History Main / BodyMotifs

* ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'': Since this is a [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals]], it is not limited to human body parts.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** In "Restless" Xander is TheHeart of the group, so the First Slayer rips out his heart.

* Samuel Beckett's classic [[{{Absurdism}} absurdist]] play ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot'' substitutes clothing for this purpose, but the association is still there: the high-minded Vladimir is always looking at his hat, and the humbler Estragon complains that his boots are too tight. Lucky also cannot speak unless he has a hat on.

[[folder:Films - Animation]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Theater]]

* ''{{Webcomic/Metacarpolis}}'': The comic is filled with hand references, like the names of Metacarpolis, the Digits, and the Handeymen. Possibly due to how the 'Master' who built the city seems to be an expy of the Master from Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate.

[[caption-wide-right:320:He can be quite a handful.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/MyHeroAcademia https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shg_2.jpg]]]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''Manga/{{Attack On Titan}}'' places a lot of emphasis on eyes. It's subtle, but it's there.
* Creator/{{CLAMP}} ''loves'' making characters lose an eye, to the extent that it has become something of a running joke in the fandom. So far, the count goes: [[spoiler:Seishiro Sakurazuka]] in ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'', [[spoiler:Subaru Sumeragi]] in ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', [[spoiler:Fay D. Flourite and Xiaolang]] in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' [[spoiler:Kimihiro Watanuki and Shizuka Doumeki]] in ''Manga/XXXHolic'', and [[spoiler:Koukuyo]] in ''Manga/{{Wish}}''.

*** [[spoiler:Roy, who always looked towards the future, lost his eyesight.]]

* ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'' has a clear obsession with eyes. Three characters have magical powers based in their eyes much like the mythical basilisk. Four characters are blind, at least temporarily, and in every case the blindness is central to the story.

* ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'': There are creepy yellow eye symbols [[SigilSpam everywhere you look]] when it comes to Neo Atlantis.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''
** Eyes are its most obvious body theme.
*** Dojutsu (literally "Eye Techniques") are a recurring ability within the story with the Sharingan, Byakugan and Rinnegan being chief among them.
*** Characters with AnimalMotifs tend to have irises which signify these traits. Naruto himself gains fox-like eyes and irises when his SuperpoweredEvilSide takes over, and Toad Sages like Jiraiya gain frog eyes and eye shadow (Naruto later combines both this and the fox eyes to create an all new look), and both Orochimaru and [[spoiler:Kabuto]] gain snake eyes as they gain power.
*** Some one-off characters (such as Priestess Shion in the first ''Shippuden'' movie) have special eyes or irises that signify their unique powers or status.
*** Even without that, you have several instances where characters are able to learn a lot about someone else by looking directly into their eyes. A good example is during Gaara and Sasuke's first meeting.
** Hands are another theme.

* The BigBad of ''Manga/SoulEater'', Asura has a motif for eyes. His symbol of three vertical eyes is drawn all over his clothes, skin,and hair, generally being displayed whenever his madness is taking effect. Even [[UpToEleven his eyes]] have eyes within them.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', eye injury as a common motif has been commented on by the creator. The Corinthian, Fiddler's Green and the Ravens, the first murder of Abel we see, even Despair's constant picking at her face all count.
** There's also the fate of one of the students in the boy's school full of... former students, in ''Season of Mists'', if I recall. He died choking on his own vomit, as he informs us, and we see his eyeball hanging out of its socket down his cheek. Fun stuff.
*** It's played for laughs, though-- his eye doesn't pop out until he's smacked on the back of a head by a grumpy former headmaster.
** And the girl in ''Preludes and Nocturnes'' who stabbed herself in the eyeballs with some sort of skewery things while being mind-controlled.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', there is a lot of focus on the eyes, as they're replaced by buttons in the Other World and represent a DealWithTheDevil, ans just as much focus goes to hand imagery and spoken allusions to hands, as a hand is the villain's very last resort.

* Eyes figure prominently throughout ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings''. Kubo had his eye taken from him by his grandfather, his mother gains a long scar across her left eye [[spoiler: that is duplicated on Monkey's right as a clue to her identity]], one of the armor pieces is kept in the sea among eye yokai, and [[spoiler: the Moon King becomes a human with one working eye after the climax of the film, having been blind (both literally and figuratively) beforehand.]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* There are entire papers written on the use of eyes in ''Film/BladeRunner''. Certain movements (or lack of thereof) of the pupil as responses to emotionally provoking stimuli are how one recognizes a replicant.

* In ''Film/RedEye'', the camera has an appropriate fixation with Creator/RachelMcAdams' eyes, which are gradually turning all red and veiny as she stays up all night. The camera also likes Creator/CillianMurphy's eyes, which remain icy-blue.
** Many films featuring Creator/CillianMurphy focus on his eyes, because, [[HypnoticEyes well...]]

