I’m apparently on a bit of an “older actress” theme with these at the moment. But last week, Maggie had a very smart take on Jamie Lee Curtis’s “let’s get the f— out of here” approach to Hollywood’s anti-aging policies. She (Maggie — lack of coffee can lead to loss of pronouns, so kids, don’t try this at home) commented:
I’m not sure how I feel about this. Yay for standing up against the beauty industry, but her quote there kind of sounds like she’s giving in to it. There are a lot of older, very talented actors of any gender, and the fact that they aren’t Hollywood beautiful just means they get more badass roles. Judi Dench, anyone?
And I was like, OH, Judi Dench, indeed! My interpretation of JLC saying she wants out of Hollywood is more along the lines of “this system is broken, why should I subject myself to it?” but Maggie makes a great point: If all the normal-looking actresses leave Hollywood, where does that leave the rest of us who still want to go to the movies?
And now here is Teri Hatcher (via the completely wonderful About Face), posting makeup-free pics of herself on her Facebook page and telling Oprah:
“I don’t want to stop taking glamorous pictures—they’re fun—but I just want people to know the truth […] I think if we can accept the truth and reveal the mystery, we can enjoy both things.”
And as much as I love Jamie Lee for saying enough is enough, I’m thinking this is maybe a more practical approach wherein we can have our glamour and eat cake too. Though I don’t want to downplay the amount of education we all need to get to a point where we can say “that photo is pretty, but I also know it’s a fantasy and I’m not going to apply that standard of pretty to my own self, thankyouverymuch.” That sh*t takes practice, practice, practice.
So, thoughts? Is Jamie Lee Curtis right to just say no to the Botox-filled Hollywood definition of “aging?” Or do you prefer Teri’s approach — let them airbrush the heck out of you on the cover of Glamour, but be honest about the reality behind those shots too?
[Photo also via About Face.]
The fact that it’s sort of revolutionary for women (especially famous women) to not wear makeup once in a while and not be airbrushed once in a while is so depressing to me.
These women are so successful, beautiful, and rich. Shouldn’t they get to call the shots?
That didn’t answer your question, but I had to rant a little.
It makes me sad that people malign the technology, when that’s really not what’s to blame. Great art photographers like Loretta Lux use photoshop to create haunting and sometimes devastating effects they couldn’t get any other way, and even a lot of the “glam” photoshoots done for magazines are more visually interesting than they might have been before the invention of this software. It’s incredibly empowering, creatively, that artists now have the ability to manipulate images to look like almost anything they can imagine. The problem, as I see it, is that women, especially young ones, so often imagine themselves in front of the camera (and not living up to expectations), rather than behind it. My answer? Computer art classes. I’d love to see the day when a Ralph Lauren uncanny valley pic sends teenage girls inspired to check out the settings on their cameras, rather than the size of their asses in the mirror.
I’ve seen and heard so many disparaging things about Teri Hatcher and it always irritates me because I actually like her a lot, from what I know of her. I read her book (Burnt Toast) a while back (admittedly, I think I got it for free for some reason) and she’s actually stronger and more thoughtful than most people think she is. She has a lot of stuff in there about beauty standards (and especially in regard to being an actress and constantly being judged and scrutinized by millions of strangers). She’s a single mom (and her daughter’s name is Emerson, which I think is awesome), and a pretty sharp lady. This news bit only endears me further to her.
Ooh, I feel special!
Obviously Jamie Lee Curtis and Teri Hatcher have the right to decide how they’re each going to respond to the pressure to be beautiful. But to me it says a lot about JLC’s goals as an actor and for her career when she says, “I can’t be pretty enough so I’m leaving.” And it’s interesting because she’s never really been a sex symbol. Attractive, yes, and acknowledged as such, but nobody’s ever put her on the same footing as, say, Angelina Jolie when it comes to “beauty.”
Of course, it probably also says something that most of the badass older female actors I can think of off the top of my head are Royal Shakespeare alums. Maybe you have to play Lady Macbeth before you can really embrace not being smokin’ hot.
While appreciating Teri’s photograph sans make-up, do I meanwhile detect a possible face-lift, Botox, and semi-permanent eyelashes?