Our Eyes Tell a Story

“The eyes are the window to the soul.” This quote could not be more true, in my opinion. In a simple glance at someone’s eyes, you can understand their true expressions, feelings, thoughts, and motives. For instance, when someone is happy, their eyes turn up and squint a little, whereas when someone is sad, tears come out of their eyes. When someone is shocked or surprised, their eyes widen and grow twice their size, or if someone is lying, their pupils may dilate. Disney and other animators takes advantage of this fact in their films, using the eyes as a key factor in differentiating the heroes from the villains. 

            When someone is designing a villain, they usually use distorted or grotesque features to contrast the perfect and idealized features of the heroes. The use of red eyes is very common when trying to display evil. In The Little Mermaid, red eyes are a reoccurring characteristic used to point out to the viewers who is evil, and who is not. When Ursula is in the middle of creating her spell for Ariel, her eyes are depicted with red swirling lines. Also, when Ariel and Flounder are in the sunken ship, they are attached by a shark with red eyes. Villains may be given eyes that are sunken in or bulging, and have dark rings under them as well. Many male villains are displayed with makeup, like Jafar in Aladdin, whereas the male protagonists are not given any. Likewise, many female villains, like Ursula, are usually given excess amounts of makeup, contrasting with the perfect skin and lashes of the princesses. Glowing and squinty eyes are also a very popular way to display evil. For instance, when Snow White is running away from the huntsman and goes into the woods, she sees all these large, glowing eyes everywhere and tries desperately to get away from them, only to collapse in fear.

Heroes are displayed in the opposite light of villains, with their eyes accentuating their goodness and other perfect features. Many of their eyes are rounded and almond-shaped, giving the impression of innocence, and contrasting the perverted, large oval-shaped eyes of the villains. Makeup on princesses is usually minimal, with just enough to accentuate their eyes, like a winged eyeliner and mascara, to show their inherent beauty and attract their prince. In Cinderella, Cinderella is given soft, almond-shaped blue eyes that fit her face perfectly, whereas her step-sisters are given small, oval-eyes, showing the viewer who is supposed to be good and who is supposed to be seen as evil. Many of the protagonists are given brown or blue eyes, whereas most of the villains are characterized with green and deep brown or black eyes. When Lady Tremaine steals the Fairy Godmothers wand in Cinderella III, she uses it to enchant Prince Charming into falling in love with Anastasia. As she is casting the spell on Charming, his eyes turn green, as a sign of evil manipulating him. In all, our eyes tell a story about who we are and what we feel, and show what our true wicked or honorable desires may be.