Unrealistic age of female actors

[MoltenLasagne]

I know this is a petty issue, but lately I've been noticing and becoming increasingly annoyed at the unrealistic age of female actors in films and tv shows.

It's not so much the creepiness of having extremely young love interests for much older men (although obviously that gets repetitive and gross) but there have been a number of times lately where the woman playing the mother is so young compared to her adult children that it makes me question the plot.

The most recent example was in The Last Kingdom, where Eliza Butterworth (25) plays the mother of Aethelfled played by Millie Brady (25). I honestly spent time trying to figure out whether I'd missed some kind of step-mother related plot point.

Is it getting worse, or is it just me? And why on earth do casting / directors do this?! (I think I know the answer to that...)

Foy and Matt Smith’s ages are comparable but if, say, Smith had been forty he’d have been the right age for the character by the end of the series while Foy would have been about the right age at the start. An age gap wouldn’t have been such an issue.*

Well, maybe, but the point people are making is that the age gap almost involves the man being older than the woman. Even in your hypothetical example, the man is older, as is the case in the real example from "The Crown" which I mentioned - Matthew Goode being 10 years older than Vanessa Kirby, even though the characters they portray were the same age in real life.

I believe that in productions spanning a long period, the preference is to cast younger actors, for the simple reason that it's much easier to age an actor than to make him or her look younger. However, this applies to both men and women, so no practical reason why the man should almost always be older.

I remember the Independent commending the Bridges of Madison County for 'daring' to cast 46 year old Meryl Streep in the lead, but also saying that they should have cast a mid forties male lead, not 65 year old Clint Eastwood. So right. Clint ruined that film. I think I was early 20s and it was the first time it was brought to the front of my mind.

In a similar vein, I remember watching 'National Treasure' recently and thinking, isn't Robbie Coltrane a lot younger than Julie Walters (they were husband and wife) when in fact, they are exactly the same age. Just shows how, even when you're aware of the problem, the ubiquity of significant age gaps sways your thinking.

Julie Walters often played older than she was, eg GBH (where the character could have easily been played by an actress of the right age) and in Victoria Woods’ ‘Acorn Antiques’ sketches. I think this might have contributed to Walters’ being perceived as older than she is.

Isnt it a simple fact that in the Hollywood bubble. They don't see it as huge age gaps. In the real world the 22 year age gap between Margot Robbie and Will Smith in Focus or 16 year age gap between Di Caprio in Wolf of Wall Street is unusual. In that world it's more than normal.

Funny you should mention the age gap in "Wolf of Wall Street."

In real life, Robbie and Di Caprio's characters were about the same age.

I think this might have contributed to Walters’ being perceived as older than she is.

Well, exactly. That's the point we've been making.

When young actresses are routinely cast in roles clearly written for older women - see Jennifer Lawrence - and when on-screen couples feature a large age gap which we aren't supposed to notice, then we start to perceive women as being older than same-age or even older men. That's why it's so damaging.

It's damaging because it normalises power imbalances in the relationships between men and women. And perpetuates the message that women’s only capitol is their youth.

OP a timely thread we’re binge watching the Last Kingdom and I’m struggling with Skade - a powerful female siren who grown men can’t resistant yet she looks like a 14 year old at a music festival, atrocious casting.

I thought music festival too!

I've not yet made it to episode 2 and I did enjoy the last series.

I can’t watch these films they creep me out

Chewy, a 14 year old who has bunked off from her private boarding school to go to said music festival.

It’s a good series - apart from some ott accents and yes, ‘boarding school’ sirens. Everytime Uhtred hatches a new plan I think of Vicky the Viking 😂

What evidence is there that having unrealistic age gaps between actors is a 'winning formula'? Do cinema goers really think "I will only go to that film provided the man is at least 15 years older than the woman"?

Are we really contesting the fact that men's attention is more likely to be held by a bombastic 25-30yo than a 55yo?

I love TLK Chewy. Destiny is all...

What evidence is there that having unrealistic age gaps between actors is a 'winning formula'? Do cinema goers really think "I will only go to that film provided the man is at least 15 years older than the woman"?

The oft quoted formula is that boys go to movies, and and girls go to movies their boyfriends like. Hollywood has believed that since the silents.

It really annoys me. In future I won’t watch/buy films where the female love interest is decades younger than the males. If there was a worldwide boycott by women of such films Hollywood would have to change.

Are we really contesting the fact that men's attention is more likely to be held by a bombastic 25-30yo than a 55yo?

You're not answering my question. Yes, men are more likely to lust over a hot young thing, as are women - male delusions to the contrary. But what evidence is there that having the man implausibly older than the woman is a 'winning formula'? Wouldn't it be more 'winning' to have both the man and the woman played by hot young pieces? That way everyone is happy.

I think men heroes have got younger too.

Look at Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, etc, and compare them to most action movie starts nowadays (excepting those who made a name whilst younger and are still getting the roles Tom Cruise etc).

stillathing. Hollywood is full of those kind of relationships. It's normal to them. No one bats an eyelid at DiCaprio and his 20 something supermodel girlfriends or Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Hopkins etc etc.

So it's not a shock the film's mirror reality.

Clint Eastwood still did Bridges of Madison County.

That was a power behind the screen thing, but I still remember a scene of him in the bath and thinking WTF was he thinking?

Personally really tired of 20 year old women cast as having a law degree and enough years of practice to prove they're a legal powerhouse.

or Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Hopkins etc etc.

Or Madonna, Courtney Cox, Sharon Stone, Susan Sarandon, Joan Collins, Robin Wright etc who are all with much younger men. It's pretty much the norm in Hollywood for women these days, so why isn't this reality shown on screen, if that's your logic?

So it's not a shock the film's mirror reality.

But they don't, because most of them aren't set in Hollywood or high finance where it might be plausible that men would have much younger wives. Plenty of examples have been given of films or TV series based on books - or on real life - where the men and women were the same age but on screen, the female character suddenly became much younger than the man. So that's a poor excuse.

Or Madonna, Courtney Cox, Sharon Stone, Susan Sarandon, Joan Collins, Robin Wright etc who are all with much younger men. It's pretty much the norm in Hollywood for women these days, so why isn't this reality shown on screen, if that's your logic?

I think the take home poo is that money will get you the partner you want, which in moist cases is somebody younger.

And films usually seem more interested in portraying an ideal than realism.

FFS. Typo city today...

My autocorrect really likes the word 'moist' atm. 😐