every Buzzfeed article has been made by that "one person in your high school that couldn't stand the idea that they are not the little shiny pixel they think that they are" or that every Cracked article has been written by that "one person who never really connected to other people because of their habit of over-analyzing while being full-on Deadpan Snarker".

Again, joking?more about Cracked. Buzzfeed is debatable.