Who’s the lunatic behind those sunglasses?

Claude Rains in mid-tirade while wearing Richardson type sunglasses

Claude Rains in mid-tirade while wearing Richardson type sunglasses

Purportedly it’s Claude Rains. All sources say he starred as The Invisible Man in the 1933 film. Could have been anyone, though. Think about it. Rains could have just looped his voice. The cool sunglasses were sort of the star of the movie anyway. Since the week’s over why not let your imagination have its own Casual Friday and speculate on all the different people it could be?

Whoever it is wears some sort of goggles, probably industrial, here:

Claude Rains (or whoever it is) wears goggles here.

Claude Rains (or whoever it is) wears goggles here.

There’s something about the combination of sunglasses, a concealed face, and dandified clothing that projects a weird glamor and power.

Comic Book artist Mike Mignola recognized this and took it a step further in his Hellboy series by giving his villain Karl Ruprecht Kroenen a leather SS uniform and Darth Vader style mask. The sunglasses were incorporated into the mask.

Ladislav Beran as Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in Hellboy (2004)

Ladislav Beran as Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in Hellboy (2004)

And Philippine Police Director Carmelo Valmoria, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), took it still further. He banned hats and sunglasses from shopping malls. The supposed reason was criminals were using them to conceal their identities.

My suspicion, though, is it’s all about the semiotics of dress. Face-concealing headgear and sunglasses inspire primordial fear in humans. The greater the concealment the greater the fear.

Why?

The unknown makes people nervous. Yet there’s also something thrilling about mystery, especially as regards a person’s eyes and face.

Maybe that’s why sunglasses wield such power.
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4 Responses

  1. Charles Zuber says:

    Very cool sir! I really must send to you a few of my pics of me in my various goggles!

  2. Barry Santini says:

    “Don’t (move) until you see the white of their eyes!”
    Humans have evolved to be acutely sensitive to pupil size, eye gaze and facial expression. Alert apparatus is monitered by our mirror neurons.
    When you concesl that data path, our defcon level simply ratchets up.

  3. Just Vex says:

    “And Philippine Police Director Carmelo Valmoria, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), took it still further. He banned hats and sunglasses from shopping malls. The supposed reason was criminals were using them to conceal their identities.”

    Preventing the citizens to wear caps & Sunglasses in malls is complete stupidity… they just show inefficient our Police & DILG. so what’s next? peoples are banned entering mall with clothes?

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