Said the actress Melanie Lynskey, describing her response when some unnamed production person asked her, "What do you plan to do? I’m sure the producers will get you a trainer. They’d love to help you with this."
She's quoted in "‘Yellowjackets’ Star Melanie Lynskey Was Body-Shamed on Set – And Her Co-Stars Weren’t Having It" (Yahoo News).
She says: "It was really important to me for [the character she plays] to not ever comment on my body, to not have me putting a dress on and being like, 'I wish I looked a bit better.' I did find it important that this character is just comfortable and sexual and not thinking or talking about it, because I want women to be able to to watch it and be like, 'Wow, she looks like me and nobody’s saying she’s the fat one.' That representation is important."
Apparently, the actor who plays her boyfriend on the show is considered better looking than she is, and some people might say — or worry about other people saying — why is he with her? By the way Melanie Lynskey is in the movie "Don't Look Up," playing the role of the wife of the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio. She was the most believable character in the movie, really seeming like an actual person. In that movie, some characters were cartoons and some were naturalistic.
That can be a problem. Some movies and TV shows have idealized faces, beyond the realm of ordinary people. Other shows look more real. It might be a problem to mix these 2 concepts, but it might work to deliberately pair a beautiful man with an ordinary looking woman, and not just because it's so often been a beautiful woman with an ordinary man and some payback is in order. It can work because the women in the audience want to identify with the female character and enjoy a romantic fantasy.
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37 comments:
"why is he with her?"
Kinky stuff. Money. Unresolved adolescent issues. Sub/Dom stuff. She might have looked better a few years ago. He might have been pimply, ugly, fat himself a few years ago. Common interests. Religion. Background. Family connections. Business. More kinky stuff. Kids.
"why is he with her?" The same reasons we are all with those we are with. I mentioned kinky stuff twice myself for a reason, IYKWIMAITYD. I am a lucky guy.
I've not seen the series, and after looking at the previews probably won't, but I'm guessing this is a series geared toward women? Even if it's for 'everybody' it's written and aired with the purpose of attracting the younger female audience? Can someone who's seen it answer that?
but it might work to deliberately pair a beautiful man with an ordinary looking woman, and not just because it's so often been a beautiful woman with an ordinary man and some payback is in order. It can work because the women in the audience want to identify with the female character and enjoy a romantic fantasy
Used to be those people involved in creating cinematic works considered their work art. They took great pains to create exactly what they wanted to say…
If you want to create a fantasy for women that’s fine but it shouldn’t be an obligation but today you can’t make a movie that doesn’t have obligations.
…and so we’re at a place where Ann whinges thats there is no good satire.
I saw a book the other day about the real life Heavenly Creatures murder and wondered if Melanie and Kate Winslet had also killed somebody in real life so they could get into their roles better.
Now I wonder if they bonded over the shared weight problem, and also if it was hell having to work with Charlie Sheen and the other man and a half.
We normally have good looking leading women in TV/Movies because women want to identify with the female characters. The "Best friend" or the "the wacky neighbor" can be fat or not good looking but the lead needs to be at least pretty. Meg Ryan or Susan Pleshette will do.
A portion of the American public accepted the idea of babs striesand with Redford or Sharriff, but most didn't. Men just want the female character to be a "Nice lovely girl", although I was listening to a podcast about "Shop around the corner" and the male podcasters were claiming Margaret Sullivan wasn't good looking enough. LOL!
I think the war to normalize obesity will never work. Its medically bad for you, its unattractive, and it can be changed. Asking people to accept it, is like pretending a wart on your nose is OK.
In Old Hollywood even the "Best friend" or "comic supporting characters" would be good looking. Cf: Eve Arden or Celeste Holm or Lucille Ball.
Of course, much of this hinges on the believability of an unnamed production person having said what was claimed. I’m skeptical.
Temujin said...
I've not seen the series, and after looking at the previews probably won't, but I'm guessing this is a series geared toward women? Even if it's for 'everybody' it's written and aired with the purpose of attracting the younger female audience? Can someone who's seen it answer that?
Haven't watched it either, but it stars Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci in addition to Melanie Lynskey. That's not a cast that was designed to attract a Zoomer audience.
Half the reason to have these kinds of artistic forms is that we are given license to look at beautiful people for an extended period of time. You would get arrested for staring at beautiful strangers on the street that long, most likely. That's why we have beautiful women singers the vast majority of the time, because it's about looks. So what? It's a formula that works. If they want to make film that appeals to women to sell laundry soap, that's great, just don't try to sell beer to men with beautiful women!
