Writes in Allison P. Davis, in "The End of His Heartthrob Era/An assessment of Chalamet’s sex appeal as he steps into the role of Willy Wonka" (Vulture).
What do we really want from a male movie star... and the female writers who write about them?
December 5, 2023
"He was the antidote to the Marvel-led glut of synthetic, bulging muscles that looked like CGI but were real and the brute brand of masculinity associated with that type of body."
"Blended with Chalamet’s otherwise standard-issue heartthrob characteristics (white, cis, floppy ’90s hair, pouty lips), all this led to an explosion of heartthrob idolatry.... But does a horde of die-hard stans anointing someone an Internet Boyfriend make him an actual sex symbol with all the onscreen heat, eye-fucking, and innate ability to seduce an entire audience that comes with it? Now, Chalamet is poised to star as Willy Wonka, perhaps one of the most sexless characters ever put to screen. Any actor who dares to don the chocolate-maker’s top hat knows there is no way to make the character fuckable; the role becomes a stress test of their sexiness.... [Wonka] might just be Chalamet’s sledgehammer to the whole Internet Boyfriend enterprise. If so, I say go forth, Chalamet, and leave your heartthrob days behind."
Writes in Allison P. Davis, in "The End of His Heartthrob Era/An assessment of Chalamet’s sex appeal as he steps into the role of Willy Wonka" (Vulture).
Writes in Allison P. Davis, in "The End of His Heartthrob Era/An assessment of Chalamet’s sex appeal as he steps into the role of Willy Wonka" (Vulture).
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Chalamet seems like a nice guy. And he's chosen -- by skill, or by luck -- some good movies (I guess? Like I watch movies?) to be in. I'd rather see him in a movie than read the nonsensical dreck writings of Ann B. Davis, sorry, Allison P. Davis.
"What do we really want from a male movie star"
Nothing in particular.
"... and the female writers who write about them?"
Nothing at all.
I've seen Little Women but still didn't recognize the name of the actor.
Action heroes from action movies are usually male archetypes that appeal to male audiences. I would be interested in a woman's perspective on what they look for in a male lead. And for a moment, I was very interested in what Allison P. Davies had to say on this topic. But then it seemed like she was more concerned with writing unpleasantly than with writing well, and I lost interest. At least her editor put her big idea right up front. After you've read the first two sentences, you can safely discard the rest.
That "brute brand of masculinity" built this country and her hatred of it is resulting in 25 year old 130lb bisexual weaklings that can't open a pickle jar during their frequent breaks from pondering what gender they are. I'll bet serious money that if she doesn't have a bf with that "brute brand of masculinity", she definitely fantasizes about it, especially during a certain time of the month. Ask me how I know.
IDK.
Charlize Theron was pretty unf*ckable in Monster, but then she went right back to being a knock out again. Why would Chalamet be different?
Genderism... gender toxicity. Pemis envy? Perhaps.
What do women want? And what connection do Allison Davis's wants have to the wants of the vast abstraction that is "women"? And why should the world want to make Allison happy?
I must note for the record that male "wants", though less mysterious than women's, are often pathetically divorced from reality.
I suspect that the propagation of the human race has been made possible by the mutual incomprehension that prevails between men and women.
I'm much too old for this kind of analysis; I'm not unhappy to say.
Judging by the covers of the kinds of novels certain women that I know love to read, I would guess that muscles are not really that much on the outs with women, generally, if given their unbridled druthers. I am not sure that "brute masculinity" is all that on the outs either.
I hated that sort of remake of Henry V that tried to eviscerate the Shakespeare version by turning Henry V into a twink who was misled by his advisers, rather than a warrior king in full who decided that he wanted to grow his kingdom on the battlefield over in France. Let's all pretend that the Middle Ages never happened!
Ugly women love Twinks.
Wow, that is a lot to unpack for a brief excerpt of an article appearing in the literary equivalent of antibiotic resistant gonorrhea. As the kids say; TLDR and mostly likely be the better for my choice.
'Cis'?
He strikes me as a fem-boy power bottom.
A good actor, don't get me wrong.
But still very low T...
Chalamet got that early DiCaprio baby face.
"Leonardo DiCaprio’s Advice to Timothée Chalamet: ‘No Hard Drugs and No Superhero Movies’"
The role neither requires, nor benefits from, sex appeal.
A good actor would remove all traces.
WTF? Didn't they just do a remake of Willy Wonka just in the last decade?
i've Never Heard of this "Chalamet"..
i Assume that he was a boy that appealed to women that didn't like men?
And Now, he's going to play a pedophile (or, at Least a child abuser)??
Serious Question: is there ANYONE, that doesn't see Willy Wonka as an evil person?
is He still going to keep the slaves? Is he STILL going to torture and murder the children?
I want absolutely nothing from this "movie star" & less from the crude, tasteless female writer. While the glitterati crowd & those who write about them are welcome to obsess about sex appeal & who is f---able, most folks have the sense to ignore such narcissism.
"What do we really want from a male movie star... and the female writers who write about them?"
You got a mouse in your pocket?
That photo of that kid does not say “heartthrob” in my language.
He looks stoned. He looks douchey, but- hey- that’s just me.
I’m a Tom Selleck kind of eye-f/king girl. In every role he’s played I can think of.
Even as he’s aged.
Hombre. A man’s man.
Yes?
As an extra- my 24yr old daughter loves Clint Eastwood.
Even @90+. When you’ve got it/you’ve got it.
"Any actor who dares to don the chocolate-maker’s top hat knows there is no way to make the character fuckable"
I know you're sensitive to criticism of your selection of blog topics, and I try to avoid it but is this sort of tripe worth your attention? I feel like a lesser person for having read the cutout.
