An interesting article regarding movie critics' "critiques" of Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/23/jennifer_lawrence_s_body_not_skinny_enough_to_play_katniss_.html
If you were too lazy to click, here are some of the things the critics have said:
The New York Times' Manohla Dargis writes: "A few year ago, Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission."
The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy writes: "Lawrence is one of those performers the camera loves; her appearance alters in different scenes and shots -- lingering baby fat shows here, she resembles a Cleopatra there -- and she can convey a lot by doing a little. An idea screen actress."
Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells writes: "Lawrence seems too big for Hutcherson. She's a fairy tall, big-boned lady (I've been in a hotel room with her) who's maybe 5'8", and he seems to be something like 5'7". Male romantic figures have to be at least as tall as their female partners, and we all know most girls like guys to be at least a little bit taller, so Lawrence and Hutcherson don't seem like a good fit. It almost looks like she has to bend over a bit to give him a hug. (Hemsworth, a six-footer or thereabouts, had no problem on this score.)"
Other than the fact that Jeffrey Wells seems to have an odd composition style, some of these critics' writings bothered me. Here's why:
1. The casting directors of the film did not cast particularly skinny people in this movie, period. It would seem then that the subject of weight, though starvation is definitely present in the story, was not something they cared to physically focus on in the film. And that's fine. That's an artistic decision. If they didn't want Lawrence to look super slim in the movie, that was their choice.
2. Why harp on Jennifer? Why not harp on Josh or Liam? They didn't look like they were starving either. In fact, Liam looked like a guy who goes to the gym on a daily basis. If they wanted to talk about physical inaccuracies, his is probably the most obvious throughout the film.
3. Todd McCarthy's "lingering baby fat" just seems off-topic in that sentence. It's an unnecessary addition and just makes me go...
4. Katniss Everdeen hunts. She's athletic, she's tough; she clearly has muscle mass because of what she does and in all likelihood she wouldn't have looked like a twig. So really, Jennifer looked fine for the character she was playing.
5. Male romantic figures DO NOT need to be taller than their female counterparts. Where the hell kind of imaginary movie rule book are you pulling that shit from?
This is the problem with Hollywood. And I know I may be redundant when I say this, but the problem with Hollywood and with our society in general is the obsessive scrutinizing of women's bodies. Women are all either too thin, too big, too tall, too short, too muscular, too fragile, too feminine, too womanly, too masculine, too plain.
And we all wonder why women feel so much pressure to look a certain way. The images we see all around us tell us that we're not good enough, that we're not beautiful until we fit the standard of beauty.
The standard of beauty is far from being the only form of beauty though. The standard may be beautiful, but beauty is so subjective and it looks like a million different things. Sticking by the standard is Hollywood's way of churning out a bunch of similar movies with similar looking women playing similar roles.
Women are more multi-dimensional than Hollywood would like us to think, which is why Katniss Everdeen is such an important character. She breaks those standards - and I'm not talking beauty. Standards in how women should act, what women should care about, what women should strive for. I like to think of her as the anti-Bella Swan. She's her own person and you know damn well what she believes in and what she'll fight for. It's not often we see strong female protagonists on film who aren't just there to make the main guy look good. So frankly, I don't care how Katniss looks. I'm just glad we have her and the portrayal of her in this film was pitch perfect.
And to tell the truth, I don't know what these critics are snorting; but whatever it is, it can't be too healthy because Jennifer Lawrence for reals is GORGEOUS. Like, I didn't watch the movie 3 fucking times in the course of a week just for the costume design.
Really, let's be honest here.
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