"Glasses are really versatile.... I really like how it can fulfill all those abstract needs. Being able to switch up the styles and colors of glasses based on your mood is a lot of fun too! It's actually so much fun! You have those half rim glasses, or the thick frame glasses, everything! It's like you're enjoying all these kinds of glasses at a buffet.... "
In fiction, glasses carry many shades of meaning.
Generally speaking, a fictional character will not wear glasses for incidental reasons. In the vast majority of cases, the glasses are a prop to signify something relevant about the character, usually related to various social stereotypes of glasses-wearing people, including nerdiness, intelligence, physical weakness, uptightedness, or advanced age. Glasses are also a go-to prop for any master of disguise.
Compare Cranium Coverings, Who Was That Masked Index?.
Tropes
- Attentive Shade Lowering: When someone lowers their glasses beneath their eyes when something has peaked their interest.
- Bespectacled Cutie: A sweet bespectacled character that's adorable and benevolent because of their glasses.
- Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Sunglasses used as a visual shorthand for blindness.
- Blind Without 'Em: Character loses their glasses and can't see anything.
- Clark Kenting: When a superhero (or someone else) can disguise himself perfectly just by wearing glasses.
- Cool Shades: Badass sunglasses.
- Round Hippie Shades: Round sunglasses (usually colored) that are associated with hippies, beatniks, and other unconventional character archetypes.
- Sinister Shades: Sunglasses used to indicate villainy or (anti-)heroism.
- Sunglasses at Night: Always wearing sunglasses, even at night or indoors.
- Triangle Shades: Triangular-shaped sunglasses.
- Dropped Glasses: Dropped glasses get lost and/or stepped on.
- Eye Glasses: Glasses that behave like actual eyeballs.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A villain who wears glasses.
- Frames of Reference: Type of glasses tells about the personality of the wearer.
- Glasses-and-Ponytail Coverup: When wearing glasses and having your hair tied up in a bun or ponytail makes you look different.
- Glasses Are Sexy: Glasses used for sex appeal.
- The Glasses Come Off: Removing Nerd Glasses to prepare for action.
- Glasses Curiosity: Needing or wanting to try on the glasses of others.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: Removing one's glasses to be, or appear, more attractive.
- Glasses of Aging: Glasses tell you that they've gotten older.
- Glasses Pull: Dramatically removing one's glasses or putting them on to emphasize a line of dialogue.
- Goggles Do Nothing: When goggles do nothing except look cool.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: Eyewear that does more than correct or protect vision.
- High-Class Glass: When wearing a monocle automatically makes someone more sophisticated.
- Hold My Glasses: Removing one's glasses and handing them off to another before a fight.
- Inhuman Eye Concealers: A character with recognizably unusual eyes hides them with glasses or some other covering.
- Kichiku Megane: Anime Fanspeak for a male Fetishized Abuser who wears glasses to indicate that he is smart, sophisticated, and successful.
- Last Place You Look: If someone loses an object, especially their glasses, it may well be found in the last place they look.
- Making a Spectacle of Yourself: Flamboyant glasses.
- Megane: Anime Fanspeak for a handsome guy who wears glasses.
- Meganekko: Anime Fanspeak for a cute girl or woman who wears glasses.
- Nerd Glasses: Nerds wear glasses, right? If you wear glasses, you're likely to be seen as a nerd.
- Night-Vision Goggles: Goggles that help one see better at night.
- Opaque Lenses: Can't see their eyes through their glasses.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Glasses that hide the wearer's eyes to indicate how geeky they are.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Character's eyes are intimidatingly obscured by light reflected in their glasses.
- One-Way Visor: A mask or visor that completely conceals the wearer's eyes.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Wearing glasses solely to look cool or smart.
- See-Thru Specs: Special glasses that let one see the unseen.
- The Short Guy with Glasses: The bespectacled boy is the smart one.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Corrective eyewear signals cognitive prowess.
- Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass: Using the lens of the glasses to burn something.
- Specs of Awesome: A badass who wears glasses while demonstrating their badassery.
- Stoic Spectacles: When glasses make a character look stoic.
- Universal Eyeglasses: Corrective lenses work perfectly even when not prescribed for the wearer.
- Unwanted Glasses Plot: Coping with having to wear glasses, usually Nerd Glasses.
- You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: If you wear glasses and say this phrase, chances are you'll get hit.