The Different Ways Men and Women Respond to Actors; Or Why Do Women Hate Zooey Deschanel?

Santino, that wasn’t a serious question. Read between the lines lad.

And Mary, yes thank you. That is exactly the type of face I’m talking about.

Santino hit the nail on the head. It’s not about a big pair of tits or nice ass like you’re making it seem us walking penises are talking about. It is her charm. It’s not about masturbating to her picture it’s about liking her personality, or at the very least her persona.

I wouldn’t expect to see Diane Keaton playing Lady Macbeth but no one would hesitate to call her a talented actress. So no I do not see Deschanel rising above her persona the way some male heart throbs like DiCaprio have done, but I still think she’s talented at what she does and I like her a lot.

The reason why Diane Keaton couldn’t play Lady Macbeth is because since she wears gloves… she could easily just throw them into the fire instead of having a guilt ridden hand washing session.

Wasn’t Baby Boom an updated version of Macbeth?

Or am I thinking of something else

maybe…hmm

@"You can hate on Deschanel all you want, but that won’t stop her from being hot as hell!"

The Nathan kid really digs Zooey ha-ha!

My gal friends said they disliked ZD the same reason they hated Sarah Silverman- I didn’t care enough to ask what they meant by that. Overexposure, perhaps?

Back to Jason Bateman’s rape face in Juno…

Totally wants in her pants.

This time Miss little 13 going on 30 is in on the fun too, look at that rape juice spilled on her shirt.

Zooey is boring, Jason Bateman is where the fun is at.

Matt said, Geez, next you guys are gonna tell me you didn’t like Parker Posey in the ’90s either. :(

Matt’s probably joking around a bit, but that’s an interesting comparison—as I think Posey’s persona is somewhat similar to Deschanel’s. I don’t think Posey had the same sex-appeal, nor did see crossover into mainstream stardom.

@Odi

People, basing whether you like an actor or actress solely on sex appeal is well, very gonad-ical. That’s why I said, “get a magazine and go to the bathroom to enjoy yourself.”

And this is why this thread is irritating me. If you like a person’s acting, let THAT be the reason you like them, not because you want to screw them. You can want to screw them too, but if you don’t respect what they do for a living, then um, you’re kinda de-humanizing and objectifying them.

And talking about either men OR women that way is, while human, rather repulsive to me.

But hey, you want to be a walking penis or a hole for all, your choice.

Wow. I really have to disagree with this characterization of the thread. To reduce the discussion in the way that you have is totally off-base, imo. Personally, I’m interested in the differences in the way men and women respond to actors—this includes sex appeal, for sure, but that’s not the only thing I’m talking about. Indeed, I’ve tried several times to point out that one’s reaction—positive or negative—probably isn’t strictly due to physical attraction/sex appeal.

@Den

I am talking specifically when Clooney tries to make “serious” or chancy work (Americans, Solaris, Ides, Syrianna).

He makes them as cold and lacking in entertainment value as any movie star I have ever seen.

I know where you’re coming from, but I still find this statement a bit odd. Are you saying he’s too stuffy—as if he can’t be fun and entertaining in a serious film? I mean, I’m not sure how he could have made the films more entertaining in the way that you seem to mean. Imo, these films don’t completely succeed (the ones that don’t entirely succeed, anyway) because Clooney is too serious to entertain, but they’re lacking in drama or ideas. For example, in Ides of March, I personally didn’t find the observations on American politics to be very revelatory, or I didn’t necessarily agree with them. In terms of serious ideas, I want to say, “Where’s the beef?” In any event, I think this has little to do with his acting abilities or his screen persona. I like that he’s willing to play various roles, including being a little goofy. I do think that his range and depth as a dramatic actor is limited, but in the right roles, he’s a pretty effective actor.

Drew said, Santino hit the nail on the head. It’s not about a big pair of tits or nice ass like you’re making it seem us walking penises are talking about. It is her charm. It’s not about masturbating to her picture it’s about liking her personality, or at the very least her persona.

