The Big City Game Face

One of the ways in which Buenos Aires is like New York (and Madrid and Rome and Tokyo and a hundred other cities) is that when people are out on the street, in particular crowded streets, they put on what I call their Big City Game Faces. They avoid making eye contact, and if they do, it's fleeting. That's fine, but what's more interesting is that they don't show any other facial expressions. I find this a little funny here, because the sidewalks get very crowded, and there are very frequent obstructions like newstands and construction and people standing around that force you into some complex negotiations for walking space. I sometimes feel like a complete doofus because i tend to telegraph my ambulatory intentions and my reaction to the current situation a lot more than the people here are used to.

In fact, I think it's quite a bit worse here than in New York. There's sometimes a "we're all in this together" kind of attitude in New York which leads people to try to do a little non-verbal communicating if something interesting is going on. This I guess is a restrained version of the actual speaking to each other which strangers is smaller towns might do. But I don't see much of anything like this on the streets in Buenos Aires, people have pretty strict game faces here. This could have something to do with an overall wariness that developed over the years of military dictatorships and "disappeared" people and what-not.

Sometimes the game face bugs me a little -- it can make the people seem a little cold and aloof. But i'ts worth it to see how completely it disappears when people run into people they know in public. People just light up, there's such genuine warmth on display, it's really lovely. I think this may be yet another Italian influence, a real warmth in people's relationships. I think this interpersonal warmth is one of the subtle things that makes people love Buenos Aires, and it's something I had a little trouble putting my finger on until I noticed people running into each other and so completely dropping their game faces.