Decline of the Modern Face

what the fuck do you have to smile about in these times?

Have you noticed that most people when they’re photographed today wish to look as nice as possible, as reflexive as possible, as open-hearted as possible? They’re pleading to be liked. Whereas he dug up all of these photographs of missionaries from the late 19th century and Shakers from New England—remember that cult called the Shakers?—they used to have these ecstatic dances, they all died out because they were frightened of sexual intercourse—which of course will occur, because if you’re frightened of the one you will certainly meet the other. But the face of these Shakers was furious. Even just to pose nicely for the camera they would look like this [Bowden Face]. They would look with a demonic intensity and ferocity and sense of themselves and sense of courageous purpose and that sort of thing.

Today you’re regarded as mentally ill if you look like that for your own portrait, aren’t you? And yet what they were doing is they were putting on a face. They were putting on the way in which they wish to be perceived by the world. It was like sitting for portrait, sitting for an oil portrait. You didn’t show your weakest or your most reflexive or your most kind-hearted side; that, if it existed, was for private use. This was a public face. And in the decline of the West’s public face you can see writ large the decline in the spirit of ourselves which has occurred over the past last century, and which has accelerated over the last century.

Jonathan Bowden from his speech “Western Civilization Bites Back”