Why Do We Care More About An Actor’s Looks That Their Talent?
by bdhesse
Today my partner and I were talking about actors. Not in general, just the Hollywood kind. We were discussing how people have favorite actors and they’ll watch every movie that that actor has been in, but they tend not to care too much if the acting, or story is bad. How often do you hear “the movie was terrible, but I just watched it because [insert famous actor] was in it”?
We began our discussion talking about books. It’s not the same for writers as it is for actors. One bad book can lose an author their audience. People don’t tend to say “I didn’t really like the second book, but the rest were good.” If book number 2 was terrible, then why would the reader bother with number 3?
But actors are given more leeway. This may be because actors aren’t creating a story, they’re bringing one of its characters to life. But I think it’s because we care more about what they look like than we do about their talent. I’ve heard “they suck at acting, but they’re really hot” too many times to think otherwise. And I think this is a problem. It perpetuates stereotypes. I’d rather see people who are good actors and represent all aspects of humanity than see the same beauty standards shoved down own throats in every movie. As such, I have decided that if one of my future books ever gets turned into a movie, I will only allow it if they are willing to use actors who represent everyday people. If a character is trans, then the actor should be too. If the character is chubby, or short, then so too should the actor be. Everybody should be able to see themselves represented in film. Everybody should be made to feel that they can be an actor too, if they work for it. And everybody should be made to feel that their life is worth being made into a movie.
This response is going to make me sound like a horrific person, but I promise you I am not. I just want to be honest about the way I feel toward what you said in your post. I would love to say that when I’m watching a movie the way someone looks doesn’t affect the way I feel about the movie. Sadly, I will openly admit that if I’m watching a romance, if the main characters aren’t at least somewhat attractive, I lose all interest because it just doesn’t seem believable to me. Society has burned into our brains that only pretty people are capable of the fairtytale romances and unfortunately I have fallen into that wormhole. It hurts to admit even more so because I have gained an enormous amount of weight over the last 5 years. I went from being one of the “pretty people” having my sweep-you-off-your-feet romances to never even getting a second look. So for me, I definitely feel like a hypocrite, but the truth is even though I myself am now obesely fat, I don’t think I could watch a movie where I was supposed to believe that two ugly fat people (even with great personalities) had this super erotic/romantic/fairytale/love at first sight thing going. I mean even shows like Drop Dead Diva (which are based on her being a large girl). The main character is overweight, but she’s still absolutely beautiful in the face. If she wasn’t, I guarantee no one would buy into the fact Grayson (the main love interest) was madly in love with her. Its sad, but true.
LikeLike
I don’t think you’re a horrible person. We all notice looks to some degree. But fictional romances are problematic in and of themselves. They convince people to expect unrealistic standards, not just in looks but in everything. Real life is, thankfully, nothing like those movies. In real life, everybody can find love if they want to because everybody has different beauty standards, but that love only works out if we work at it. Sadly, too many people make assumptions without effective communication, become disappointed, and let their love die as a result.
LikeLike
There are reason why actors get more easily forgiven is that it is not always in their power to refuse the role. If the actor has agreed to do any possible sequels, and it turns out they’re poorly written, there’s little the actor can do but to act in the terrible film. There are some actresses and actors who are good at recognizing the potential in the script. If I see there’s a new film with Nicole Kidman, I know it’s likely to be good for she tends to pick interesting films. Same seems to apply to Joaquin Phoenix and Jared Leto. Admittedly the reason why they are getting these good roles is because they’ve worked with similar directors or in similar roles before which makes them an easy pick when auditioning.
LikeLike
Unfortunately authors can get stuck very easily too. If an author gets picked up by an agent or publisher, they are often stuck writing the same series or type of books for their entire writing career. I can imagine that that would hurt a lot of writers.
But I do understand where you’re coming from. I love old Johnny Depp movies because he’s a good actor and he only acted in films he was passionate about. Unfortunately he seems to have drank the kool-aid since POtC. But I think we do accept flaws in Hollywood actors that we wouldn’t accept in theater actors simply because they’re famous and beautiful.
LikeLike
I wouldn’t say authors necessarily get stuck if they’re successful. There’s always the option of publishing oneself and it is significantly cheaper than funding a whole movie. But there are many examples of author’s being published despite the novel being completely different from the author’s other works. Even Stephen King has tried writing historical thrillers and James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake shows how the author could get away publishing anything at some point.
LikeLike
Love this post! It’s all so true. Unfortunately I feel Hollywood will always put beauty at their priority like all the other industries. Sure, there are exceptions of course but that’s how society is. Everyone focuses on appearance before anything else.
LikeLike
Probably. It’s too bad though.
LikeLike