Seeing beyond Hollywood’s take on glasses

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Glasses have been a huge way of portraying the nerds in Hollywood, before the glow up and the disguise in movies. Is it a clever way of showing the difference in appearance or is it just killing the self-esteem of those who wear glasses?

Representation of glasses are majority shown as the character before the superhero suit or the glow up. Classic movies and characters such as Princess Diaries and Clark Kent a.k.a Superman are examples of this, where the “before” shot always involves the character with glasses, while the “after” shot of the character in their peak removes their glasses.

“I’ve noticed that the character with glasses is usually the nerdy character,” sophomore Rebecca Wolfarth said.

Movies take a beautiful actor or actress and put glasses on them for either a disguise or to point out the nerdy, or the unattractive character. Once the glasses come off, they’re suddenly the most beautiful or heroic thing on planet earth. 

“Depending on the show, sometimes it’s neutral, sometimes it’s sexualized, and then sometimes it’s considered like the nerd or ugly or the undesirable character,” sophomore Mia Posey said. “I don’t like the way it’s portrayed as undesirable, and I don’t like the fact that it’s sexualized either.”

Glasses can be an insecurity or something that people don’t feel comfortable wearing. Many with glasses feel that this can be hurtful, as they are Hollywood’s stereotypical “before” person.

“It hurts me a little bit,” Wolfarth said. “I definitely think it is part of the reason why I waited so long to finally get my glasses.”

Overall movies should represent glasses a better way, not just going with stereotypes. Wearing glasses shouldn’t be seen as ugly, especially to a diverse audience.

“It is a problem because we are showing kids that they can’t be their true self,” sophomore Laura Diaz-Oviedo said. “They should start having more people with visual needs, like glasses.”