# Am I wrong to be in love with Jennifer Lawrence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361 "2014-06-08T23:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/41 "2014-06-09T17:05:34Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > And these are bad things how? Because it risks pleasing males. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/42 "2014-06-09T17:09:07Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I assume, despite the name, that the OP is a woman. Say what? C’mon, I’ve been here for eleven years. Everybody knows I’m not a woman! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/43 "2014-06-09T17:30:41Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [You love her because she’s a cool girl.](http://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/jennifer-lawrence-and-the-history-of-cool-girls) She’s funny, chill and just one of the guys, but looks like a supermodel. > > I wouldn’t say she’s any more or less PR managed than any other movie star, but she’s every movie studio PR department’s wet dream. The article comes a across as a little bitchy. Sort of like the author is bent out of shape because men are attracted to attractive women who don’t act like aloof bitches or pretentious little princesses. Nothing against J.Law, but her “cool girl” image is as much manufactured PR as any other celebrities. It’s like creating a brand. Marketing and PR people craft an image of a celebrity, largely based off of what research polls and focus groups have determined people already like (or don’t like) about them. Sort of like they are cast in the roll of playing themselves in real life. So what happens is Jennifer Lawrence gets cast as the charming goofball who is a refreshing contrast to the sullen character she plays in Hunger Games. Kristen Stewart gets cast as the sullen mope who is exactly like the character she plays in Twilight. Anne Hathaway plays the perfect actress everyone hates for being perfect. So on and so forth. Kind of like that movie This is The End. I have no idea if James Franco, Seth Rogan and the rest of the cast are like that IRL. But they are playing “real life” versions of themselves based on what people think they must be IRL. IOW, what you are seeing IS the Hollywood product of “Jennifer Lawrence, Real Person[sup]TM[/sup]” ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/44 "2014-06-09T17:51:43Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > …she’s every movie studio PR department’s wet dream. Every _heterosexual man_ and _probably a lot of lesbians_’ wet dream, except that lesbians can’t have wet dreams, except that they _can_. Seriously, though, she’s good-looking without being _too_ good-looking. Unlike e.g. Kim Basinger in her prime she isn’t inhumanly attractive, she’s at the very top end of the normal scale. Unlike the aforementioned Russian/Ukrainian porn models she doesn’t look bored and nervous all the time, probably because she isn’t generally asked to stand around naked for four hours while a middle-aged man and his assistants use a mixture of threats and shouting to get her to spread her butt cheeks. I think it’s accepted that she’s out of the league of all but the wealthiest bankers and fellow actors, but you could imagine perhaps being trapped in an elevator with her, or maybe you are the airline pilot who rescues the plane in which she is a passenger, or perhaps you fight off a bunch of muggers as she staggers drunkenly from a dive bar… which would never happen with someone like Beyonce, she would be surrounded with bodyguards all the time. So, yes, as a fantasy object there are contexts in which a man could imagine meeting her and… you know, _kissing_… whereas with other stars there is no chance at all. And she seems _regular_, whereas e.g. Anne Hathway _you just know_ goes out with a bearded hipster who knows all the fine wines and has expensive trainers and by God I hate him already. I think of her trying to grab the Oscar from Lupita N’Yongo - who’s another “am I wrong to be in love with” candidate, because she looks _fantastic_ and comes across as a likeable sort that (again) you might imagine meeting: [http://www.popsugar.com/Jennifer-Lawrence-Lupita-Nyongo-Award-Season-Photos-34282693](http://www.popsugar.com/Jennifer-Lawrence-Lupita-Nyongo-Award-Season-Photos-34282693) She’s obviously playing up for the camera, being a luvvie, you could uncharitably say that she was trying to overshadow the competition, but _even if she was_ trying to draw the cameras towards her, you have to admire her ability to do it without seeming greedy. That takes brains and a certain amount of nous. Or the incident where she hugged a disabled child at the opening of _The Hunger Games_, which again was done in full view of the cameras and might have just been grandstanding, but she could have just shook her hand or waved at her. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/45 "2014-06-09T18:11:08Z")
Yikes. It’s obvious that she’s out of everyone’s league. So? I can’t imagine that the OP or anyone else here imagines themselves actually pursuing a romantic relationship with the poor girl. I sure don’t. For that matter, I’m also in love with Audrey Hepburn and Anna Karina, and they’re not only out my league, they’re actually dead. I wasn’t aware that real life possibilities had anything to do with celebrity crushes. And I don’t think of any of them while I’m in the shower, either. So when the OP says platonic, I, for one, take his word for it. We don’t have to get creepy about this. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/46 "2014-06-09T18:32:27Z")
I was blown away by her in American Hustle. She was the best actor in the film, and it was filled with not just good actors, but best of their generation actors. The recent X-men movie was a hot mess, but she made all her scenes very sympathetic. I haven’t seen Hunger Games or her other stuff yet. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/47 "2014-06-09T19:48:01Z")
I thought she was very good in _American Hustle_, but let’s be honest, the worst thing for her was that Amy Adams was also cast in the movie. AA acted circles around her, and Bradley Cooper. Christian Bale managed to hold his own. JL is good, but she’s no Meryl Streep. She’s just a solid, bankable actress. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/48 "2014-06-09T23:28:55Z")
It’d be more remarkable if you weren’t in love with her. I had never heard of her when I went to see **X-Men: First Class**. I found her looks and performance unusually captivating. Been a fan ever since. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/49 "2014-06-09T23:44:23Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > I’ll suggest “Winter’s Bone”. Yes, seconded. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/50 "2014-06-09T23:58:22Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Yes, seconded. And no, you are not wrong. She is lovely. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/51 "2014-06-10T14:57:34Z")
