738 JOURNAL OF LAW AND POLICY
experiences, and in the media’s portrayal of intelligent people.^63
Stereotypes about people who wear eyeglasses abound in popular
culture—in Hollywood film characters,^64 highly rated television
series,^65 best-selling novels,^66 classic comic books,^67 and,
(^63) Jellesma, supra note 20, at 2–5.
(^64) In 1918, Harold Lloyd’s “Glasses Character” became the “persona for
which he would ultimately be celebrated.” Maurizio Giammarco, Harold
Lloyd: Horatio Alger in Straw Hat and Horn-Rims, in PLAYBILLS TO
PHOTOPLAYS: STAGE PERFORMERS WHO PIONEERED THE TALKIES 1, 143–47
(Brenda Loew ed., 2010). Lloyd’s eyeglasses marked him as “more gentle,
kind, and clever in nature.” Id.; see also Annette M. D’Agostino, Harold
Lloyd: The Glasses, SILENTS ARE GOLDEN (1998), http://www.silentsare
golden.com/hlloydglassesarticle.html (quoting Harold Lloyd) (“There is more
magic in a pair of horn-rimmed glasses than the opticians dream of, nor did I
guess the half of it when I put them on in 1917.”). Later, the screwball
comedy Bringing Up Baby portrayed David Huxley as a bespectacled
paleontologist marked by horn-rimmed eyeglasses that were intended to
function as the visual marker of his “nerd” persona. See Eddie Deezen, Why
Do Nerds So Often Wear Glasses?, NEATORAMA (Jan. 11, 2012, 5:03 AM),
http://www.neatorama.com/2012/01/11/why-do-nerds-so-often-wear-glasses/.
(^65) Steve Urkel, a character on the popular television show Family
Matters, was known for his nerd persona marked by thick-rimmed eyeglasses
and suspenders. See Hannah Jones, “Urkel” Is Now a Verb—and a High-
School Fashion Don’t, TIME (Dec. 9, 2010), http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/
12/09/urkel-is-now-a-verb-and-a-high-school-fashion-dont/#ixzz2KS3ABLYn.
For a suggestion of the influence of Urkel’s eyeglasses on both American
culture and the American legal system, see Bruce Carton, “Change of
Appearance” Instruction Upheld in Case of Defendant Wearing Eyeglasses to
Court, LEGAL BLOG WATCH (Oct. 25, 2012, 4:15 PM), http://legalblog
watch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2012/10/change-of-appearance-
instruction-upheld-in-case-of-defendant-wearing-hipster-glasses.html (“So in
D.C. courts, at least, defendants wear their Urkel glasses at their own
peril.”).
(^66) In the popular Superman comic book, Clark Kent used eyeglasses to
disguise himself as an astute reporter. See LES DANIELS, SUPERMAN: THE
COMPLETE HISTORY (2004); see also Superman Sales Figures, COMICHRON
(Oct. 25, 2009), http://www.comichron.com/titlespotlights/superman.html
(documenting that, from 1960 to 1986, Superman sold an estimated 110–15
million copies).
(^67) The Harry Potter novels became a wildly successful global
phenomenon that influenced millions of people. See SUSAN GUNELIUS,
HARRY POTTER: THE STORY OF A GLOBAL BUSINESS PHENOMENON (2008);
Guy Dammann, Harry Potter Breaks 400m in Sales, GUARDIAN (June 18,