Charting The Rise Of The Bouba Heartthrob In Hollywood
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With the return of The Bear season two comes the official passing of the Internet Boyfriend torch to one of Hollywood’s newest heartthrobs, Jeremy Allen White. Other recent holders of this coveted title include: Pedro Pascal, Keanu Reeves, Paul Mescal, and Noah Centineo.
In recent years, there’s been a surge in leading men with rounder, softer features, taking on some of the roles previously reserved solely for the hard-chiseled jaws and razor-sharp cheekbones belonging to the likes of Brad Pitt, Chris Hemsworth, Timothée Chalamet, and Ryan Gosling. Don’t get me wrong, the latter actors—notably Timothée and Ryan—are still helming blockbusters, but perhaps there’s a case to be made for 2023 being the Year of the Bouba Heartthrob.
The what heartthrob? The term “bouba” comes from the Bouba-Kiki effect, which originated when linguists started studying the connection between words and how they sound to their visual association. In 1929, German psychologist Wolgang Köhler presented two images to study participants.
One was squiggly and round, and the other looked spiky and sharp. Then, he asked the participants to assign the labels “Maluma” and “Takete” to each shape. Later, the terms became “Bouba” and “Kiki” as the experiment was done in other languages.
People associated the spikier image with Kiki and the squiggly image with Bouba. Linguists had previously assumed that the shape of words were unrelated to their meaning, but the Bouba-Kiki effect challenged that, says Simon Kirby, head of linguistics and English language at the University of Edinburgh.
Prior to these findings, linguists thought you could look at an apple, for example, and understand that it was an apple only because you were taught to call it that, not because there's anything apple-like about it. However, the Bouba-Kiki effect made those linguists reconsider that prevailing theory.
Meet the Experts:
Simon Kirby is the head of linguistics and English language at the University of Edinburgh.
Dawn Maslar-Biggie, MS, is a biologist who specializes in love and relationship development. She is also the author of Men Chase, Women Chose: The Neuroscience of Meeting, Dating, Losing Your Mind and Find True Love, and the founder of The Science of Love Foundation.
Helen Fisher, PhD, is a biological anthropologist, a senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute, and chief science advisor to Match.com.
Fast forward to March 2023 when a TikTok explaining the Bouba-Kiki effect went viral, catapulting this concept into the mainstream. Instead of using the different terms to describe shapes, however, the TikTok user was categorizing people—specifically, men in Hollywood.
The user argued that some men are Bouba, while others are Kiki. Actors like Tom Holland, Zac Efron, and Austin Butler with sharper features—chiseled jawline, strong cheekbones, or piercing eyes—appear more Kiki. Meanwhile, other actors like Michael B. Jordan, John Krasinski, and Adam Driver had certain features—soft eyes, a rounded jawline, or fuller cheeks—making them more Bouba-like.
The Bouba-Kiki effect indicates that several characteristics of visuals can be related to word forms, says Kirby. “Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that some face shapes might be more Bouba, and some face shapes might be more Kiki,” he adds.
From James Dean to Robert Pattinson, men with Kiki facial features have historically been the default objects of attraction, but now, it seems like Hollywood—and society in general—may be entering its Bouba Era. And as someone who tends to lean towards Boubas over Kikis, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore what's fueling the recent rise of the Bouba Heartthrob.
The science of attraction plays a key role in Bouba vs. Kiki preference.
Generally speaking, sexual and/or romantic attraction doesn't apply to the original concept of Bouba and Kiki. However, it does seem to play a role in the way the concept is applied to labeling people's appearances.
To be clear, Bouba does not imply less attractive (just look at Oscar Isaac!), it simply means a person has softer or rounder features. In fact, many commented on the viral TikTok video expressing a distinct desire for Boubas. “I get it!! Im attracted to Bouba too,” one person said. “Team Bouba for sure,” wrote another. “No because this makes perfect sense and my type is Bouba,” still another person said.
Who you're attracted to comes down to many factors, with similarity and contrast being up there as some of the top components. Similarities can take the form of having the same ethnicity, religion, intelligence, social values, and economic goals. Sometimes, it can also mean finding unhealthy traits attractive like addiction or family dysfunction unconsciously attractive because they’re familiar.
When it comes to contrast, it’s more about what compliments your personality type. “People who score very high on the traits linked with testosterone are very drawn to their opposite people who have traits linked with estrogen,” says Helen Fisher, PhD, biological anthropologist, senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute, and chief science advisor to Match.com.
High testosterone is what’s responsible for Kiki-like features such as a strong jaw, heavy brow ridges, and higher cheekbones, she explains. Testosterone is also linked to being analytical, logical, direct, and decisive. When you first see a Kiki man—either on screen or IRL—they "are often more mysterious, a little more scary, and that can be quite attractive,” says Dawn Maslar-Biggie, a science writer and love biologist. “We like the kind of bad boy image."
Boubas have higher estrogen levels than Kikis, which means that on top of having softer features, they also are long-term thinkers, more holistic, and have strong linguistic skills. “They're more nurturing, trusting, and actually very good at intuition,” says Fisher. Individuals with softer features are also more likely to be perceived as able to commit to relationships, adds Maslar-Biggie. Case in point: “Bouba is soft and safe,” one TikTok commenter affirmed.
