Beauty is the Beast
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Though the film industry has made strides in giving a platform to those who are not necessarily the peak of glamor, the glamorous continues to reign supreme.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hollywood has capitalized on charm since the days of Audrey Hepburn and Ava Gardner, and it remains to be true. This is not to conclude that the classic beauty of the past is present today, but it is receiving the most consistent acclaim. In short, the frame freezes on the highest figures of beauty.
Movies that have purposefully created roles that are intended to be played by actors who fit into a specific typecast have failed dramatically, skewing the view of how society would typically see these characters. Romantic comedies time and time again depict an image of the “ugly duckling” turned model after simply removing her glasses and elastic hair tie. These women are glowing from the moment they step on screen, yet this only reinforces the message that once you fit a certain mold will you be labeled “pretty” and receive rewards.
2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, starring Renee Zellweger, depicted this single, doomed, and depressed character as “heavy” at 136 pounds. She aspires throughout the entire film to lose weight and to quit her bad habits because only then will she reach the romanticized life for which she has long desired. Her weight as a cause for concern and dilemma that deters her happiness is deteriorative, especially for an audience of young women.
David Frankel’s Devil Wears Prada starts with the humbly intelligent Andrea, portrayed by Anne Hathaway, just entering the fashion world as she barely snags her assistant position due to her lack of style. Only when the classic makeover sequence has succeeded does she find success in her work life. Her constituents ridicule her size six figure for the better part of her time working at “Runway Magazine,” but as soon as she begins seeking approval by shifting her externalities to fit the status quo, her rank rises. The message reflects what the industry stands for: beauty is the secret to success.
Age impacts the committees’ choices as well. Brad Pitt, the 1995 winner of Sexiest Man Alive, continues to roll out movie after movie because he has “aged gracefully” while other aging actors have gotten the boot. The 2022 revival of Top Gun stuck faithfully by Tom Cruise again but insisted on casting a more suitable-looking love interest than the previous Kelly McGillis, who fans say has not lived up to the flashy precedent she had set years prior.
The actors chosen to portray the real lives of impactful, historical figures are sugarcoating authenticity in one way or another, to cater to Hollywood’s glamorous image. In the 2023 film, Maestro, the story of Leonard Bernstein, Bradley Cooper received backlash for being cast as the Jewish musician using a prosthetic nose to better resemble the character. Not only does this casting decision eliminate opportunities for those better fit for the role, but it also better highlights an already prosperous actor.
Hollywood loves to explore the side of humanity that is not deemed as “perfect,” a life that could be seen as relatable with superficial struggles. But at the end of the day, these uplifting “underdog” stories fail to consider the pure value of the people they are hiring to sell them. The actors they deem as undesirable are current celebrities with huge followings who publicly meet the “beauty standards” but contort themselves to meet the storyline.
Looking at a thoughtfully made movie like Barbie, carefully constructed by Greta Gerwig to give a platform for women to embrace imperfection, demonstrates the deep-rooted pressures that women feel they must meet to feel “enough.” The face of the project is Margot Robbie, a genetically stunning individual who has garnered much acclaim in the film industry for her artistic capabilities to transform from role to role. During a pivotal moment in the film, a voiceover notes to the director that “Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast” if you want to make the point that a person can feel unattractive. Barbie has a plethora of intricately crafted messages, albeit passe, that are clouded by the iconic faces that are put at the forefront of the production.
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This unreachable vision of beauty is diminishing the act of recreating the purity of the human experience through cinema—which is what art strives to explore. While many filmmakers are making public efforts to live this ideal, their stripped-down projects ultimately fall squarely back into the comfort of perfection.
Hollywood’s addiction to the extremity of visual satisfaction takes away from the humanity they claim to express. In pinching and tugging ruthlessly at loose strings in hopes the blemishes will melt away or the corset will tighten, Hollywood’s material continues to be superficial, dissuading viewers from finding a sense of themselves in the characters. Instead, it forces them to run a race where the speed limit is exasperatedly unsafe.
It appears the movie business has not had as much evolution as we had hoped since the 1920s. There is still the unreachable goal of achieving par with the Marilyn Monroes and the Margot Robbies of the industry. This irrefutable vision of perfection is the venom that runs through the veins of fame, forcing its consumers to ever idolize these actors in hopes of hitting the marks of intense diets, workout regimens, and beauty routines to which they are bound. The product they are selling is inexcusably fabricated by inhumane fantasies of the quality of life we are taught we should chase. This never-ending list of standards that plague our perception of reality promises that it will one day qualify us for the title of “beautiful.”
A warning: it all comes down to being aware of the systemic practices Hollywood uses to brainwash our vision of beauty from magazine covers to music videos to who gets the most screen time at award shows. It is a money-making machine that will always gravitate toward those who will sell. Still, we must take it with a grain of salt and let the glitz and glamor pass us by as we continue to live up to our own ideals of what it means to be successful and desirable.
Strike Out,
Writer: Jacqueline Galvano
Editor: Blake Fiadino
Tallahassee