* In the 2013 Sci-Fi novel ''Literature/TheImpairment'', eyes are the recurring theme with the concept of "perception" and how we "see or view" people to be something of an [[{{Anvilicious}} ideal]] that college professor Norman Oswald goes out of his way to even humiliated two of his own students, [[JerkAss two nasty and judgmental students that is]], to drive his point how [[WeirdnessMagnet Kyle Griffin]]'s peers are wrong to jump to conclusions of his guilt in the matter of his position as suspect in the murder of his roommate Zack Oliver, of whom we know was killed by an extra-terrestrial. A lot of attention is also drawn to many character's eyes for which we see the true emotions their faces may not be showing and of course, it's through Kyle's eyes we see extra-terrestrials which are linked to the one he saw kill his roommate. The flask that Kyle is given even has an engraved in it for which is rather mesmerizing to say the least.

* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', eyes are a common motif. Olaf, the villain of the series, has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle, and other references to eyes are sprinkled liberally throughout the series, from an eye-shaped building in ''The Miserable Mill'' to an eye-shaped icon on a submarine's radar screen in ''The Grim Grotto''.

** Lampshaded by Caleb when he tells [[spoiler: Xander]], "I hear you're the guy who sees everything," just before [[EyeScream gouging out one of his eyes]].

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' devotes a lot of attention to eyes, such as episodes beginning with an eye opening, Locke's comment of having "looked into the eye of this island," and a tendency for DiesWideOpen moments. There's also a motif of lost limbs: Montand's arm, Martha Toomey's leg, Pierre Chang's arm, Ray's arm, etc. Then there's Mikhail's eye, which fits both motifs.
** Not to mention the consistent attacks on John Locke's legs, which seems to connect to his self-perceived helplessness.

* Shizen no Teki-P (Jin)'s Franchise/KagerouProject centers around eyes.

* Sophocles' ''Theatre/OedipusRex'' is full of references to eyes, sight and blindness; echoing Oedipus' fate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': Blood, obviously, but also eyes. The former is where most of the Hunter's standard abilities come from (heal yourself with blood, make ''bullets'' out of blood, level up with "Blood Echoes", ect.), and it's implied [[spoiler: that both the Hunters and the Beast Plague were created from expirements with the blood of an EldritchAbomination]]. Most Yharnamites you meet will never shut up about it. The latter, on the other hand, is used as a symbol of ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, with a number of characters trying to gain cosmic knowledge [[spoiler: like the [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]]]], with the term "eyes on the inside" coming up a lot.
* There are a lot of characters missing eyes in ''VideoGame/MetalGear''. The series is heavy on symbolism, so it's probably meant to mean something, but what that something ''is'' is left for fans to bicker over.

* ''VideoGame/RType'' makes a lot of eyes, such as Bydo ships firing disembodied eyeballs (complete with optic nerves, which makes some people think they're spermatozons), and the eye is a weak point for several bosses.

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' places a lot of emphasis on the eyes: Reynardine possesses people through their eyes, it's been hinted that the fact that Annie wears eye shadow is significant, the local {{Green Lantern Ring}}s are called "Blinker Stones," the forest is populated by "glass-eyed men," and several characters obscure their eyes--most notably Zimmy with her HiddenEyes, but Mr. and Mrs. Donlan count too, with thick eyeglasses and EyesAlwaysShut respectively. A supernatural FreakOut gives [[spoiler:Jack]] [[TheInsomniac apparently permanent insomniac eyes]]. Could be connected with the themes of illusion, searching and "not seeing things clearly," which are big of the plot.
** Regarding Annie's eye shadow: kohl (used, especially in ancient times, as eyeshadow), is also known as ''surma'', and it is often prepared using the mineral ''antimonite''.
** Coyote can be identified merely by his eyes. They have a very, very distinctive pattern. His grin is also very distinctive and usually seen along with the eyes, but his eyes are enough to know it's him. He also takes great joy in using his eyes in weird ways... like juggling them.
** Jeanne's green eyes match the green eyes of most of the robots, [[spoiler:presumably due to Diego's obsession with her]].
** When [[spoiler:Jones]] was with Coyote, he repeatedly called them "wandering eye".
** Recent additions to the cast have also put emphasis on the arms and hands. People in this comic who say they would "give their arm" for something are speaking literally. [[spoiler:Anthony willingly amputates his own right arm -- destroying his career as a surgeon and throwing away any future plans as a doctor in the process -- in a vain attempt to contact his wife and retrieve the past. Later, Ysengrin calmly sacrifices his left arm to Annie's flames of rage in order to reconnect her with her anger and fire-powers.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': [[spoiler: Redcloak had a brother known as Righteye (no prizes for guessing why), whom he killed during the prequel book ''Start of Darkness''. Redcloak has now lost an eye himself, although the extent to which this will affect him is as yet unclear.]]
* Likewise, ''Webcomic/SupernormalStep'' uses an eye motif. [[LaResistance The Nameless]], an anti-[[StateSec Henderson Security]] group, is represented by a stylized eye. This eye appears all over the place, including on background characters (for example, Akela, a minor character, is almost guaranteed to get more development because she wears The Nameless's eye). Cecilia, the most important character so far, wears more detailed eye imagery on occasion. One can theorize that this represents how the resistance has eyes everywhere.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has eyes...

