# Thinking Gillian Anderson doesn't look like Scully any more = sexism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2016, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948 "2016-01-23T05:56:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/61 "2016-01-23T17:51:56Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Hell, I didn’t even like the X-Files that much, and the only other thing I remember Anderson from is from the one episode of Broadchurch I watched. She’s got a vert distinctive face, and has barely aged at all in the last decade and a half. The idea that she’s unrecognizable now as the same person is just bizarre. But she’s _older_. Older women are, by definition, worth less. Female actors, especially older ones, are routinely paid less than their male counterparts, regardless of their achievements or degree of fame. How anyone could even entertain the thought that Gillian Anderson was offered half of Duchovny’s salary because she no longer looks like Gillian Anderson boggles the mind. I’d have to agree that the stupidity of the notion far outweighs any sexism involved. And I do think there’s some sexism involved in the way that we evaluate the attractiveness of older men and women. For a funny take on this, see I[nside Amy Schumer: Last F\*\*kable Day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPpsI8mWKmg). **Soundtrack definitely NSFW.** What I hear the OP saying is that Gillian Anderson is worth less money because she is well beyond her last F\*\*kable Day. Nija’ed! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/62 "2016-01-23T18:00:59Z")
Another vote that she looks like [Stella](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294189/) not Scully. A lot of male actors changed looks far more. Val Kilmer and Mickey Rourke are two infamous examples. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/63 "2016-01-23T18:02:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t know about sexist, but that’s some powerful stupid you got going for you there. I mean, it’s been what, fifteen years since the series ended? What’s Scully _supposed_ to look like fifteen years later? And how is that different from what Gillian Anderson looks like, fifteen years later? Also, why should that have an impact on how much Anderson gets paid? Agreed. It’s “sexist” only if you answer “no” to, “If Anderson looked more like Scully and Duchovny looked less like Mulder, than should he be paid less than her because of it?”. However, assuming “it’s just not _The X-Files_ without both Mulder and Scully,” and, “it’s just not Mulder if it’s not David Duchovny, and it’s just not Scully if it’s not Gillian Anderson,” they should be paid the same. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/64 "2016-01-23T18:17:09Z")
I can see where people are coming from when they say that my opinion is possibly sexist, and that what I said certainly sounds like an opinion of someone who is sexist. I cannot provide any meaningful rebuttal to the idea that on the surface it sounds sexist, because I recognize that people are wary when women are treated differently than men. I understand the cautiousness of people claiming that when I say I’d make the same statement in reverse the fact that I actually haven’t tends to point to the fact that I’m being sexist even though I know in my heart of hearts that what I said is the absolute truth. I guess what I take away from this is that I need to be a bit more careful in making statements that are negative toward specific women even if they are based solely on the merits of that particular woman. This sort of thing is something that people like me have to learn from experience, because it makes absolutely no sense when viewed from my logical perspective. I know my opinion wasn’t sexist because it’s simply based on a very simple fact of recognition of the actress, so I fail to see when others notice that it has the appearance of sexism because of their full recognition and lack of understanding of the reasons behind my statement. I was failing to understand how my comments were being perceived by other people, which is a common fault of mine, since I generally lack an understanding of the emotional intricacies that drive other people’s reactions. Thank you for your responses; they have been enlightening. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/65 "2016-01-23T18:20:12Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Glowacks, tell these folks to check out Gillian Anderson as a police commander in the Netflix original series “The Fall.” She may not look like she did 20 years ago, but damn is she FINE! If anything, she’s grown into an even more interesting, powerful actor – along the lines of Helen Mirren. > > Anderson is also quite an active actor, especially in the UK (she is quasi-British, spent her youth in England). The X-Files reboot is actually extremely lucky to have landed her again. The Fall is a BBC/RTE production, not a Netflix original, but you are bang-on about everything else. Anderson has certainly done a wider and more interesting range of stuff than Duchovny has post X-Files. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/66 "2016-01-23T21:05:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Not really. If one has had a much more successful career and is in more demand, then he or she is going to get paid more. I don’t follow TV personalities all that closely, but it seems to me that Duchovny has done all sorts of high profile stuff in the last decade, but I haven’t seen Anderson in much of anything. Well, let’s put it this way - if _I_ were Duchovny I’d refuse to do the job if Anderson was paid less and that is including taking a pay cut to even it out. _Unless_ Duchovny was de facto going to be the main character with twice the screen time. Just MHO on the whole fairness thing. Yes, yes - business isn’t inherently about fairness. But that’s still how I would look at it. Regardless, as I stated above and in agreement with most everyone else I don’t think Anderson’s _appearance_ should have any bearing on the pay scale. As someone noted above this is X-Files 15 years later, not X-Files from the end of the old series. People age differently - it’s part of the character. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/67 "2016-01-23T21:08:20Z")
