They can be a sign of rebellious individuality, or religious conformity. Santa has one, so did Jesus, not to mention Osama bin Laden, Darwin , Hemmingway, and a slew of other prominent figures in world history. They are the domain of outlaw bikers, deep thinking philosophy professors, acid trippin' hippies, and downright lazy asses.
Everyone has their own reason for growing a beard, and Melanie Levy wants to know them all. She's off to a good start with her short film "The Secret Life Of Beards", an examination of the unique characters who sport facial hair with lion-mane pride.
"I just always had a real fascination with guys who had beards," admits Levy, who explained how one other-worldly looking beard sparked the idea for a film on the topic.
"Shortly before I made this film, I was in San Francisco and I was involved with this organization that has poetry readings for people in the homeless community, and there was a man there named George, who had the most incredible bushy white beard, and he was sitting there reading poetry and he almost reminded me of a wizard. I just found myself immediately drawn to him and it got me thinking about all our associations having to do with beards, like fairy tales and religion and folklore and all of these places where we think of these caricatures of people and they always have these huge beards, so that's what inspired the idea."
The film may be about facial hair, but it touches on more complex issues of cultural perceptions and how we ascribe meaning and symbolic significance to things.
"You take someone who in one environment is completely conforming with his beard, and put him in another and he completely stands out for having his beard," Levy explains.
"And it also becomes a sign of your identity and how strongly you adhere to your identity."
"Whether you're a rebel or it's for a sort of traditional mode, I do think the beard sort of helps you to inhabit a certain persona."
michaelt@citytv.com
The CFC WorldWide Short Film Festival runs from June 16-21. To purchase tickets or learn more about the fest, click here.