I feel the same way as Drew. Most of these polarizing actors—male or female—are generally good looking—which makes sense because a lot of movie actors are very physically attractive. But that’s precisely the reason looks alone or “hotness” doesn’t explain the divisiveness of the actor in question. Getting to the qualities beyond the physical appearances—as well as seeing differences between men and women—is where I thought the discussion could be interesting.

It all makes sense now…

Rape face for a prego teen.

I think the point of this topic is done now, Juno has been fully analysed and Zooey Deschanel isn’t not getting jobs based on how or not she looks or how or not she has talent, but because she’s in a family line of famous people. I don’t think that occurred to anyone at this point in time, granted I skimmed over some posts so might have missed someone turn on the lightbulb.

man, looks like I picked the wrong day to spend 8 hours driving and 4 hours covering/writing up a softball game.

I like Zooey, and I don’t feel that we are being force fed her image, it’s not like she’s a Kardashian or some other horrible reality bullshit.

But I fully understand the force fed bit, and so we rebel against it and choose hate over even tolerance, look at the Britney Spears backlash, it’s kind of like people who are into films are forced to accept Kubrick as great (yeah, I just fuckin’ said that), and the Tarantino backlash is also pretty strong.

My bigger issue is, why must Zooey be labelled as hipster?

She is a beta male’s fantasy girl, for real, but i i think she is a less attractive version of Katy Perry, and she is very annoying to me.

As for girls not being jealous of other girls looks LOL. c’mon, let’s not even pretend that isn’t true! BUT i think women are more jealous of women they are in direct competition with, but there are a few psychos that are in imaginary competition with women their boyfriends admire like Jessica Alba.

Alba smokes Zooey imo, but hey, just an opinion.

“My bigger issue is, why must Zooey be labelled as hipster?”

Maybe it’s because it’s a label she self-consciously cultivated by following all the right “cues”?

Maybe it’s because she was married to this guy? (whose music somehow makes her music seem not so bland and generic)

It’s not that I dislike her, so much as that she’s one of those actors who bleeds her on stage persona into her real life persona, and that comes off as irritating. Kind of like how Dwayne Johnson used to go by ‘The Rock’ even when he wasn’t wrestling.

There’s definitely >>>>>>>>>>*average*<<<<<<<<<<<< differences between the way men and women respond to actors and actresses. I’m not sure Zooey is a good example. I think some women are annoyed that aggressively seductive Hollywood women cause men to have those same expectations for them, kind of like the way African Americans don’t like it when black actors play black stereotypes.

“I think some women are annoyed that aggressively seductive Hollywood women cause men to have those same expectations for them”

Maybe, but it could also be because they know deep down that these women are often not particularly talented and therefore undeserving.

Yeah, but neither are their male counterparts. ;)

Jazz — I know your intention for this thread was different but I keep reading “hot” over and over again and well, that current is running rather strongly here even though I know you’ve been trying to steer it elsewhere.

^^Odi, would you prefer us to start elimination rounds based on looks then?

Does anyone want to start? Alba Vs Deschanel? You up for it chaps? ;-)

Ah whatever, Joks. The point I was trying to make is that … I don’t even know anymore.

Let the mud wrestling begin.

Yes, and please refer to the discussion I was having with Santino. That’s where there I think we went beyond the “hot” part.

My point:

If you like how someone acts and how they look too, I have no problem with that.

I don’t really have a problem with people having erections because they’re attracted to someone either.

But I do have a problem with the unrealistic emphasis on beauty that is the burden of many actresses in Hollywood. You may say “that’s the way it is,” but I don’t have to agree with it.

AND

Santino: I think most people would say Michelle Williams is a pretty girl but I didn’t think much of her until I actually was blown away by one of her performances. Now, the more I see her act in a film where she gives a rockin’ performance, the more physically attractive she is to me.

And that to me is legit, Santino. If you are lucky enough to have talent and looks, you are blessed. One only hopes though that those who are not physically beautiful will have some opportunity to charm their audience into the same state of paralysis that physical beauty brings…

AND THAT, dear friends, is at the bottom of why SOME women may find the “HOT” crap annoying. If that is the FIRST word you say when describing a woman, you either need to admit that as Ruby said, it’s rather sexist, OR you need to either not make it the first word in your assessment OR explain that ’"HOT" is not, as Mary said, just a hormonal response.