I feel sorry for people who need to identify with an actor based on looks. My inclination is to feel good about an actor if he/she fits the role. Beauty can be required for some roles, but failure to fit the role overall negates any perceived advantage of physical appearance. So it’s about “fit” to me, not any need to see myself as a handsome man. I come by that delusion all on my own independent of movies.
I’m sure the producers will get you a trainer. They’d love to help you with this.
Any nude scenes? Just trying to help. 'Mr. Skin' is forever.
Apparently, the actor who plays her boyfriend on the show is considered better looking than she is, and some people might say — or worry about other people saying — why is he with her?
Because he loves her? Maybe he got burned dating a few highly self-absorbed 10s and wants a woman who isn’t full of herself? Maybe the last woman he dated had memorized every word of the “Nasty Woman” poem that Ashley Judd recited during Trump’s inauguration and was fond of reciting it in front of the poor guy? Maybe he is sophisticated enough to appreciate the woman within more than the external woman? C’mon, work with me here, folks.
I thought Melanie Lynskey was the most attractive woman in 'Don't Look Up'.
I think they handled both of these characters very well. When the show delves into the relationship, it makes total sense that the two would be together. I’ve definitely seen couples were one half might be better looking than the other, and the way they made these characters feels very natural to me.
Interesting that the photo that accompanies the piece shows her sitting down.
I remember seeing The Truth About Cats and Dogs very, very long ago - the Cyrano idea in reverse, I think it was - and buying the premise that the not-as-hot (but still attractive) woman could get the guy on the basis of her personality. But yes, those movies are definitely in the minority.
One reason I liked "Louie" much less than I wanted was because CK kept having affairs with unattractive women. Realistic, but so what? I don't want to see two unattractive borderline obnoxious people have sex or romance for the same reason I want to see two beautiful people have a romance.
You can be physically homely but still attractive if there's some inner beauty. Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler weren't good looking but they made a great couple. Jimmy Durante is in the same category as was phyllis diller. People used to love "Rosie" but that was the fake Rosie O Donnell. Once they found out the real Rosie... people stopped caring.
"Don't Look Up" was instantly forgettable, but, iirc, Leonard DeCaprio played a kind of shlubby academic who was more interested in the pursuit of scientific truth than in such superficial things as personal grooming, fashionable clothes, or maintaining a trim body. I guess in pursuit of this role, he put on a few pounds, wore unpressed clothes, and didn't get a haircut. But my guess is that women could see right through that phony disguise and see Leonard DeCaprio.....The woman who played his wife, iirc, also looked ordinary, but it wasn't a disguise. She was just in the bright normal range when it came to looks. However, she seemed sympathetic and credible and gave off the kind of warmth that is sometimes more magnetic than sex appeal.....She won the battle for Leonard DeCaprio's affections against Cate Blanchett. Cate Blanchett was supposed to be smarter and sleeker than her character. I don't begrudge women their romantic fantasies, but, as reality happens, Leonard DeCaprio doesn't end up with women like Melanie Lynskey or even, for that matter, Cate Blanchett. He mostly parties with twenty three year old bikini models whilst not in pursuit of equitable climate justice.
Apparently, the actor who plays her boyfriend on the show is considered better looking than she is, and some people might say — or worry about other people saying — why is he with her?
Because he loves her? Maybe he got burned dating a few highly self-absorbed 10s and wants a woman who isn’t full of herself? Maybe the last woman he dated had memorized every word of the “Nasty Woman” poem that Ashley Judd recited during Trump’s inauguration and was fond of reciting it in front of the poor guy? Maybe he is sophisticated enough to appreciate the woman within more than the external woman? C’mon, work with me here, folks.
Actually, he is with her because that's what the script said. This is not reality, people...
In 'Don't look up,' Leo looks like a slightly thinner Johan Goldberg.
Grow the F up, Hollywood.
Look at the most successful Brit crime shows. "Vera", "New Tricks", "Inspector Morse", "Midsummer Murders", "Foyle's War".
Very ordinary looking people. Modest production budgets.
Good writing. Ensemble casting of actors who can act.
Good writing.
There, that's not so hard, is it?
'Look at the most successful Brit crime shows. "Vera", "New Tricks", "Inspector Morse", "Midsummer Murders", "Foyle's War".'
It's a big reason I don't watch any American network TV shows.
Every cop, dog trainer, teacher, student, is a supermodel (men and women).
It takes me out of every story. Plus the writing and acting is fairly ordinary.
We are watching 'A Confession' right now starring Martin Freeman and a cast of very ordinary-looking, but extraordinarily gifted actors.