They can do the X Files without Scully, they can’t do it without Mulder. He’s the star, she really was just the eye candy. Just because all the nerds in the world fell in love with her doesn’t change that. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/68 "2016-01-23T21:10:58Z")
Yeah. Scully is basically the Robin to Mulder’s Batman. Stories with both of them are great, but solo Batman stories are far more popular and marketable than solo Robin stories. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/69 "2016-01-23T21:30:34Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Yeah. Scully is basically the Robin to Mulder’s Batman. Stories with both of them are great, but solo Batman stories are far more popular and marketable than solo Robin stories. The X-Files wouldn’t have got anything like so big without the Mulder/Scully dynamic. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/70 "2016-01-23T21:35:50Z")
• Was Anderson paid less than Duchovny in the original series? • Is she being paid _proportionately_ less now? If she’s not being paid proportionately less, then there’s really no issue to talk about. One can argue that ought to get paid the same at this point (if there was a disparity to begin with), but that would be an argument about the relative bankability of the two actors (that relative bankability may have changed over time as well, and it may even be due to sexist attitudes, but it would be a complex argument). If she _is_ being paid proportionately less now, that could well be due to Hollywood’s, yes, sexist way of treating female actresses as they age. The idea she might be getting paid _proportionately_ less because she looks less like her character than she used to does seem a little odd. That would seem to be your own idiosyncratic logic. Isn’t it more _likely_ that the Hollywood execs are simply paying her proportionately less just because she got older and women are perceived as worth less once they get older? I think that _is_ more likely. So it’s quite possible that your friend saw you as buying into that more likely way of reasoning, instead of your own idiosyncratic reasoning. Your friend may have perceived you as being disingenuous in your language; i.e., as hiding your sympathy with the more sexist position. FWIW, I don’t think perceptions of men being more attractive longer are simply “due to society.” It’s pretty clear that it’s biological: men stay fertile longer; women less so. Thus, the Hollywood attitude may be influenced by such biological hard-wiring, but it’s still sexist if the looks of the person are not particularly relevant to the part. I.e., equally qualified character actors of either sex should be paid the same for the same type of part; women should not be generically discounted as they age simply because younger women are used more for their sex appeal in certain parts. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/71 "2016-01-23T21:39:02Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The X-Files wouldn’t have got anything like so big without the Mulder/Scully dynamic. That may be true, but since getting big she’s not needed, and plenty of other actors could perform that role. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/72 "2016-01-23T21:44:34Z")
How is [this](https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS_fT1fO_1nvcitNsOQdyYFBUvLyfkxtIoligTV_tTszraMizTk9vsbv_Ga) unrecognizable compared to [this](https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdcDdNIHtWJ1a9H7QO6QHTZ_-58Gf5iwXeAIHQTqfoMoHVcQ7S5its2psJ), but [this](https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTVlU_xVfb-ax7d4irPtdJ3YY1QPWe39GgvJpawfm9TVXdsvvMM8H90SLHW) isn’t equally unrecognizable from [this](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQKDAzr2M_xwTUZIx8qbeo0iBbEJG-Uva7Dcmz2ZhS0wGcBhMWRBiBWJbYcMw)? IMO, Gillian Anderson looks the same, albeit older, and would look even more like her younger self after a couple of hours in a salon with a skilled hairdresser. Duchovny’s hairstyle isn’t dramatically different from Mulder’s, but his face sure has changed over the years… As it should. He’s aging. This argument might make sense to you if you honestly can’t recognise Anderson as Scully, but I for one find her easily recognisable. We’re not talking a transformation like [Lara Flynn Boyle’s](https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTtoRHoTyyyIMOGqk32MglC5kTSnu4eDJedvSvgOjB4kqGqiuGuwelGxnQK), which I agree has left her unrecognizable as Twin Peak’s [Donna](https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS5ReuZEJz84VEqMy0PMbgXnROkPfcfe-MazpYX6yUpVXiKq4Y_4s3Tg8mImQ). Even so, if they got her back to reprise her old character, docking her past because her appearance has changed its still wrong. She can still play the character or she can’t, end of story. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/73 "2016-01-23T21:48:41Z")
