Showing emotion without a face (in fiction)

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2005-07-11 12:24pm

well Which characters in your opinion show their emotions best, dispite the fact that they don't have a face or you can see their face. (Scifi examples will do)

My examples (sorry all form SW) Darth Vader,C-3PO, R2-D2, Gen Grievous, the Fetts and Darth Revan.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2005-07-11 12:28pm

Vader, C3PO and R2D2. Not necessarily in that order.

C3POs expression always seems to be that of worry anyways, and R2D2's wavering and head spinning always seem to do the trick. I think Vader has one of the best though. It's an expressionless mask that just strikes fear, but you can see in ESB and RotJ when he's thoughful. i.e. when Luke and Falcon escaped at the very end, and after they take Luke away on Endor.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-07-11 01:05pm

Their tone of voice is often one of the best ways. With someone like C3PO, it's always easiest to tell how he's feeling by the tone his voice is taking. When he gets nervous or really edgy, you can tell. When he gets excited, you can tell. In other cases it's all about body posturing. Otherwise there's plenty of ways to express emotion without relying on facial expression.

Crazedwraith · Post by **Crazedwraith** » 2005-07-11 02:06pm

hmmm...Spider-Man? I don't suppose he counts they're always fekking with his eyes peices yo show emotion.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2005-07-11 02:11pm

Crazedwraith wrote:hmmm...Spider-Man? I don't suppose he counts they're always fekking with his eyes peices yo show emotion.

well Grievous still has his orginal eye, so yes Spider-man would count

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2005-07-11 03:04pm

Vader, hands down. Watch the mask when Palpatine is zapping Luke. I mention this scene in particular because 1) he's not talking, and 2) only his mask is seen.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2005-07-11 03:15pm

R2-D2. He has no face, no arms and he only beeps. But his beeps! From the warbling WoOoOoOoOo to the sarcastic raspberry to the batshit Weep! Weedoodeedoo! I can understand everything he says and the emotions he's feeling.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-07-11 03:23pm

Pcm979 wrote:R2-D2. He has no face, no arms and he only beeps. But his beeps! From the warbling WoOoOoOoOo to the sarcastic raspberry to the batshit Weep! Weedoodeedoo! I can understand everything he says and the emotions he's feeling.

I'm skeptical in that you can understand everything he says, but it is fairly obvious as to what emotions he's trying to convey.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2005-07-11 03:29pm

R2, easily. Vader, 3PO etc at least have inflection, tone of voice etc to emote. All R2 can do is beep, and he STILL manages to emote quite distinctly.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-07-11 10:18pm

Doctor Doom is always fun...

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-07-11 10:23pm

R2-D2 can convey more emotion than Kevin Costner can with a human face and stirring background music.

It's hard to think of fictional characters outside of SW who lack visible faces, though. Most of the ones I can think of are monsters (eg- the xenomorphs from the Alien series or the bugs from Starship Troopers), and they don't convey a range of emotions; their only emotion is malevolence.

One example that comes to mind is the Scar Predator from AvP. That scene when Weyland tries to burn him and he turns around: he looks pissed, even though you can't see his face.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-07-11 10:25pm

Darth Wong wrote: It's hard to think of fictional characters outside of SW who lack visible faces, though.

That have been artistically portrayed, yes... there are a fair few in novels and so forth, but yeah, they do tend to be fairly rare. I suspect 'tis simple laziness upon writers' parts-- they don't want to tackle the difficult task of describing what someone's expressing, without actually showing his face or describing it...

Morat · Post by **Morat** » 2005-07-11 11:18pm

The Question, from JLU. You can tell everything you need to know by the way he delivers his lines.

Culture drones are an obvious choice, since they have color fields to express emotion, but that's kind of a cop out. The fields are functionally equivalent to a face, after all.

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2005-07-11 11:43pm

I thought Kosh was fairly effective at conveying emotion when it was appropriate. That's pretty difficult, considering that his encounter suit's head is essentially an eye appature, he barely talks at all, and when he does talk, its in a robotic monotone.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2005-07-12 01:24am

How about Rorscach from the Watchmen graphic novel? Very well done, I thought.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-07-12 03:48am

Elheru Aran wrote:
Darth Wong wrote: It's hard to think of fictional characters outside of SW who lack visible faces, though.
That have been artistically portrayed, yes... there are a fair few in novels and so forth, but yeah, they do tend to be fairly rare. I suspect 'tis simple laziness upon writers' parts-- they don't want to tackle the difficult task of describing what someone's expressing, without actually showing his face or describing it...

Actually, it is the case of actors want to have thier faces seen. It would be near suicide to try and get a big name actor to have a non-visible face for most of the movie.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2005-07-12 06:40am

Noble Ire wrote:I thought Kosh was fairly effective at conveying emotion when it was appropriate. That's pretty difficult, considering that his encounter suit's head is essentially an eye appature, he barely talks at all, and when he does talk, its in a robotic monotone.

His 'breathing' nozzles helped there, really. Both of the vorlon ambassadors were pretty good at that IMO. before they electrocute Ulkesh, you could definately read the creature's emotions.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2005-07-12 06:57am

I would have to say Marvin, but that's sort of a given, considering everything he says sounds down right angsty and depressed. But even when he isn't talking he manages to convey a sense of fuck you Universe, I hate you and everything in you with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

Oskuro · Post by **Oskuro** » 2005-07-22 11:59am

<sarcasm> So, Anakin Skywalker finally manages to convey emotion when under the mask?</sarcasm>

Oh well, he does manage to emote properly without the mask too... He truly feels burnt to a crisp on Mustafar... Oh, forgot the <sarcasm> tags here

Oskuro · Post by **Oskuro** » 2005-07-22 12:08pm

Now, seriously....

I find that HAL-9000 is quite expressive... Although most of it is in its voice.

I personally belive that the alien queen on Aliens is expressive too, both in the "I'm going to curn your children, bitch" and the "Leave her alone, bitch" scenes.

Thinking of more faceless characters....

Oh, yes, the Nazgul! They did not seem pleased when Aragorn dropped by, or when facing the river. Although not too great.

Anyway, Vader, R2D2 and 3PO are VERY good.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2005-07-22 12:42pm

Im writting a story right now with Dragon like creatures that use their wings to express all emotions. I thought this up when I realized the 'snout' of a dragon like alien really doesn't have much in the way of lips to smile or frown.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2005-07-22 01:39pm

Crossroads Inc. wrote:Im writting a story right now with Dragon like creatures that use their wings to express all emotions. I thought this up when I realized the 'snout' of a dragon like alien really doesn't have much in the way of lips to smile or frown.

Go take a look at the movie DragonHeart. A dragon's face can be extremely expressive, and even resemble Sean Connery.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2005-07-22 02:31pm

LordOskuro wrote:I find that HAL-9000 is quite expressive... Although most of it is in its voice.

His tone never actually changes throughout the movie, until at the end when Bowman disables him. It's the same mellow, even, and precise voice. There are only two changes that I can think of, first when he says "my mind is going, I can feel it" I think he speaks as if rushed, though that is debateable. Then, as he is finally disabled, his voice slows to a slur.

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2005-07-22 06:47pm

What about the malevolent pepper-pots? You could just smell the frustration when they encountered stairs. Hah same with ED-209

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2005-07-22 06:51pm

Marvin was pretty good at showing his emotions, thanks to Alan Rickman