wawamouse | 👨🏻‍🔬 Carmen "Chico" Guerra's Elevator Eyes, a Totally Scientific Analysis

Introduction

Oz, created by Tom Fontana and produced for HBO in 1997-2003, is a first of its kind TV program in many ways. While much focus over the years has rightly been given to the show's melodramatic "realism" in depicting prison life, its unapologetic handling of controversial subject matter, and its innovative approach to dramatic storytelling, little attention has been paid to the fucking insane way the character Carmen "Chico" Guerra acts every time he is in Miguel Alvarez's vicinity.

In this study, I examine part of this behavior, the observed tendency of Guerra to direct intense visual exploration at Alvarez's person, an act colloquially known as "elevator eyes". Using a scene from Oz season 5 episode 8 for the basis of this initial study, I clutch my head and ask, not for the first time, "hey, what the fuck? Is anybody else seeing this??"

Method

Using video editing software, I isolated the 4:14 second clip from Oz episode 5x08 in which character Guerra can be heard uttering the words "Oh, you're so fucking beautiful when you're angry". Using frame-by-frame scrubbing, each of the 110 frames contained therein were captured and visually analysed using the bare eye to discern the direction of Guerra's eye movement. Because Guerra's eye movements were fluid and roaming, only the extreme end of each direction of eyeline was counted. In total, 10 frames were selected from various points in the clip to represent the extreme ends of each moment Guerra's attention shifted in a different direction.

2 of the 10 images were further examined by the bare eye and were concluded to be transitional eye movements and thus discarded.

(Figure 1): 8 images depicting the changes in Carmen "Chico" Guerra's eye line.

Results

In total, 8 distinct eye directions were produced using the method described above (Figure 1). From these results, Guerra doing the Most™ has been confirmed. As if there was any doubt.

Discussion

What exactly is Guerra looking at? Alvarez's lips? His scar? His nose? His ear? Scrutinising each moment individually, I hypothesise that Guerra is observing Alvarez's general profile (1, 3, 7), his scar (2), the stiff collar of his suit (4), the expression in his eyes (5), and his lips (6, 8), however more study is needed in his area.

Research on Guerra's elevator eye tendencies can be broadened with analysis of other interactions, including scenes such as from episodes 2x04, 2x07, 2x08, 6x01, 6x02, 6x06, and 6x08.

Further study is also needed to understand why Guerra brings a horny energy to all of his antagonistic interactions with Miguel Alvarez compared to others. Suggested areas of study include episodes 2x07, 2x08, 3x04, 3x08, 5x02, and 5x03, with focus on vocal delivery (including pitch, timber, volume), word choice, and body language.

Conclusion

I love inventing new useless ways to spend my time. Also Guerra has a big boner for Alvarez.

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Originally posted to Tumblr