All these physical and mental elements are essential to developing attraction, but that doesn’t actually kick in until later. For example, someone you match with on a dating app is attractive, but whether that attraction grows will depend on what happens once you meet them in person. With fictional love interests, however, you won’t truly know a character until halfway through a film or after a few episodes, so you’re likely to feel a shift in attraction.
This individual shift in perception may even mirror society’s changing desires as a whole. After all, initial attraction tends to override rational thought (hence why bad boys seem so irresistible when they enter a scene on a motorcycle), but once that settles, you begin looking for clues that indicate whether someone is actually a good match long term. "I think, as we're evolving as a species, we're more attracted to comfort in safety. So, sometimes safety can be the 'masculine male,' but also safety can be the kinder, gentler, loving male," explains Maslar-Biggie.
What's more: When a man commits to a relationship, there is a drop in testosterone levels, which can create a physical shift, says Maslar-Biggie. The result of the physical and hormonal shift may align more with the softer Bouba-like features, which matches up with the psychological qualities heterosexual women tend to desire in a male life partner.
Ultimately, the jury is still out on whether audiences expressing their attraction to these facial features and what they may imply about personality is fueling the surge in Bouba leading men. But if the response to that viral TikTok is any indication, Bouba-ppeal is having a moment.
The way our brains process attraction may explain why Bouba men are more likely to be cast as the lead in a TV series than a film.
Sometimes, initial attraction can get in the way of your thought pattern, says Maslar-Biggie. "If you're going to have a long-term series, you're eventually going to look for evidence of security. That's when the oxytocin builds up in a woman," she adds. The result of that oxytocin: a viewer who’s more likely to trust, support, and like the character. And, as TV executives hope, keep tuning in.
On the flip side, a movie is just enough time to put a Kiki man in a lead role and captivate an audience. "It's basically Mother Nature's way of getting your attention that works really well in a two-hour movie," says Maslar-Biggie. Bouba men may be on the rise, but the laws of attraction still leave room for Kiki men to continue holding space on the silver screen. Think Ryan Gosling as Ken in the upcoming Barbie film or Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer.
The roles actors take on can also change their categorization depending on the project they're working on. For example, Chris Pratt in Parks and Recreation might come across more Bouba, but by the time he took on his first movie role in Guardians of the Galaxy, he’d not only gained muscle for the superhero role, but now his face appeared more Kiki thanks to the framing of his facial hair, which made his cheekbones and jawline appear more chiseled. As a Kiki, he was a movie star—going on to lead two major blockbuster franchises in the Jurassic World and Marvel universe.
There's a wide range of shows that prefer to cast Kiki men in longer series, and those shows are just as successful. However, the way their characters connect with the viewers may differ, according to the science of it all.
The battle of the Kiki vs. the Bouba has long been a trope in romantic comedies, both on the small and silver screen.
In This Means War (2012), Reese Witherspoon’s character has to decide between Chris Pine (Kiki) and Tom Hardy (Bouba). There’s also Jane The Virgin, where Gina Rodriguez’s character has to choose between Justin Baldon (Kiki) or Brett Dier (Bouba). And let’s not forget about how Netflix’s Never Have I Ever frames Devi’s love life around choosing between Kiki-like Paxton, played by Darren Charles Barnet, or Bouba-esque Ben, played by Jaren Lewison. (Spoiler alert: She chooses Ben—another win for Boubas everywhere.)
Not everything is so black and white though. Bringing things back to our favorite raging chef, Jeremy Allen White, the internet is torn. In a recent BuzzFeed poll, 49 percent of voters believed he was Bouba while 51 percent voted Kiki. And while he seems to be one of the few actors who has confounded the Bouba-Kiki effect, this kind of result wouldn’t be uncommon if every actor was put up for debate. Some actors are very clearly Bouba or Kiki, but others lie somewhere in the middle.
Ultimately, the rise of Bouba men could mean a shift in society.
With all the Bouba men taking on big-time roles, it's easy to wonder if there's an overall shift happening in the zeitgeist. Are modern audiences looking for something different in their movie and show leads? Or perhaps it’s nothing more than a casting coincidence— talented actors that just so happen to fall into the Bouba category are simply the best person for the role.
Something may have changed in the environment that makes people want different kinds of men as role models. But it could also be that Bouba men started landing more roles, and directors see the success in those casting decisions, so the cycle continues, says Kirby.
"It could be a shift in the age of the population, the maturity of the population...we see that kind of shift [from being attracted to Kiki over Bouba] occurring as a person matures. So maybe we're maturing as a society," says Maslar-Biggie.
Rather than looking at partnerships as a requirement to meet societal expectations or a need for survival, it has become something that is driven by intentionality and genuine connection. Why would we want anything else from our parasocial relationships with our Hollywood heartthrobs?
The Kiki kings of the world remain in the spotlight—now, they’re just sharing it with their Bouba buddys. It's exciting to see pop culture expand the definition of desirability beyond Adonis-esque men who look like they were pulled out of an Abercrombie & Fitch ad. Seeing them take on heartthrob roles often feels like a breath of fresh air and, overall, more real. I love a Kiki type every now and then, but to me—and many others—the softer features of Bouba people are uniquely irresistible. It’s hard to pin down exactly what elements combine to create Bouba-ppeal. But, to paraphrase a quote oft said by longtime Bouba leading man Kyle Chandler: Kind eyes. Warm smile. Can’t lose.
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