* George Macdonald, in ''[[Literature/ThePrincessAndTheGoblin The Princess and Curdie]]'', gave Curdie the ability to ability to tell what a living being was truly like by taking its hand, or other limb, in his own. The "hideous animal" Lina's paw feels to Curdie like "a child's hand"; his own mother's "horny, cracked, rheumatic old hand, with its big joints, and its short nails all worn down to the quick with hard work", feels like that of Irene's great-grandmother (implied to be an angel); the king's courtiers have hands that feel like the limbs of pigs or donkeys.

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', Hamlet's father was killed by ''[[YouFailBiologyForever having poison poured in his ear]]''. This allows [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] to sprinkle the play with such auditory references as: "So the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abus'd".

* Shizen no Teki-P (Jin)'s Kagerou Project centers around eyes.

* Finn from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has his left arm repeatedly focused on and brought to the audience's attention. This is all foreshadowing for when he eventually [[spoiler: loses his left arm in the season 4 finale]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', there is a lot of focus on the eyes, as unnerving and creepy as they are.

** Creator/TimothyZahn often uses a hand-as-title motif in his ''Star Wars'' novels. In Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy, Mara Jade was revealed to have been the Emperor's Hand, a sort of agent. In the Literature/HandOfThrawn duology, characters speculate that the Hand of Thrawn is an agent like Mara or a superweapon; it turns out to be a five-towered fortress with a massive repository of Thrawn's greatest weapon, knowledge. [[spoiler: And a very special clone.]] The Empire Thrawn set up out in the Unknown Regions is called the "Empire of the Hand". Most recently, in ''Literature/{{Allegiance}}'', the five do-gooder renegade stormtroopers accidentally name themselves the Hand of Judgement. The 501st Legion, Darth Vader's personal BadassArmy, is sometimes called "Vader's Fist", though to be fair the 501st is an AscendedMeme/Reverse {{Defictionalization}} and not Zahn's creation. At the end of ''Allegiance'', the Emperor's Hand saves the Hand of Judgement from Vader by claiming them as hers, saying "You have the entire Five-oh-first. You certainly won't begrudge me my Hand of Judgment." Then she hears the five out, concludes that while they ''are'' technically deserters they are also good Imperials, and lets them leave, telling them to lose the name. There's only one Hand in the Empire, and she's it.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has a focus on hands and arms, especially [[GraspTheSun outstretched towards the sky]]. Many State Alchemists have their circles imprinted on gloves or tattooed to their hands. Edward has his automail arm and Scar has his [[spoiler:brother]]'s right arm. Almost all alchemists normally perform alchemy by placing their hands on transmutation circles.

*** The overwhelming amount of back motifs with [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye]]. From Riza's Flame Alchemy tattoo, to the way Riza has been appointed by Roy to "watch his back", and if he ever stray from his path to shoot him in the back as well. [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7y4snqM161qbmv14o1_500.gif This motif occurs frequently through their interractions]].

* The Highness Dukes of ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' are all patterned after body parts: Shuten has lots of eyes, Ura is basically a walking nose, and Rasets is a mass of mouths. Their adaptational counterparts in ''PowerRangersWildForce'' are given the fitting {{Meaningful Name}}s of Retinax, Nazor, and Mandilok, respectively.

* In ''Film/RedEye'', the camera has an appropriate fixation with Rachel [=MacAdams'=] eyes, which are gradually turning all red and veiny as she stays up all night. The camera also likes Creator/CillianMurphy's eyes, which remain icy-blue.

*** Characters with AnimalMotifs tend to have isises which signify these traits. Naruto himself gains fox-like eyes and irises when his SuperpoweredEvilSide takes over, and Toad Sages like Jiraiya gain frog eyes and eye shadow (Naruto later combines both this and the fox eyes to create an all new look), and both Orochimaru and [[spoiler:Kabuto]] gain snake eyes as they gain power.

* There are a lot of characters missing eyes in ''Franchise/MetalGear''. The series is heavy on symbolism, so it's probably meant to mean something, but what that something ''is'' is left for fans to bicker over.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has eyes...