{"id":1266008,"date":"2026-01-15T16:57:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1266008"},"modified":"2026-01-15T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:57:45","slug":"is-the-backlash-to-facial-conformity-finally-upon-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1266008","title":{"rendered":"Is the Backlash to Facial Conformity Finally Upon Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OPINION<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Is the Backlash to Facial Conformity Finally Upon Us?<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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Women\u2019s real human faces are showing up on screen more often. I\u2019d like to officially declare the dawn of a new era.<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Valerie Monroe<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Collage: Allure; Source images: Mobland: Paramount+; The Beast in Me\/ The Diplomat: Netflix; Hamnet: Focus Features<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I had the extraordinary experience of watching the movie Hamnet<\/em> the other day. Extraordinary not only because of the gorgeous and evocative cinematography, the deeply moving emotional integrity, and the raw, fierce character studies, but because of the incomparable expressions of feeling\u2014from suspicion to anticipation, joy, unfathomable grief, and finally ravenous awe\u2014on the face of the 36-year-old actor Jessie Buckley. Her performance was duly recognized Sunday night with a Golden Globe for best actress in a movie drama.<\/p>\n

What a face. What an absolutely unremarkable face: a little lopsided, youthful, barely lined. But as an instrument? Buckley\u2019s face is a symphony, guiding us through the movie\u2019s plot with violent chords of rage and sorrow, graced with harmonious notes of tender affection. How does she do it?<\/p>\n

All I can tell you is: Her face says it all.<\/p>\n

Which got me to thinking, what is a face for? And what might be the consequences of the current trend toward a kind of facial conformity resulting from a desire to imitate a narrow beauty standard prominent on social media? Mar-a-Lago face already makes it almost impossible to decipher who\u2019s who in that particular troop. Dehumanization often begins by hiding or erasing images of people\u2019s faces\u2026or possibly by making them indistinguishable from one another.<\/p>\n

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Aesthetic interventions that change contours and erase wrinkles can diminish the cues that signal warmth and wisdom, the very things we rely on a face to communicate. From left: US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, US secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span>Getty images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

I wonder if we\u2019ve been in the process of losing the face\u2019s primary function. And whether we\u2019re finally starting to see a real backlash to the prevalence of conformity. There is certainly a roster of celebrities refusing to succumb to extreme facial work\u2014and I might argue this is a result of more of us recognizing the threat to our social harmony and community. As one astute editor at this magazine asks, \u201cgoing into 2026, maybe it\u2019s not an anomaly to see a woman over 40\u2014or 70\u2014looking her age onscreen?\u201d Stars like Keri Russell, Claire Danes, and Olivia Colman on the younger end; Parker Posey, Robin Wright, and Jodie Foster in the mid-range; more mature luminaries Kathy Bates, Helen Mirren, Catherine O\u2019Hara, and Jean Smart\u2014none of them have taken the Kris Jenner route. That feels like more than just a handful of resistance.<\/p>\n