R Review From Scalp to Soles 97
sorrowful to nasty, partly because her facial structure supports that
range. Can Bernadette Peters ever look fierce? She can sound
vicious, but that little mouth of hers opens and I still see cute—
despite the fact that her talent is expansive.
Given that she is talented, let’s envision her as a heinous crimi-
nal. Combine that angelic mouth with an expressionless brow as
she tells you how she is going to kill you. The result is surreal and
disturbing because it doesn’t fit any of our preconceived notions.
Head and neck
Head tilts often correspond with the eye movement previ-
ously described. For example, the down-right look of someone in a
state of deep emotion may also involve the entire head plunging
down right, which is a posture you will see at funerals. Head tilts or
bobs may also serve to reinforce a statement or substitute for
it. The sharply cocked head indicating, “You don’t really mean that”
needs no words behind it. And a head moving similar to a bobble-
head doll, at least in the American culture, suggests uncertainty. In
watching disgraced Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis and his
wife on the Today show, I saw Amber Landis move her head back
and forth like that when Matt Lauer asked her if she believed her
husband’s claim of innocence. Her voice said, “Yes,” but her head
said, “I don’t know.” I had already determined that Landis’s body
language leaked deceit; his wife’s action reinforced my analysis.
Another type of head tilt is the raised chin, typically done delib-
erately to express indignation. Take notice how often this occurs