New Frankenstein, Old Biases

Key points

People with facial anomalies like scars and burns are perceived to have more negative traits.

These biases may be learned and reinforced through culture, including popular films.

Filmmakers mar villains with facial anomalies more often than heroes, and in more dramatic ways.

Co-authored by Bella Bobrow. Contains spoilers for "Frankenstein" (2025).

What features of Frankenstein’s creature make him fearsome to villagers who stumble upon him in the forest? Is it his imposing height, his torn jacket, or his face, pallid and crisscrossed with deep scars? The new film’s director, Guillermo Del Toro, says that “the most interesting landscape in the world is the human face,” and this is a face from which we have much to learn. 1

The Facial Anomaly-is-Bad Stereotype

In empirical