Aspies For Freedom

One thing that always baffled me about the "eyes/faces" tests that involve celebrities is that these tests are highly dependent on how you *know* those celebrities in the first place, right?

In my case, the only way I even know of these celebrities (as in being able to put a name -because I read it spelled out - to the concept of them as a person, e.g. picture, description etc) is from quick glimpses of shots of mostly their profiles, in TV magazines and newspapers etc.

When I see those people in films, I don't recognise them unless I recognise their name (written on the poster), or their voice.

But because I only ever learned about these people from reading (accidentally more or less, I read loads and although I loathe scene and celebrity magazines if there is nothing else to read I just read them anyway, it's mechanical and automatic) their names matched up with close-ups of their faces, that is the *only* way I can recognise them in the first place!

If you showed me the person in a film I wouldn't recognise them because when they play a different character their overall presentation (if they are a good actor) makes them a different person to me. But their face, if I have come across it (on its own so to say, just the head/face on a close-up in a paper or magazine), is a concept I will remember.

'Real' people on the other hand I only know as a whole person, so their faces and eyes just don't mean anything.... basically with 'famous' people if I know them at all I only know them *as* those faces in the first place... so it really doesn't compare to recognising real people...

Does this make sense?

Yeah, it does.

For example, I know Orlando Bloom the best as Legolas, which is the first way I've ever seen him. I only recognised him as Will Turner by his voice because he had a different hair colour.

That was also how I recognised Professor Snape's actor in Galaxy Quest.

I didn't notice that Elrond Udomniel and Agent Smith were the same actor until my mom pointed it out. Then again, I am most used to that actor as Elrond because I saw Lord of the Rings first and he didn't appear as often as other characters anyway.

I also didn't recognise Jack Sparrow and Victor (Corpse Bride) to both be played by Johnny Depp either. I think it was because Jack put on a pirate's accent while Victor had a little more normal British accent. Willy Wonka was easy mainly because of his  personality being not too different from Jack's. I don't remember if I recognised him by voice or not, however.

I also keep thinking that Argus Filch from Harry Potter was played by the same actor as Elrond. He's not, but for some reason, he strikes me that way.

The actor of Count Dooku was very easy. Willy Wonka's father and Count Dooku both looked the same, Saruman was in there, and they all had the same voice. I remember him best as Count Dooku and Saruman, however.

I never recognize actors. Never. I'm almost completely face-blind... I don't even recognize people like George Bush and Elvis, if I don't have the context--hair and clothing--to rely on.

However, for an Aspie I'm surprisingly good at recognizing emotion by people's eyes--I'm only on the low end of normal.

I did quite badly on that test but would have found it easier had the pictures not been so blurry.