I enjoy watching TV – probably more than I care to admit. However, as a mother in my 40s, I’m finding a lot of the casting choices for “moms” to be a bit disturbing these days.
How is it that as I get older, the actresses playing women my age are getting younger? Hollywood, it seems, is uncomfortable with the idea of casting age appropriate actresses to play mothers. No wonder more and more women over 40 are struggling with body image issues these days; we don’t know what “real” women look like anymore. We’ve got models, barely out of puberty selling us wrinkle cream and 30 year old actresses playing mothers to 20 somethings!
I realize that the entertainment industry is a shallow one where a nice set of boobs trumps the most prestigious of theatre degrees, but would it kill anybody to have people act their age sometimes? Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:
Amy Pohler played Rachel McAdams’ mother in the movie “Mean Girls” even though Amy was 33 and Rachel was 27.
In the movie “The Watchmen” Carla Gugino played Malin Ackerman’s mom, which would be a neat trick, considering they are only 7 years apart.
And as good as Angelina Jolie is, could they not have found an older actress to play Colin Farrell’s mother in “Alexander” since she is a mere 12 months older than he is?!
While I believe that Hollywood is doing women a huge disservice by misleading them about their age, the bigger crime is in how they’re misleading our kids about theirs. If you’ve seen any teen shows lately, you’ve probably noticed the lack of teens that are actually on them! Kids are trying so hard to live up to unrealistic images put out by the media everyday and these shows aren’t helping.
Shows like Vampire Diaries and The O.C. cast actors in their 20s to play teens and have actors in their 30s playing their parents! On what planet does this make sense? As a result, both boys and girls are feeling like their bodies just don’t measure up. What they don’t realize is that they’re comparing their own healthy, age-appropriate physiques to those of young adults. This isn’t just a “girl thing,” either. Have you seen actor Trevor Donovan who plays a teenager on 90210? This “kid” is 31 years old and looks like he’s spent most of those years lifting weights at the gym!
These are just a few of the many examples that are out there right now. No wonder so many young boys are feeling insecure about themselves. If it were up to me, Hollywood would be doing a little less judging and a lot more entertaining!
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