".....a woman who isn’t full of herself?"
******************
But....isn't that EXACTLY her problem?
The face was familiar- she played George Clooney's sister in "Up in the Air"- the one who gets married near the end of the film.
“That can be a problem. Some movies and TV shows have idealized faces, beyond the realm of ordinary people. Other shows look more real. It might be a problem to mix these 2 concepts, but it might work to deliberately pair a beautiful man with an ordinary looking woman, and not just because it's so often been a beautiful woman with an ordinary man and some payback is in order. It can work because the women in the audience want to identify with the female character and enjoy a romantic fantasy.”
Non-reality mid-day TV? Esp in soap operas, the guys are mostly hot, and the women not. In The Young And The Useless, stately Victor Neumann has two boys and a girl. His boys are both really hot, and their supposed sister, Vicky, is a two bagger. Typical. They are all like Pretty Woman, on steroids, with the town whore stealing the heart of the richest guy in town, and then fighting with all the other women who have done the same thing, for their attentions. Lifetime and Hallmark movies aren’t much better (there is a lot of cycling between soaps and these movies).
In real life, there is very often an implicit trade involved, with one partner trading their greater wealth, power, status, etc, for the other’s attractiveness. It sounds mercenary, but in reality, it is just most people sorting themselves by desirability, then pairing up with someone of similar status or position in the hierarchy. Academics have done studies that have found that humans sort themselves like that amazingly quickly. Traditionally, males were able to trade their power for women’s beauty.
It’s all about their children and grandchildren. Perfect features? That translates into superior health, which means a better chance that their children survive, and have successful grandchildren. Rich or powerful? That translates into access to more resources, thus, again increasing the chances of having more children live and have grandchildren. Etc. We instinctively sort by status because we are all instinctively striving for the same thing - the best chances for more and healthier grandchildren. It’s, naturally, very Darwinian. In a monogamous society, you should pretty much expect what we see, those with similar rank in desirability matching up. Which is why most everyone thinks that it is fine if Vicki Neumann (ugly but really rich father) gets hot guys, but the straight guys, at least, cringe, whenever the Julia Roberts types get the good looking rich guys, again and again. The mid day mostly female bon bon crowd likes to dream. But the rest of us know that it isn’t anywhere near reality.
I haven’t seen the movie but…there’s Leo then…and Leo now.
"Apparently, the actor who plays her boyfriend on the show is considered better looking than she is, and some people might say — or worry about other people saying — why is he with her? "
If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
So from my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you
A pretty woman makes her husband look small
And very often causes his downfall
As soon as he marries her, then she starts
To do the things that will break his heart
But if you make an ugly woman your wife
You'll be happy for the rest of your life
An ugly woman cooks her meals on time
She'll always give you peace of mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ZJiBHh-Yw&ab_channel=Paranoia
Well..apparently her hubby cheats on her. Very empowering.
Also, there's a cannibalism element. Maybe excess lbs would inadvertently paint her as a target.
There was reaction on Internet when Keanu Reeves openly brought a normal looking woman, an artist who he knows a long time and the actor is only now subjecting her to ‘red carpet’ stuff.
"Her co-stars Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis rallied around her in support"
I've seen Christina naked, and I've seen Juliette really, really naked, but I've never seen Tawny naked (until today).
Christina, in her prime, for the win.
I have no interest in seeing Melanie naked.
Everyone we see in the movies is relatively attractive. Get out of L.A. and visit a Walmart -- that's what "real" people look like.
@Gypsy Jenni:
Yes, I remember my initial reaction when first glancing at the photo: "oh, how refreshing, he brought his mother to some sort of Hollywood event".
After watching several of them, I realized that those Hallmark Christmas movies must be deliberately casting them so that the female lead is just a little older than, and about two steps down from, the male lead. Typically the woman is about a 6.5 whereas the guy is at least an 8. Playing to the female audience's fantasies.
So I had to go look. The pic of Ms Lynskey that comes up first (the same for the show and movie) is OK facewise. Certainly no worse than Blanchett's for the movie (but I never thought she was all that, anyway). As to weight, I can't see enough of her to tell, and I'm not averse to some flesh if it's carried well.
I can't comment on the show boyfriend, since I don't know which hunk he is.
I've always found Ms. Lyndsey attractive. And yes, I have seen her in a nude scene.
Regardless of her appearance, she speaks like an airhead.
Well..apparently her hubby cheats on her. Very empowering.
Other way around.
This will all be over when Hollywood cuts bait and just uses virtual actors.
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