themayorofsimpleton
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
from the Island of Koridai
(Captain)
Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
#2: Sep 21st 2024 at 8:25:04 AM
There’s been discussion about this being chairs in the past.
A wick check is needed, but I’m doing 3 other ones first — maybe I’ll do one after.
Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Total posts: 2

Big Ol' Eyebrows is a trope referring to an "extremely old Japanese artistic convention is giving men bushy eyebrows", and explores the reasons why a character might be depicted with large eyebrows. In a written medium, where a character is consciously chosen to be described as having large eyebrows, and a drawn/animated medium, where a character is consciously chosen to be drawn with large eyebrows, then I think this is a trope, since large eyebrows will often be used to convey something about a character (are they tough, ruggedly handsome, ugly, manly, un-womanly, sexy, expressive, feminine, or are the large eyebrows just used to make the character easier to express).
In live-action mediums, however, I fear that Big Ol' Eyebrows have a danger of being People Sit on Chairs. Of course, there are situations where this trope is purposefully invoked in live-action: large eyebrows have the same connotations in live-action as animation and literature, so if an actor was chosen due to having large eyebrows and/or the character's large eyebrows are remarked on and/or the actor wears fake eyebrows to invoke this trope, then I think this counts as a trope. For example, Walt's boss at the car wash in Breaking Bad has large eyebrows, and these are mentioned in universe, so I think that counts as a trope (with the large eyebrows presumably being used to convey unpleasantness in this case). However, in the same series, Walt Jr. also has this trope listed. As far as I know, his eyebrows are never referred to or used to illustrate anything. He's just a character who happens to have large eyebrows. That doesn't seem to be a trope. It also has the issue that, for actors with larger eyebrows, any role they have (unless they shave) will come under this trope. For example, there's this entry:
- The Duchess: Keira Knightley as Georgiana Cavendish is a Rare Female Example. They're daunting, not to mention the cloudy 'fro that comes along.
I don't remember Cavendish's eyebrows being remarked upon in the film, nor do I recall Knightley trying to draw attention to her eyebrows (such as making them larger using makeup). Surely any role Keira Knightley has would therefore fall under this trope, which would also mean that Cavendish isn't really a Rare Female Example (since Knightley is a fairly prolific actor, and there are many other actresses with similar if not larger eyebrows).I think part of the issue is that it doesn't really come with a trope. Red hair in and of itself isn't a trope, Fiery Red Head is, as is Significant Green-Eyed Redhead. Blue eyes aren't at trope, but Icy Blue Eyes and Innocent Blue Eyes are tropes. A sharp nose isn't a trope, but Sinister Schnoz is. Big Ol' Eyebrows just describes someone's appearance, and while large eyebrows do have connotations, those connotations are the trope, not the eyebrows themselves. I don't mind it so much when this trope is used to describe animation, literature or examples in live-action where the large eyebrows are clearly meant to have certain connotations (such as Evil Eyebrows, even if that isn't remarked on in universe, that counts as a trope because it's usually meant to invoke something), but when being used just to describe any example of a character in live-action ahving large eyebrows, it feels a bit like 'chairs'.