ABSTRACT
The “Introduction” to this volume begins by emphasizing the cultural importance of the face in human interactions and identity formation, which is why facial disfigurement often impacts a person more than other disabilities. Additionally, as this chapter lays out, since ancient times facial disfigurement has frequently been linked to, at times even equated with, criminal behavior and/or evil, associations that also have an extended literary tradition. This is illustrated with examples from Greek mythology, Old English epic poetry, European Gothic novels and, for this volume most importantly, American literature written by, among others, highly canonized authors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Herman Melville. Similarly, film has long depicted facially disfigured characters as monsters and villains. As the chapter illuminates, since film (and also television) work with visual representations rather than written descriptions of facial abnormalities, they can and are often used for quick and easy characterizations that tell an audience in an instance that somebody onscreen is evil. Many examples, from horror films of the 1970s to comic book adaptations and primetime drama series of the 21st century, show how prominently facial disfigurement with its vast dimension of negative associations features in filmic and television narratives.
