It's funny to think about the origins of the eyeroll (and the eyebrow raise). Or I think it is, anyway. Like somebody rolls their eyes at you (not that anybody has -- at least not in recent memory) -- anyway, you instantly understand what they're communicating, right? Nobody sees an eyeroll without understanding the meaning behind it.
So, how'd that evolve? It's clearly a facial mannerism, and is tied to emotions, so it is some kind of behavior that evolved over time, useful for communicating, what, scorn? Contempt? Exasperation? Useful information to convey for a social animal, so the efficacy of the eyeroll can't be questioned, although how precisely it arose fascinates me.
Like the smile has been studied pretty heavily in primates as a sign of non-aggression. Again, it operates on such a basic level that we react to it pretty instinctively. And the eyeroll does the same thing, in terms of that instinctive power it possesses.
It just amuses me to think of some primordial cavewoman looking at her caveman beau and thinking "CHRIST, what a fucktard." and she rolls her eyes. And, yes, I do think the first eyeroll was done by a woman. Moments like that just amuse me -- I'd enjoy being a time traveler and seeing esoterica like that.
The raised eyebrow likely has a similar provenance, but it communicates a more complicated kind of facial cue -- alternately ironic, flirty, mocking, amused, bemused, intrigued -- complex emotions in that simple gesture. And what fascinates me most about the raised eyebrow (and I think I've blogged about this before), anyway, is that some people can't do that at all. Some people can do the right eyebrow (me; cocking that eyebrow as I write this), some can do the left, some can do both, and some can do neither.
So, how the hell did that get passed on (or not), and why can some people do it, and some people are unable to? I mean, it just intrigues me. Like imagine this scenario...
URK: Gronk, have you tended the sheep?
GRONK: Yes, Urk, I have.
Simple exchange, no? And then let's try it with an eyebrow raised...
URK: Gronk, have you tended the sheep?
GRONK (raises eyebrow): Yes, Urk, I have.
or
GRONK: Yes, Urk, I have (raises eyebrow).
See? Nuance and mystery and complication and irony are thrown into the mix. What's Gronk up to? Is Gronk slyly mocking Urk in some way? Is Gronk up to something?
Somehow, evolutionarily, eyebrow-raising conferred some kind of edge to the people who have it (although I'm unsure of the actual numbers of people capable of doing it, and the distribution of right-, left-, and both-raised eyebrows). We'll have to wait until some swell at Harvard does this study and earns plaudits for it, but I'm here wondering it right fucking now, dammit!
Maybe the raised eyebrow was capable of angering one's enemies into doing something foolhardy. Or maybe the comic nature of it made one more desirable to one's prospective partners.
Certainly, however, the people who can raise both eyebrows look downright diabolical, having an almost impish bearing.
Exene can't really move either of her eyebrows -- unsurprising, really -- she's not one to be ironic or bemused about anything, particularly. In fact, the rheumo commented that her face wasn't nearly as lined as a woman of her age should be (she does have crow's feet, but that's about it), and he was concerned about that, relative to her overal condition, checked her face to see if there was swelling or whatever, drawing it out. The truth is that her face isn't overly wrinkled because she doesn't express much in the way of emotion. Duh! Heart of stone, face of stone. Her default expression is neutral and empty; not an animated face by any means. Anyway, she's one of the non-eyebrow raisers.
I am intrigued at how some people can do it, and when that mutation (?) or adaptation (?) proliferated in the human population.
ASHRAM: (raises eyebrow) The yaks are plentiful here, my brother.
AVRIM: A bit too plentiful, perhaps? (raises eyebrow)
RIA: Whatever are we to do? (rolls eyes)
Have you rolled your eyes, yet? Seriously, next time you do it, just think about the long evolutionary road that (or the eyebrow raise) took to get to you, and imagine your ancestors tapping into that emotional well with that arsenal of expressions.
