I remember a trip I took back in my teenage years with my grandparents. We were visiting various sites of historical significance in the deep south. There was one particular tour we took where we were the only tourists in the group. Small groups are great because it allows a much greater interaction with the tour guide, and if the guide is really entertaining and knowledgeable, I find I pick up quite a bit more information. Anyway, on this particular tour, the guide tells my I have a twin living in the nearby town. Same height, same appearance, et al. At the time I filed it away as an oddity. Interesting, but ultimately of no use to me.
A few years later, I was traveling around Europe for an extended visit. Meeting people and seeing the sights. It was a good time for me as I was on my own and my safety net was several thousand miles away. Help if needed was remote, and probably wouldn’t be there in time if I needed it.
One of the observations I had while traveling around was the similar appearance of people. I could swear I’d met the same people country to country in all the big metropolitan cities. No, I’m not talking about the hostel crowd, but the actual citizens of the different cities. Their native tongues may have been different, but aesthetically and visually there were people who were cut of the same genetic cloth. Again I filed it away as an interesting observation and nothing more.
A few weeks ago on facebook, someone started a thread where everyone was supposed to changed their profile picture to a celebrity that they’ve been told they look like. Unsurprisingly, there were several instances where my friends actually did look like the celebrity pictures they put up. Also, unsurprisingly, the women were much more keen on making the switch with their profile pictures.
This past Sunday, the Devil’s Advocate put up these pictures of Hillary Duff’s balcony marriage proposal and subsequent administration of a blow job to her fiance. Funny, but also not surprising. But it did get me thinking about doppelgangers. To me Hillary Duff is only moderately attractive in a sort of generic, I’ve seen her face a thousand times kind of way. There’s nothing exceptional about her looks. Similarly, Megan Fox is attractive, but I can go downtown in the big city and see literally 2 or 3 women who are indistinguishable from her. Part of that is obviously the way celebrity fashion, hairstyles, and ‘beauty’ shapes women’s perceptions of beauty. The human animal is very good at mimicry and women being social creatures are easily influenced. Why else would there be the ubiquitious Myley Cyrus look-a-likes in the University District?
Several years ago I saw a documentary on the human face. The researchers had identified the finite number of different shapes for faces, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, etc. I don’t remember the exact number of each feature, but most were less than you could count on two hands, with the highest being maybe a dozen different shapes for noses. I do wish I could find more information on that research now, but I think if you worked out the total number of different combinations, there was a statistical probability that everyone has at least one or more doppelgangers in the world.
