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...)

I'd like to put in a good word for Alison Lohmann in White Oleander, who completely convincingly goes from a shy 12 year old to a level-headed 20something survivor via very angry mixed-up teen.

Brilliant film by Peter Kosminsky.

That'd be Diane Kruger, who played his girlfriend in that film. Despite being almost a quarter of a century his junior. Yuck.

Yeah that’s the film. I couldn’t be bothered to look it up really. It was very forgettable and mediocre.

If anyone has ever read a forum like Reddit’s relationships board you’ll see how much these films influence men in real life. There’s always some bloke in their late 30s onwards who has a new female coworker who is showing a basic level of politeness to him. So obviously she wants to get all over his dick because young women can’t stop listing for dad bods.

Lauren Bacall was only 17 when she met Humphrey Bogart. Sounds icky but their marriage appears to have been a happy one and I don’t think Bacall just had some weak-kneed crush on a much older man. A lot of women married older men during the post War years, not least because a lot of men their own age were dead.

Baby was about to go to college in DD so would have been 17/18 not 15. Still an age gap though.

A lot of women married older men during the post War years,

There certainly were not a lot of women marrying men a quarter of a century older, as was the case with Bogart and Bacall.

If anyone has ever read a forum like Reddit’s relationships board you’ll see how much these films influence men in real life

That's why I find it so distasteful. It normalises the idea that beautiful young women will be after men in their 40s or 50s, and that once they hit 40 or so, actresses - and by extension women in general - have no value.

Most desirable female stars are in their 20, while best selling men are middle aged. I find it laughable when 50-60yo dudes play very tough heroes. Like... really? But they're assets to the production

Middleaged men certainly are not 'assets' maybeit's someone like Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford who has been playing the character since they were young. Most of the top grossing films of the last few years do not star men in their 50s and above.

One of the things I liked about Richard Todd is that as well as being a real life hero (he was one of the first to land in Normandy during Operation Overlord) he turned down the opportunity to play himself in The Longest Day on the grounds he was too old and chose to play Major John Howard instead.

DD likes to watch Mamma Mia (for the songs, she doesn't really get the paternity bit)

I watch the film and like the fact that it has an older woman as the lead role laughing, singing, having fun, thinking about sex etc. Great. Such a change from older women being portrayed as sexless old harridans.

But then there's a bit where Donna says that she "couldn't go home" because she got pregnant.

In the film her daughter is 20.

So how fucking old is she meant to be then cos a 30 something doesn't get kicked out by her parents for getting up the duff....

And then my brain goes because I suddenly realise she isn't supposed to be a 50 something year old woman at all. 50 something women are only allowed to play fun loving sexy roles when their pretending to be less than 40

They're

Quick google shows meryl streep was 59 in mamma Mia.

I was watching a new (to me) show the other day and one of the actresses happened to be someone I went to school with (early 40s) in the show an apb went out and she was described as 29 years old! I was

There are some actors like Richard Dreyfus who seemed to jump from playing teenagers to middle-aged men without passing through their twenties and thirties.

Once you start seeing it, it’s difficult to unsee it and then you start feeling really uncomfortable watching these obviously older men letching over these beautiful younger women. It’s grim