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Block_Me_Amadeus t1_j6i4zno wrote

Reply to comment by Mohingan in Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Al St. John, 1918. Once his deadpan persona became established, Keaton avoided smiling in front of a camera. by L0st_in_the_Stars

(Copying my comment from another thread)

Guyliner. It's dark/black eye makeup around light eyes in sunlight, which is creating a weird effect. In silent films of this era, it was VERY common to still employ "heavy stage makeup" techniques because the camera/film quality was so low that features and facial expressions were in serious danger of getting lost.

Check out Rudy Valentino's heavy guyliner (for example, "The Shiek," 1921) as an example.

Groucho Marx wore literal greasepaint as a mustache-- granted, it was partly for comic effect, but it's an example of heavy stage makeup making its way into the movies.

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halfghan24 t1_j6iw9ez wrote

Guyliner, also known as eyeliner

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Block_Me_Amadeus t1_j6k53nw wrote

Generally speaking, I try not to ascribe genders to gender-neutral things (being transmasculine). But "guyliner" is just such a fun little expression to put on cis dudes.

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