Hollywood has a thing for young actresses matched with older actors hence, the “Hollywood Age Disparity”.
We’ve become extremely accustomed to 20-something actresses getting romantically involved with much older men onscreen, so much that we hardly even notice when it happens anymore.
Did it bother you when Emma Stone was matched with Edward Norton in Birdman? Or when Scarlett Johansson was matched with Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers: Age of Ultron? How about the time Jennifer Lawrence was cast as Bradley Cooper’s love interest in several movies?
In an interesting article from Vulture, Kyle Buchanan breaks down the major age gape that is affecting some of the biggest young actresses today and the impact it is having on women in Hollywood.
Emma Stone
It wasn’t long ago that Emma Stone was known for playing a high school student in ‘Superbad’ and the breakout hit ‘Easy A’.
In the span of only four years, Emma Stone went from working with guys her own age to being Colin Firth’s love interest in Woody Allen’s ‘Magic in the Moonlight’. Sure, the near 30 year difference is a major talking point in the movie, but this doesn’t change the fact that this is a common trend in Hollywood. Only a year earlier, Emma Stone was matched with Sean Penn.
But, this does not only affect women. Creating the older man-younger woman relationships is leading to fewer and fewer leading men in their 20s landing major roles. And if Vulture’s chart on Emma Stone is any evidence, this trend is become more and more popular and common in movies.
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most popular actresses of our time. The director of ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ and ‘AMerican Hustle’, has a habit of casting Jennifer Lawrence in parts originally scripted for older actresses. Of course Jennifer Lawrence does a great job, but this means she will more than likely get paired with an older man.
This is having devistating consequences for other actors in Hollywood. While Jennifer Lawrence can land any role between 20 and 40-years-old, actresses like Maggie Gyllenhaal (37) are told they are too old to be a love interest for a 55-year-old male actor.
Casting directors are getting to the point where it is more believable to see Bradley Cooper with Jennifer Lawrence together despite their 16 year age difference, than to see him with someone his own age. The only time Jennifer Lawrence is with someone her own age, it’s in ‘The Hunger Games’.
Scarlett Johannson
Scarlett Johannson has been in the industry since she was a child. But, she still has one of those faces that seem to never age. Johannson is a great example of a twenty-something actress working with middle aged actors so often that we forget how old she really is.
While moves are not supposed to be 100% realistic, shouldn’t there be a few examples on Johansson’s acting resume wher eshe can be with someone who is in her age range? Right now, that’s probably never going to happen.
Perhaps the single most important point to bring up regarding age disparity in Hollywood is that while young women are systematically paired with older men, the reverse is never true. Male actors have more options when it comes to leading co-stars, but, the most popular women onscreen can’t get with younger guys – or guys even their own age. When is the last time you saw Betty White with a 20-something actor?
Head on over to Vulture for more of their insights into the topic and further analysis of the data.
(Source: Vulture)
