Minor spoilers for Ace Attorney: Justice for All below.
In case 3 of AA:JfA, one of the issues revolving around the case is the struggle between two men fighting for the love of the ringmaster's daughter, Regina Berry. One was a witness to the crime and the other is the accused murderer. They both offered to marry the young girl. These two men are portrayed VERY differently by the artists at Capcom, and in my opinion, are a great example of how people use facial features to display personality traits.
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The witness is Benjamin Woodman, who is described on he aceattourneyfandom page as such:
So, lets see how the artists at Capcom decided to portray this character:
Look at him: Recessed chin, NCT, bug/round eyes, receding hairline (the character is 31), big ears, long horse face... a genuine mess, and a truecel. He's portrayed as an ugly man, correlating with his undesirable personality.
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Let's look at the other guy in love with the ringmaster's daughter, the accused that Phoenix Wright has to defend: Maximilian Galactica. Lets again start with some wiki description:
So basically, Max is successful and well-received. He saved the circus from financial ruins. His face is all over the Big Berry Circus advertisements. The ringmaster's daughter is in love with him.
Now how do the Capcom artists portray Max:
Although a bit feminine/femboy looking (probably attributed to it being a Japanese game), he is still conventionally attractive: light, hunter eyes, chiseled jaw with protruded, forward grown chin, full (pink?) hair... a genuine prettyboy slayer. Max's sharp looks are correlated with his success and fame. He's even pictured with foids.
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TL;DR:
It's clear that the artists of this game understand how personality and looks go hand-in-hand, and that men though of as weak or worthless are portrayed with poor facial features, and that men thought of as strong, powerful, and charismatic men are portrayed with strong masculine facial features.
Positive, successful characters will always be good looking, and negative, failure characters will always be ugly, Lookism is a default state.
In case 3 of AA:JfA, one of the issues revolving around the case is the struggle between two men fighting for the love of the ringmaster's daughter, Regina Berry. One was a witness to the crime and the other is the accused murderer. They both offered to marry the young girl. These two men are portrayed VERY differently by the artists at Capcom, and in my opinion, are a great example of how people use facial features to display personality traits.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------The witness is Benjamin Woodman, who is described on he aceattourneyfandom page as such:
In game, he stutters, can't look into the camera, and won't help with the case. He makes the circus almost no money, and cannot testify in court with out his puppet to speak for him. Regina Berry has little interest in him, and she doesn't even recognize Ben, only his puppet.
So, lets see how the artists at Capcom decided to portray this character:
Look at him: Recessed chin, NCT, bug/round eyes, receding hairline (the character is 31), big ears, long horse face... a genuine mess, and a truecel. He's portrayed as an ugly man, correlating with his undesirable personality.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Let's look at the other guy in love with the ringmaster's daughter, the accused that Phoenix Wright has to defend: Maximilian Galactica. Lets again start with some wiki description:
So basically, Max is successful and well-received. He saved the circus from financial ruins. His face is all over the Big Berry Circus advertisements. The ringmaster's daughter is in love with him.
Now how do the Capcom artists portray Max:
Although a bit feminine/femboy looking (probably attributed to it being a Japanese game), he is still conventionally attractive: light, hunter eyes, chiseled jaw with protruded, forward grown chin, full (pink?) hair... a genuine prettyboy slayer. Max's sharp looks are correlated with his success and fame. He's even pictured with foids.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------TL;DR:
It's clear that the artists of this game understand how personality and looks go hand-in-hand, and that men though of as weak or worthless are portrayed with poor facial features, and that men thought of as strong, powerful, and charismatic men are portrayed with strong masculine facial features.
Positive, successful characters will always be good looking, and negative, failure characters will always be ugly, Lookism is a default state.
