"Fingers to temple" means telekinesis?

November 5, 2011 2:11 PM

After the its recent use in "X-Men: First Class", I want to know the earliest occurrence of "two fingers to the temple with stony stare" as a physical cue for telekinetic/telepathic power (psychokinesis) ...
posted by Hugobaron to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: There's a TVTrope for that. (It's talking about a couple of different "psychic gestures" but that one's in there.)
posted by NoraReed at 3:09 PM on November 5, 2011

Best answer: I think it's been a standard part of the repertoire of psychics and mentalists for a very long time. I believe Daniel Dunglas Home is doing a one-handed variant in the first portrait on his Wikipedia page, an image that probably dates from the 1870s or 80s. It's basically just an attempt to dramatize the inherently undramatic act of thinking hard.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:30 PM on November 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Tried to post this "thanks" with only the power of my mind but ended up having to type it:

Thank you!
posted by Hugobaron at 2:16 AM on November 6, 2011