She’s lovely, pretty and expressive; she’s got both good screen presence and acting chops. Her personality strikes me as just… weird. I don’t think it’s artificial. If anything, her people encourage such behavior because the public is responding positively. This idea that she’s “down to earth” or “so grounded” is total bunk. She’s just weird. The crazy thoughts she verbalizes, the funny stuff she does in public or to her co-workers, it’s only endearing because she’s gorgeous. It also works because she doesn’t have a regular job. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/52 "2014-06-11T02:15:55Z")
So today I picked up a copy of “American Hustle”, so that I can at least claim I’ve seen her in something besides YouTube videos and the first Hunger Games movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/53 "2014-06-11T02:19:14Z")
On a side note, I just watched “The Starving Games” (a spoof of Hunger Games) on Netflix, and the lead actress in that movie, [Maiara Walsh](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2118666/?ref_=rvi_nm) (playing “Cantmiss Evershot”) is a virtual twin of a girl I met and fell in love with the summer before my senior year in high school. It’s those eyes … ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/54 "2014-06-11T02:52:24Z")
…my favourite Jennifer Lawrence moment: I'm not "in love" with Jennifer Lawrence, but she seems like a genuinely nice person and I don't think that it is some grand publicist conspiracy. She doesn't go home and stab kittens. But if I ever found out that she did, I might like her just a tad less. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/55 "2014-06-11T06:01:34Z")
I met her once. In passing. YEARS ago. She’s from Louisville, KY, and I’ve lived there for several years. This was way before she became famous or anything. She was a sweet girl. I didn’t even recognize her once she became a household name. Friend of mine had to point out that I’d met her. It was “Kevin Bacon” kinda thing. I have a friend who has a friend whose son went to school with her. Or something like that. Without a scorecard, I couldn’t tell you for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/56 "2014-06-11T18:53:32Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > I wasn’t aware that real life possibilities had anything to do with celebrity crushes. I think the appeal isn’t just the idea of being _with_ the celebrity in question, it’s the idea of _being_ the celebrity. That’s part of the appeal of Hello and OK! magazine and so forth. It’s fantasy wish-fulfilment. Women like to imagine George Clooney sweeping them off their feet, but they also like to imagine that they are Hollywood stars themselves, being invited to nightclubs and appearing on television, being the centre of attention all the time. Jennifer Lawrence fills that need because her life seems pretty sorted and everybody likes her. From a man’s point of view she seems like the kind of person who would pretend to laugh at your jokes, even if they weren’t funny. Marriages have been built on less than that. I want to stress that I don’t _personally_ love Jennifer Lawrence. It’s silly to be in love with video footage of somebody you’ve never met, and it’s especially silly to be in love with something that doesn’t love you back. No, I do not love Jennifer Lawrence. I cannot love her; I have promised my heart to Holly Hunter and I am a man of my word. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/57 "2014-06-12T01:53:18Z")
I think some people in this thread are being way too cynical. Of course she has a publicist, and worries about her public image. She’d be a fool not to. And of course there’s a certain amount of crafting around the persona she projects. That’s part of her job description. But if you’re an absolute asshole, an idiot, an awful person; there’s no way you can fake not being one for that long. You’ll get in a fight, you’ll blow some poor server or someone off, you’ll just act like a douche or an arrogant idiot. So far she hasn’t done so. She’s certainly putting on a show sometimes, but if she wasn’t genuinely at least a toned down version of the person she presents, that show would have fallen apart a long time ago. Basically, she probably is a decent goofy person, quite fetching, and a very talented actress. So that works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/58 "2014-06-12T02:16:29Z")
Agreed on all that, **Larry**. She’s great - and smokin’ hot - in the two most recent _X-Men_ movies, and in _Silver Linings Playbook_, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/59 "2014-06-12T02:29:09Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > I cannot love her; I have promised my heart to Holly Hunter and I am a man of my word. While I also promised Holly MY heart, I will concede her to you. So long as I’m allowed one in my triumvirate: 1. [Drew](http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/celebdatabase/drewbarrymore/drew_barrymore1_300_400.jpg) 2. [Zooey](http://images4.alphacoders.com/193/193734.jpg), or 3. [Rashida](http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa251/Folk_Blues/Rashida_Jones_Legs.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361/60 "2014-06-12T03:03:41Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > I think the appeal isn’t just the idea of being _with_ the celebrity in question, it’s the idea of _being_ the celebrity. That’s part of the appeal of Hello and OK! magazine and so forth. It’s fantasy wish-fulfilment. Women like to imagine George Clooney sweeping them off their feet, but they also like to imagine that they are Hollywood stars themselves, being invited to nightclubs and appearing on television, being the centre of attention all the time. I don’t know. Maybe there’s a difference between men and women here. The way I see it, the main advantage of celebrity crushes is that these people are safe targets for our adoration. There is no fear of rejection, because 1) we’ll never even meet them, since they inhabit a higher plane of existence from us mere mortals, and 2) although they obviously \*would \*reject us (if they even took the time to spit in our eye) if it came to that, they’re so far out of \*every \*normal person’s league that it wouldn’t actually reflect badly on us. Contrast this with relationships in real life, where our self esteem is always on the line, and things can get messy fast. So, the point is neither actually being with the celebrity (not gonna happen), \*or \*being a celebrity ourselves (if we inhabited the same Mount Olympus of stardom as them, we would meet as equals and all the real life issues would show up again). Their remoteness itself is the main attraction. Plus, we all get to share the love. No jealousy issues. So that’s nice, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-wrong-to-be-in-love-with-jennifer-lawrence/690361.md?page=4)