Vaguely disturbing

Vaguely disturbing

: james_nicoll; April 22nd, 2008

I like to think I am aware enough of the ways media try to manipulate my perceptions to resist them. I had a recent proof that this is not true when as I was channel-surfing I came across an older movie that I didn't immediately recognize. My first thought on seeing the lead was that she was chubby for the lead in what was clearly a Hollywood movie. On closer examination I realized that I was watching

Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs.

This means my subconscious expectations for what a female lead should look like have been rewritten since 1991.

( Read 29 comments — Leave a comment )

mckitterick

2008-04-22 04:33 pm (UTC)

Jodie Foster... "chubby"?

Wow, this is what I get for not having television for a few years. Apparently actresses these days are starving to death?

james_nicoll

2008-04-22 04:48 pm (UTC)

Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs. 1991, so she was 29.

Jodie Foster in Flightplan. 2005, age 44.

sanguinity

2008-04-22 04:57 pm (UTC)

That first is a screen-cap, right? I prefer to compare poster-to-poster, or screen-cap to screen-cap, to cancel the effect of airbrushing.

...Not that it made much difference. :-/

james_nicoll

2008-04-22 05:04 pm (UTC)

Helen Hunt 1990 vs Helen Hunt 2000 should also work to demonstrate this trend, I believe. However, mentioning HH makes me think of Mad About You and thinking about MAY makes me think of that stupid, stupid plotline about Jamie's horrific transgression against her marriage when some guy kissed her without (as I recall) asking. In an unrelated matter, I do not believe the show had any female writers at that time.