Staring behavior can be considered as a form of aggression like when it is an invasion of an individual's privacy in certain contexts, or as a nonverbal cue to convey feelings of attraction in a social setting.For example, in the movie Superbad, the character Fogell is caught staring at a classmate’s exposed thong underwear, or a whale tail.This has been the subject of psychoanalytical studies on the nature of scopophilia, with a subsequent development in some aspects of feminist thought (see film, photography and voyeurism).Staring contests ('Stare-out') were featured as an animation in the first series of surreal BBC television comedy sketch show Big Train (aired in 1998).In season two, episode four of the Cartoon Network animated sitcom Regular Show, the main villain, "Peeps" (who is a large floating eyeball), is defeated by losing a staring contest.
Acted staring, such as in this showdown between
CM Punk
(left) and
Daniel Bryan
(right), is sometimes used to convey
aggression
in professional wrestling.
Staring can be interpreted as being either hostile, or the result of intense
concentration
; above, two men stare at each other during a political argument.