Prosopagnosia on screen
As I mentioned in my last post, prosopagnosia is becoming a trope in South Korean shows — a handy tool for creating interesting plot complications. Either that, or South Korea is experiencing an epidemic of acquired prosopagnosia among it’s sexy emotionally unavailable CEOs. Meanwhile, in America, people with prosopagnosia are witnessing a lot of murders, or doing the murdering themselves.
I am on a mission to watch as many depictions of faceblindness on screen as I can find. Here’s my list so far — let me know what I’ve missed.
"Beauty Inside" (뷰티 인사이드) 2018 series
A faceblind CEO falls for beautiful movie star who turns into someone else once a month, and he’s the only person who can recognize her even when she’s in a completely different body. (Interestingly, he has acquired prosopagnosia, not developmental.) Not to be confused with the 2015 film of the same name, about a dude who wakes up in a different body every day who falls for a regular gal, not someone with prosopagnosia.
"The Secret Life of My Secretary" (초면에 사랑합니다) 2019 series
This TV show centers on another sexy emotionally unavailable CEO with acquired prosopagnosia. What are the chances? The plot point here is that the only person he can recognize, for unexplained reasons, is his secretary, who becomes his love interest as a result.
"Rich Man, Poor Woman" (리치맨) 2018 series
Another sexy taciturn faceblind CEO! This time, he falls for an employee with a photographic memory. I guess having wooden leading men gives the leading ladies a job — soften him up, pierce the impassive exterior. This dynamic does not work for me, but clearly it does for other people. (See: Mr. Big of Sex in the City.) Since prosopagnosia often co-occurs with autism, all these socially awkward faceblind CEOs aren’t entirely unlikely. Interestingly, this is an adaptation of a Japanese series of the same name, but the Japanese version’s CEO is just emotionally cold, he doesn’t have prosopagnosia.
"The Girl Who Sees Smells" ("냄새를 보는 소녀") 2015 series
Somehow this is another romcom — but our protagonist has synesthesia, not prosopagnosia. The guy with proso in this show is a villain known as The Barcode Murderer because he cuts barcodes into his victims wrists. (I guess this is commentary on how people all look alike to him and he needs barcodes to tell folks apart?) Unlike our other faceblind protagonists, this guy is a charmer. I think this is actually quite plausible — while some prosos become socially isolated and anxious, others of us go the opposite direction and become very friendly and open. You can either treat everyone like a stranger or like your best friend. In addition to giving him rare social skills, the villains faceblindness is sometimes helpful, because it allows him to feign innocence. When confronted by his victims, he can honestly say he has never met them before. (Should I be concerned that this is the proso character that is most like me, personality wise?)
In America, we have only one feature-length movie (so far) that hinges on prosopagnosia. I was also able to find a few TV episodes with prosopagnosia plots. While Korean screenwriters see faceblindness as a fantastic romcom McGuffin, American screenwriters are more likely to see more sinister possibilities.
“Faces in a Crowd” 2011 movie
Poor Milla Jovovich witnesses a crime and then gets bumped on the head. She wakes up unable to tell anyone apart — her point of view is depicted as everyone having the same face, fair enough, better than blurry or missing faces. (The best option, in my opinion, would be similar faces that slowly morph into one another.) This is a problem as she is stalked by a serial killer who could be literally anyone she meets.
“Hannibal” 2013 American TV series. Episode “Buffet Froid”
A faceblind gal murders her friend because she mistakes her for an “untrustworthy stranger.” Seems like an overreaction.
“Cracked” 2013 Canadian TV series. Episode “Faces”
A war criminal pretends to be faceblind to avoid being deported back to the Congo. As you do.
“Perception” 2013 TV series. Episode “Faces”
Faceblind dude (maybe) kills his mail-order bride.