Anyway, bulging muscles long, long predated the Marvel phenomenon. Is the writer over 18?
She obviously hasn't seen Timothy's Chanel Blue commercial.
Men who use the word “fuckable” to describe a woman, any woman, are regarded as rude and crude and disgusting. Women who use the word are just as bad.
I am shocked!
I never thought I’d read a comment from MayBee that came an asterisk away from including a vulgarity.
I've got two teenage daughters. They do not find Chalamet remotely attractive.
He's attractive to gay men I think.
BTW, Althouse, do you know Chalamet's next movie is playing a young Bob Dylan?
Ok. I just asked my 17 year old if Timothy Chalamet is a sex symbol. Her reply? "No. Hugh Grant as a pruney old man right now is more of a sex symbol than Timothy Chalamet."
“ BTW, Althouse, do you know Chalamet's next movie is playing a young Bob Dylan?”
Sure. Blogged it a while back. Don’t see much point though. Biopics of musicians…
I somehow think that Cary Grant's role as The Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland in 1933 did not affect his heart throb status.
Well I hope he doesn't force his wife to repetitively have extremely experimental hormonal treatments to try to impregnate her, like Gene Wilder did to Gilda Radner. Which probably killed her.
Kind of puts the screw to Wilder's wistful Willie Wonka performance.
“Ugly women love Twinks.“
Fag hags are real, but Fag hags are not ugly. Otherwise Fags would not be seen with them. Fags want to meet Judy Garland in a Hell’s Kitchen cocktail bar.
Don't know him and haven't seen him act, but he looks awfully pale and thin-boned. He has a pretty face - so the combination might win him some adoring girls that want to confide in him, things like what nail polish they use and so on. He'll get invited to pajama parties - where the girls will tell him about their dates. But they won't be throwing their panties at him.
standard-issue heartthrob characteristics (white, cis, floppy ’90s hair, pouty lips)
Wasn’t he (?) famous for being genderfluid?
"What do we really want from a male movie star... and the female writers who write about them?"
A lot less. Of each.
Chalamet did a pretty good job in Dune. But he was playing 15 year old Paul Atreides. I thought it was the first Dune adaptation that got Paul's age right. Turn's out the dude is almost 28 years old.
synthetic, bulging muscles that looked like CGI but were real
How do you manage that? Synthetic, yet real, muscles that look fake?
I'm fine with Timmy C. He's of course far too young for me, but I find him decently attractive... just not as attractive as the also too-young Chris Hemsworth of synthetic yet real fake-looking muscles. (Hemsworth's willingness to send himself up, as in the Thor movies, is also very appealing.)
Anyway, bulging muscles long, long predated the Marvel phenomenon. Is the writer over 18?
It appeals to some women and not others. That's the toxic trap of diversity taxonomy in color blocs... class blocs that deny individual dignity... of our fairer sex. #judgment #labels #bigotrywritlarge
fag has diverse meanings.
We'll have a gay... full of joy, merry; light-hearted, carefree old time.
Twink as im twinkie, a baked cake, in the shape of a potato, with a cream filling?
He was great on Saturday Night Live
Henry Cavill is every woman's secret boyfriend and man's buddy. Chalamet is a clothes hanger with gorgeous hair.
This movie is going to bomb.
No one wants another Willie Wonka remake.
Women fall into a lot of categories as to what they want in men, probably fewer in what they want from fantasy men that they won't have to rely on in life for anything important.
Gilbar said…
“Serious Question: is there ANYONE, that doesn't see Willy Wonka as an evil person?“
He was only dishing out just desserts.
The twiggy Chalamet was incredibly unconvincing as Henry V in "The King". A muscle-less willowy frame does not lend itself to playing a testosterone filled, sword swinging medieval king. Spent the whole movie wondering what kind of lightweight armor and weapons were made for his pre-adolescent frame in the action scenes.
A couple of Hollywood-focused YouTube channels I watch, talking about the next Aquaman movie, offer that the only thing that would save this movie at the box office would be if women flock to see a shirtless Jason Momoa. And those were women talking. The original Aquaman is one of only two Marvel or DC movies that had more women than men in the opening weekend audience. The other was the first Gal Gadot Wonder Woman.
The presence of Amber Heard, who women apparently hate, in the new Aquaman film might dampen the female audience, though.
The Critical Drinker knows what most people want in a male, action hero.
Big Mike said...
"Men who use the word “fuckable” to describe a woman, any woman, are regarded as rude and crude and disgusting. Women who use the word are just as bad."
Hold my beer! Is Allison P. Davis fuckable?
Now, Chalamet is poised to star as Willy Wonka, perhaps one of the most sexless characters ever put to screen.
No, it's worse than that. Chalamet is going to play him as a sexless dishrag when Gene Wilder has already played him as a god of mischief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrqwn1cOUws
Dune disappointed with the lack of rigor in personal water conservation out in the desert, so the audience could see the actors' faces instead of stillsuit masks. The rest of the movie follows that decision to dumb the story down, leaving out details of importance from the books (Paul crying after his first kill) for no apparent reason other than ease of movie making winning over telling a compelling story.
The Wonka remake has corporate "Big Chocolate" villains in it, a story revision that again smacks of lazy movie making.
As far as the male lead goes, every time gets its own screen hero who excites ambivalent responses. Paul Atreides is above all conflicted. Willie Wonka is above all odd. Chalmet it seems can do both, show internal conflict and act odd, while also being a bit annoying to watch as he does so.
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