By Renee
Faces. They are everywhere. Most are on people of course, but have you seen faces in objects too? Pareidolia is the tendency to see patterns or human-like features in random inanimate things. A famous example is in Chinese folklore, about the “moon rabbit”. (Although, personally, I don’t really see that one!) This all comes down to human evolution! It is said that due to the overwhelming amount of information our brains receive at a given moment, it tries to spot patterns and familiar objects to better understand the situation.
Do a quick search online and look at some more quirky examples. I really like the one of a capsicum showing its ‘teeth’ and looking angry! There have also been cases of people seeing religious figures, like a Virgin Mary on a piece of toast! This slice of bread was sold for $28 000 on eBay in 2004. Aside from food, trees are another common place to see faces. Though sadly it seems most of them are kind of creepy. Seeing pictures in the clouds is a popular pasttime for some people. . Though most ‘faces’ only bear scant resemblance to their original namesake, there are some that are eerily similar to certain creatures.
Now, I would like to address a problem, car faces. To me, all cars have faces, the majority of which are aggressive-looking. Why do car designers birth such menacing creatures into this world? Well, maybe they don’t see it. Can you? Look at the nearest car and study it. Its headlights are eyes, the grille is a nose and the bumper area is its mouth. This varies from car to car. Ferraris, for example, seem to have no nose or else a really tiny one. Now that you can see car faces, do a survey in the parking lot and see how many seem like they hate you.
Also, try and see what other faces or images you can see in objects, whether they are cute, weird or scary! Pareidolia may not be a crucial subject, but it can bring you some joy in life, whether you are posting it online or perhaps just chuckling to yourself.
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