Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Difference between revisions

* A [[McDonald's]] commercial shows two men, wearing glasses and sitting at an intellectual coffee shop, somehow found out that [[McDonald's]] also serves coffee. They immediately rebel against the pseudo-intellectual front they had been putting up to get their coffee, and yes, one of them was pulling this trope. The other one [[Blind Without'Em|was not]].

 

* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'': Yuki Nagato's glasses seem to be simply an aesthetic feature, and she stops wearing them after Kyon tells her she's cuter without them.

** She uses them for "magical" purposes in some novels (such as The Disappearance) but they don't correct her vision. Except in the spinoff, where she's [[Blind Without'Em]].

* Sebastian in ''[[Black Butler]]'' puts on glasses whenever he is acting as a tutor, even to Ciel who knows perfectly well that Sebastian has no need for those. Apparently it's an image thing.

 

* In the [[Marvel Universe]], Jeanne-Marie Beaubier a.k.a. Aurora of the Canadian team [[Alpha Flight]] wore fake glasses when assuming the [[Split Personality|persona]] of a straight-laced schoolteacher.

* In the same universe, some versions of [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] claim that Peter Parker never needed glasses at all, but his Aunt May feared he would strain his eyes by reading without them. They were broken in an early strip, and after that he has never worn them again. The gag shows up again every couple of years, where after seeing something supernatural/incredible, Peter will muse that maybe he needs to go back to wearing glasses.

* ''[[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]]'' almost always wear glasses or shades whenever he's not wearing his regular mask and costume. The same goes for all predecessors down the line (as a [[Legacy Character]], The Phantom has a 400 year long history) and as none have had particularly bad vision, they've just used fake glasses.

 

* In [[Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness|DAYDverse]], Terry Boot had these when he was younger, to appear intelligent so the Sorting Hat would put him in Ravenclaw.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* In ''(Untitled)'' (yes, that's its name, parentheses and all), gallery owner Madeleine Gray has a whole collection of fake glasses she wears to look more sophisticated and hip, and she tries her hardest to prevent anyone from discovering that they're just for show.

* Joe wears glasses as part of the wealthy bachelor disguise he puts on to seduce Sugar in ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''.

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Harriet the Spy]]'' wears a pair of lens-less frames as part of her spy gear and sometimes to school because she thinks they make her look smarter.

* In one essay in [[Dilbert|Scott Adams']] book ''Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!'', he writes about how to appear smart. The first and most important tip he gives is to wear glasses, even if you don't need them.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In the ''[[Torchwood]]'' episode "Adam," when the title character has altered the Torchwood team's memories and personalities, Owen gets a fetching pair of specs with his nerdier, more awkward persona. As well as a cardigan and a slicked-back hairdo. Geek chic indeed.

* ''[[Scrubs]]'': In an early episode, Elliot is seen with a pair of glasses that disappears without explanation and never comes back. In the commentary, the writers noted that Sarah Chalke wore them because she thought it would make the character seem smarter.

* ''[[NCIS]]'': This trope is Michael Weatherly's personal [[Hand Wave]] for his glasses showing up a few times in the first season. Tony, his character, is supposed to have 20/10 vision.

* Inverted on ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', when [[Meganekko]] Penelope briefly wears contacts in an attempt to look more serious.

* Ami in ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]''. She claims she feels awkward without them.

* Hugh Laurie, when hosting ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', was supposed to put on glasses at one point during a sketch, to make his character look smarter. Since he fumbled the [[Glasses Pull]] and couldn't get them on quickly, he just [[Throw It In|ad-libbed]], [[Lampshade Hanging|"Never mind, they're just an affectation."]]

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Worn by a character who was cut from ''[[GURPS]] [[Discworld]]''. Wilma is a hamster who was turned into a human, and now travels with [http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=2167 a strange group of adventurers]. Because she's so much smarter than she was as a hamster, she's convinced she's a genius. And because she's a genius, she should wear thick glasses. The fact said glasses ''impair'' her vision doesn't matter to her in the slightest.

 

== Video Games ==

* Scholars in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' have two specially designed pieces of headgear that are mortarboards with built-in glasses. The lower-leveled one has Intelligence and augments their ability to regain MP. The higher leveled on has Mind (generally associated with wisdom in the game), elemental magic skill, and improves their spell-casting time. [[Fantastic Racism|But the amazing thing is that the mortarboards can even make Elvaans look smart!]]

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'' and ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' most glasses do nothing (the lucky shades increase your luck), unless (in New Vegas only) you take the "Four Eyes" trait, which raise your perception with glasses and lower it without. Non-unique glasses are weightless, so if you think your character would look better with them, you can wear them without needlessly weighting yourself down.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Sarin the Wizard of ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' wore a monocle in the first chapter (and ditches it right around the same time he gets permanently turned into a woman). It's later revealed in a flashback this was entirely an affectation; a kid said Sarin (a young, green-haired man wearing a grey hoodie) didn't look anything like a wizard. Sarin's response was to magically grow a (green) mustache, throw on a robe, and pop in a monocle, with the words, "Impaired vision equals smart!"

* Jyrras Gianna of ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'' doesn't need glasses, and originally started wearing them on the suggestion of Dan, who told him that smart people usually wore glasses. They still serve a purpose, however, in somehow decreasing his cuteness, thus preventing people from slipping into [[Tastes Like Diabetes|diabetic shock]] whenever he makes [[Puppy Dog Eyes]]...

 

== Web Original ==

* [[James Rolfe]] doesn't need to wear glasses, as can be seen in some of his videos, but wears them in his persona as [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] to add to the image of a stereotypical geek.

* Halfway through [[Todd in the Shadows]]' review of "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130924135508/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/tis/tpsr/33324-ep-30-sexy-and-i-know-it I'm Sexy And I Know It]," he puts on a pair of glasses as the words "DEEP LYRICAL ANALYSIS" flash across the screen. He spends a good portion of the review gesturing them in his hands, though, possibly due to the [[Fridge Logic]] that his character [[The Faceless|is supposed to be wearing a mask]].

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Glasses Tropes]]

[[Category:Personal Appearance Tropes]]