Hollywood loves pairing Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, and Scarlett Johansson with older men
Yep, the older man / younger woman pairing in Lost in Translation almost made me walk out of the movie. And that one was made by a woman! (Mind you, the daughter of a Hollywood movie mogulā¦ Maybe itās genetic.)
Another movie/TV trope that drives me crazy: Rich men who regularly use street hookers are actually kind, thoughtful, examplars that everyone should try to emulate.
Some time ago, I had a heated discussion with a woman, nominally a feminist, about this. I thought that to win the argument all I had to say was: "But he used prostitutes! Not just prostitutes, street walkers!
-Yeah, but itās that whole princess rescued by a knight in shining armor thing.
- Why couldnāt she work in bookstore? Or a soup kitchen? Or a construction site? (That is, as long as she doesnāt strip on the side.)"
Me, Iāve come to really, really, really despise almost anything that comes out of Hollywood.
tl;dr - middle-aged men making movies are, in part, projecting their own fantasies onto the screen.
'Cause, yeah, in real life, those May-December relationships are often looked upon with derision in our society.
Hard to imagine a guy like Billy Bob with a young attractive wifeā¦ oh wait. At the time he was paired with ScarJo he was married to Angelina Jolie, who is twenty years younger.
Yeah, but these are stories about the 1 percent. Iād say itās an accurate depiction.
Much to do about nothing.
Speaking just for myself, I wouldnāt consider a woman who was in diapers when I was in college to be too old for me. Iām pretty flexible.
So youād be perfectly happy if it switched and almost all movies in future came out with 50+yo women and their 20-something male love interests instead?
Much ado about nothing, right?
I donāt know if it is as much fantasy as it is accepted in the entertainment industry.
When I was 18, I dated a 40 year old woman that taught me a LOT about the industry. Still a friend two decades later (and she is now in her mid-60s). And now that Iām in my 40s, I mostly date 20-somethings. At my age, its hard to be single, no kids, never married and looking for the same thing at my age (I SHOULD have married my last long term girlfriend who actually fit the bill, but she was too busy traveling around the world being successful in a way that I never was).
People forget, entertainment really doesnāt follow the rules of middle america no matter how much we want it to. Like it or not, entertainment is as much about the reality of their world as it is ours.
I have to ask, could it also be that someone somewhere in casting feels that Scarlett, Jennifer, and Emma are simply more attractive on screen than Maggie?! I personally think Maggie G is sexy as hell. Watch Stranger Than Fictionā¦if you donāt fall head over heels for her during that movie then I question your taste in what is sexy and beautiful. That said, I think popular opinion would be she is not nearly as attractive as the other 3.
While I may think popular opinions and that casting person are wrongā¦I cannot deny the thought process.
Then againā¦I also think that Helen Mirren and Bette Midler are simply the two finest ladies on the planet. Iād kill to sit and spend an evening with either or both of them drinking, talking, and laughing our asses off. Totally enthralled with them.
I like Don Jon for exploring this very avenue. I mean, Don Jon was a pretty honest movie, so it also explored the problems there, and it wasnāt just formulaic. But Iād absolutely encourage more of this thing.
This doesnāt seem to be the case overall though, since the average age gap between male and female romantic leads is only 4 years (link). I suspect that with regard to these actresses, they are selected to play older roles and āage upā because of their box office draw, as they are 3 of the biggest actresses in the world, which makes them something of a special case.
Personally I find maturity attractive, so yeah, I would be perfectly happy with that.
Considering all the shortcomings with the studio system and the junk they crank out, I consider age discrepancy between leading characters trivial.
Are you saying those that have different experiences arenāt āin real lifeā. Actually, Iām asking because Iām missing the emotional or other context. I often joke about how my experience in entertainment is āfantasyā because trying to explain this to folks in my current world is really something that is only going to earn the derision you talk about.
Maybe so, but then what about the (much) older male leads? Surely many younger male actors are more āattractiveā to general audiences than these grizzled dudes, and yet itās the grizzled dudes who get paired with the attractive young women.
If āattractiveā is the standard, isnāt a problem (that is, a double standard) when it applies to only one gender?
Entertainment is a very insulated industry. Sounds like youāre just beginning to understand that the majority of Usians have absolutely nothing to do with it outside the role of a consumer or part-time critic. Really, if entertainment production didnāt exist in itās own bubble, we wouldnāt be having this particular comment thread. Or <a href=āhttp://bbs.boingboing.net/t/gamessowhite-hashtag-attempts-race-in-games-convo-goes-as-well-as-youd-expect/58982/47"targetā_blank>this one. Or any of the many threads where the lack of diversity and preponderance of misogyny in damned near all forms of entertainment is frequently discussed.
A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for similar situations.
But single males and females in their 50ās are in different situations.
What? Weāre talking about movies where both male and female character are in the same situation ā a relationship. Thatās the situation where a double standard applies.