SPECULATION Eyes and Eye (Cyclops?), Sight, Vision, Identity: Why are these themes so prominently marketed?

TFA Costume Designer Michael Kaplan just confirmed my speculation in this Nov. 23rd ELLE article! Those are indeed Storm Trooper "eyes."

"Any other examples?

If you look at the goggles that she wears closely, you can see that the lenses are actually old Storm Trooper eyes; maybe she found them in one of the old starships that she's been scavenging from. Then she's made them into goggles so she doesn't get dust in eyes. Coming up with that just adds ingenuity to her character...plus it's a bit of an inside joke. If somebody notices them―and I'm sure they will―they'll know what they are and what it means and where she got them. I love doing things like this that enriches the character and make you realize how clever they are, but in a very quiet way. People might not notice it at all and that's fine too. They just see her wearing goggles."​

 

Whoah whoah whoah ... wait a minute. A Christopher Shy? This isn't an official art piece, is it? Who is he? I've never seen this before. I love this style. The eyes on the horizon imagery is awesome. Hearkens back to Yoda's line in TESB. I've never seen that realized before in any way. But for a droid? Thank you for sharing this piece.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 25, 2015, Original Post Date: Nov 25, 2015 ---

Eye see. And eyes see, too.

 

That is seriously pretty cool. Coincidental. Sure. But here's what I think you're illuminating, Moral Hazard: How much is really coincidental? The art designers were tasked with creating a new storm trooper helmet design. They likely had human and CG models at their disposal and they played for hours with lighting and dimensions. They were going for a dramatic upgrade that is recognizably related to its predecessor in a way that is somehow not a loss but a gain. In the photo you posted here you illustrate that a face with a primary light source from above keeps the eye in shadow. In fact, light from that angle highlights how much the forehead literally overhangs and overshadows the eye socket, providing additional facial recognition information for the audience, and obviously has a dramatic effect. So, translate some of these same human features, including the shadows, onto the helmet itself and you get a more "humanized" helmet. A helmet that actually evokes a subtle emotional reaction, which is what the original storm trooper helmets did and what these new helmets also do. It makes perfect sense for a film to amplify the dramatic effect where possible in discrete ways. It's not just the connected eye lenses. That has metaphorical significance, as I've pointed out with the Cyclops thing and I believe was a design priority. But these other subtle, human elements, such as accentuated eyes, jaws, foreheads, mouths, etc. are touches that serve exactly the same role as designing a monster or alien in that humans react to seeing it because we recognize features. Accentuating any of these features can elicit a wide variety of reactions from an audience. These design touches can serve to humanize, dehumanize, even demonize the character locked inside the machine, a machine that projects identifiable characteristics, whether foreboding or inviting. The storm troopers are seemingly locked into this gaze of dread, trapped in a suit with human-like expressions. Vader is an example of angular, gaunt, machine-like facial features. Phasma, with an accentuated jaw-line differentiates that helmet from those of main line storm troopers. And of course the Knights of Ren. Once those masks are revealed in more detail, they will likely have interesting human-like features. But my point is exemplified by the furrowed brows of Kylo Ren:




A Knight of Ren: