sweasel.com

Of course Coca-Cola Santa is toothless, have you seen what 120 years of drinking Coca-Cola does to your teeth?

I do not like this toothy Santa. In addition to that weird smile, he’s about double the width/depth of most jolly old St. Nicks. Alan Hale,Jr’s head on Orson Welles’ body.

Yes, definitely disconcerting.

It’s interesting that when apes bare their teeth, it is always a display of aggression, but when humans bare their teeth, you need context to know whether it is aggression, discomfort, insincerity, pleasure, or mirth.

And even with context, we don’t always get it right.

Something I’ve noticed as I’ve got older is that photographs used in advertising and the press often show people with their mouths open, fangs on full display.

This doesn’t seem to have been anything like as common in the past. It runs alongside the gleaming white gnashers favoured by TV, film, pop stars and other cultural icons.

Personally, I find the sight of so much shiny enamel rather uncouth but I suppose that’s just due to my age,

I suspect American cosmetic dentistry is the cause of this. In the past even movie stars kept their traps shut.

What will they say in the future about “SoyBoyFace”?

Santa Claus in his 40’s?

https://browse.startpage.com/do/show_picture.pl?l=english&rais=1&oiu=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2018%2F11%2F01%2Farts%2F01welles-stream-ARKADIN%2F01welles-stream-ARKADIN-articleLarge.jpg%3Fquality%3D75%26amp%3Bauto%3Dwebp%26amp%3Bdisable%3Dupscale&sp=49f91cd2767171c47e5c4bfc47d1582b&rl=NONE&t=default

I’m with Uncle B on the overly white teeth and what’s with all the open mouth smiling? I guess we’re dinosaurs…but it’s unseemly, fake and often down right scary.

@Uncle Badger – As the hoi polloi becomes more slack-jawed, they identify more easily with slack-jawed models and actors.

Or maybe it’s the other way around, and there’s a vast conspiracy to make the hoi polloi more slack-jawed. The present state of public “education” tends to support that view.