And btw I’m not accusing anyone here of being one way or another, I’m just generally annoyed by that kind of vibe in general. And while I understand that it’s a natural response to be turned on by beauty, and there is nothing the matter with that, when you are a woman and you get that kind of look so OBVIOUSLY and in such a hungry way, well, it makes you rather feel like prey. A piece of meat to be consumed. It’s somewhat uncomfortable and threatening. And to hear about other attractive women being discussed that way reminds you of that experience VIVIDLY.

So I think that this is rather a legitimate response to the overwhelming use of the word “hot” when talking about attractive women in general. In the sense that I am speaking of it, my aversion to this term being used to describe a woman as the the first word in a description and mentioned numerous times has nothing whatsoever to do with jealousy — it has to do with sympathy.

Mary — YES, MOUND!!!! :D

Not to sound repetitive but clearly Stephen missed it: Zooey is also attractive because her father is a rockin’ DP. I once had a dream where I met her and I all could do was ask her questions about her father. haha

^ I saw that comment, Santino. :D

I think women flock to the movies to see hot actors to the same extent as, if not more than men. See: Gerard Butler, Zac Efron, What’s-his-name sexy vampire, every romantic comedy ever made. Let’s just go ahead and admit that.

^^Women will never admit it. It’s part of the double standard we have in our society. Women are allowed to have their preferences, but we aren’t. Don’t you know the rules? If you live in Canada/Australia/U.S/U.K you ought to know that by now ;-)

I think Alba is smoking, but i will never watch one of her films.

“And btw I’m not accusing anyone here of being one way or another, I’m just generally annoyed by that kind of vibe in general. And while I understand that it’s a natural response to be turned on by beauty, and there is nothing the matter with that, when you are a woman and you get that kind of look so OBVIOUSLY and in such a hungry way, well, it makes you rather feel like prey. A piece of meat to be consumed. It’s somewhat uncomfortable and threatening. And to hear about other attractive women being discussed that way reminds you of that experience VIVIDLY.”

I understand that Odi, but it’s also the nature of the beast(i.e attraction and mating).

Primitive, but undeniably essential. It’s true that sometimes we can go over the top though, and for that i apologise(for the entire male species).

we cool now? :-)

^Yeah, I don’t know any guy who doesn’t find Jessica Alba attractive but none of them would ever watch any of her films.

(except Machete, of course. But that’s because it’s Machete)

And yet Twilight was one of the biggest cultural phenomena of the last five years.

But, hey, I am kind of a sexist (I did start this thread!) :P

It is true, when a lot of men get together and talk about women solely based on their looks, it creates the impression that a woman is being defined based on her appeal to the sexual desires of men. I can see how constant exposure to that could make a woman feel belittled.

Then again, a lot of women judge men based on their assertiveness and their income. Maybe that’s why men hate playboys and rich people? ;)

^Women will never admit it. It’s part of the double standard we have in our society. Women are allowed to have their preferences, but we aren’t. Don’t you know the rules? If you live in Canada/Australia/U.S/U.K you ought to know that by now ;-)

Joks — stop making generalizations!

Also, I don’t expect an apology from mankind, I expect an acknowledgment that, as Jirin said, that sort of talk CAN be belittling to women.

I won’t admit to going to see movies because someone is ripped because plain and simple, I don’t do that. As I said before, if the actor is good in it, fine. If not, I’m not wasting my money.

Come on guys, as cinephiles you ought to be respecting a movie because it is an art form, right? What’s with all this “come on, admit it” stuff? Do you REALLY believe in these generalizations? Really?

Ugh. Sorry, Jazz. But while I know that some people are happy to follow the leader, to make huge generalizations about “women are gatherers and men are hunters” does not bring a discussion to a deeper place. It seems we can’t get away from painting everyone with the same brush here. And it’s completely ridiculous.