I’ll take X-Files with or without Scully. Mulder is important and that’s already been shown to be true when they ran the series without him and viewership plummeted. I think that is a good reason Dochovny can demand a higher pay rate than Anderson. To say Anderson doesn’t look like Scully is ridiculous and probably routed in sexism. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/74 "2016-01-23T22:23:53Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > I’ll take X-Files with or without Scully. Mulder is important and that’s already been shown to be true when they ran the series without him and viewership plummeted. > > I think that is a good reason Dochovny can demand a higher pay rate than Anderson. > > To say Anderson doesn’t look like Scully is ridiculous and probably routed in sexism. I agree that the show was not good without Duchovny. But we have no way of knowing what the show would have been like with Duchovny but without Anderson, because that didn’t happen. What I missed most when Duchovny left was the history and relationship between the two characters. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/75 "2016-01-23T22:24:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > That may be true, but since getting big she’s not needed, and plenty of other actors could perform that role. Well, perhaps. The producers of the new show seem to disagree, and they are the ones who are paying for it. _shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/76 "2016-01-23T22:31:15Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Well, let’s put it this way - if _I_ were Duchovny I’d refuse to do the job if Anderson was paid less and that is including taking a pay cut to even it out. _Unless_ Duchovny was de facto going to be the main character with twice the screen time. Just MHO on the whole fairness thing. > > Yes, yes - business isn’t inherently about fairness. But that’s still how I would look at it… If I WAS Duchovny (well more accurately, in his position) that IS what I would do. Or like you said something based more along the lines of time on screen, number of words spoken kinda thing. But, you ALSO need to keep in mind many of these actors are egotistical assholes (a shock I know). And some of them most definitely tie how much they are paid to what they think of themselves. It could be Big D would never EVER be in a movie where she was paid as much as him because he thinks she is second rate acting hack. No Big D., no movie (well at least not a non reboot of sorts). On the flip side, Anderson COULD have INSISTED on equal pay for equal work. But apparently she did not. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/77 "2016-01-23T22:44:10Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Considering she IS, and always has been, Scully, how the hell can she look less like HERSELF? Because she had the temerity to get older without (much, if any) plastic surgery to attempt to hold on to her “look” from the original _X-Files_ era. We all know that the signs of facial aging hit women harder than men, because the cheeks thin out and the face generally gets thinner and bonier. She had rounded cheeks as a young woman, and now has a narrower face with much more obvious cheekbones. If she did have plastic surgery to change this about herself, it proves what a plastic surgeon I saw said would happen if I had that done – “You won’t look like yourself anymore.” Also, makeup has \*drastically \*changed from the original _X-Files_ era. We don’t wear obviously heavy, cakey foundation and matte lipsticks anymore. These things add up. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/78 "2016-01-23T22:55:20Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Well, perhaps. The producers of the new show seem to disagree, and they are the ones who are paying for it. _shrug_ I didn’t mean to say she didn’t add her own unique value, I’m just going back to my premise that they could continue the X Files without her, and she’s worth less than Duchovny to them. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/79 "2016-01-23T23:11:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I didn’t mean to say she didn’t add her own unique value, I’m just going back to my premise that they could continue the X Files without her, and she’s worth less than Duchovny to them. yes but it would be like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the jelly ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948/80 "2016-01-23T23:23:14Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > • Was Anderson paid less than Duchovny in the original series? > • Is she being paid _proportionately_ less now? According to her [Daily Beast interview](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/22/gillian-anderson-i-was-offered-half-duchovny-s-pay-for-the-x-files-revival.html), Anderson was paid less than Duchovny for the first three years of _The X-Files_ (I don’t see that the article says by how much) but was then able to negotiate an equal salary. That’s why she was so surprised to be offered half what he was getting for the new miniseries. > [@Daily Beast](#): > > “I’m surprised that more [interviewers] haven’t brought that up because it’s the truth,” Anderson says of the pay disparity, first disclosed in the Hollywood Reporter. “Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of [unequal pay] in this business, I think it’s important that it gets heard and voiced. It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it. > > “Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me, ‘I can’t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane.’ And my response always was, ‘That was then, this is now.’ And then it happened again! I don’t even know what to say about it.” > > She stammers for a moment, at a loss for words. “It is… sad,” she finally says. “It is sad.” (Sources told the Hollywood Reporter Anderson and Duchovny ultimately took home equal pay for the event series.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-gillian-anderson-doesnt-look-like-scully-any-more-sexism/743948.md?page=5)