By Indigo Gordon-Gatica '24
Actresses are more successful at a younger age than actors; this is effectively boiling their careers down to the idea that appearances and how audiences view them in terms of attractiveness are all that matter. Ultimately, actresses get more work when they’re younger, win more awards when they’re younger, get more press when they’re younger, and are all around more present when they’re young.
One solid way of seeing the impact of age gap between actors and actresses is in awards such as the Oscars. Take the 2016 Oscars for example: the winners for best actor and best supporting actor were 41 and 56. The winners for best actress and supporting actress were 26 and 27. Even going beyond who won, the youngest nominee for best actress was 21. The youngest nominee for best actor was 34. This age gap emphasizes the fact that actresses get the most exposure in their 20s, putting them in a prime position to win Oscars whereas actors receive this type of attention their entire lives.
However, this trend isn’t just a recent thing. In a New York Times article published in 1980, there are interviews with various popular actresses of the time. While discussing the aging of actresses, Norma Connolly, one of the actresses who was interviewed, stated, “‘Do you realize the anger women actresses have at facelifting? They don’t get their faces lifted for vanity. They do it so they can keep on working.’” The fact that women need to have plastic surgery out of necessity to keep working is scary. What’s even more insane is that this quote is from 1980; it is now 2020, and the beauty standard for women hasn’t changed.
Sure, many may argue that audiences root more for characters when they’re attractive; people will even go see a movie if there’s someone in it who they find good-looking. Still then, why does this only seem to apply to women? Why is it that once men reach their mid to late thirties, and god forbid their forties, that their careers don’t seem to have a magic off-switch? As audiences, what we have to do is stop overlooking this normalized sexism in the film and entertainment industry. We have to question this double standard of women winning awards almost exclusively at a much younger age relative to their male counterparts. We have to notice when we see actresses disappear from the media once they get older. It comes down to respecting the talent that all of these actresses have just as much as we respect that of men.
I love acting, but I definitely don't love the idea of being without a job before the time I hit 40. This is not how boys my age feel. It makes absolutely no sense to have actresses struggle with the idea of losing everything for the mere act of aging. Furthermore, everyone—the talent agents, casting directors, writers, and just the entertainment industry in general—has to do better and work towards diminishing the double standard of aging in this industry.
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