# "Unattractive" Celebrities: U Mad Bro? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934 "2014-06-03T15:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/61 "2014-06-04T19:15:53Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Hard for me to say, since I’m not a man, but several men in this thread are claiming a problem with suspension of disbelief. I guess I can understand that. From a woman’s point of view, watching, for example, “As Good as it Gets,” I could not fathom why Hellen Hunt would end up anywhere _near_ Jack Nicholson’s character. And I may not have felt angry, but because he’s a celebrity, I felt free to add as much vitriolic color to my language as I could. Words like, “decrepit asshole” and “withered old cock” were likely. > > So, maybe it’s not so much anger as the anonymous nature of the internet, along with the subconscious belief that celebrities aren’t really _people_, anyway. This is very astute. I’ve thought the exact same thing in just about any movie where Nicholson gets the girl. On what planet would that hottie fall for that obnoxious, ugly, old coot? So I totally agree with your summation. > [@Malthus](#): > > Seems pretty simple to me - it is the nature pf the Internet for people to get hyperbolic about what amounts, essentially, to trivial and subjective opinions about celebrities/actors. Those who express subjective opinions without hyperbole don’t get as much in the way of response, for the simple reason that merely politely expressing a difference of taste in attraction does not lead to any response. > > “Actually, I don’t find X to be as attractive as those other actresses who really turn me on” doesn’t get any attention; “You like X?! If I had a dog who looked like X, I’d shave its butt and teach it to walk backwards!” does. And this. I do think it’s anonymity that affords people the opportunity to be silly, and I think your point is spot on. Sometimes, they’re trying to gain more recognition for the content of their post than for it to accurately convey their true feelings. As for my overall opinion though, I do occasionally see a misogynistic underbelly in some of these guys’ vitriol. I have no doubt that, for them, it’s surely rooted in real life instead of them truly hating celeb X. Unless they’re like that asshole that killed Rebecca Schafer, than all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/62 "2014-06-04T19:18:41Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Seems pretty simple to me - it is the nature pf the Internet for people to get hyperbolic about what amounts, essentially, to trivial and subjective opinions about celebrities/actors. Those who express subjective opinions without hyperbole don’t get as much in the way of response, for the simple reason that merely politely expressing a difference of taste in attraction does not lead to any response. > > “Actually, I don’t find X to be as attractive as those other actresses who really turn me on” doesn’t get any attention; “You like X?! If I had a dog who looked like X, I’d shave its butt and teach it to walk backwards!” does. I think you do have a point, exaggerating for effect might be part of it. So the contention would be, there is no actual anger at the actress in question, the posters are just ramping up the heat on their posts, exaggerating the actresses “ugliness” to make their point more powerful, and it’s not coming across purely as exaggeration as the intended. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/63 "2014-06-04T19:45:25Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Seems pretty simple to me - it is the nature pf the Internet for people to get hyperbolic about what amounts, essentially, to trivial and subjective opinions about celebrities/actors. Those who express subjective opinions without hyperbole don’t get as much in the way of response, for the simple reason that merely politely expressing a difference of taste in attraction does not lead to any response. > > “Actually, I don’t find X to be as attractive as those other actresses who really turn me on” doesn’t get any attention; “You like X?! If I had a dog who looked like X, I’d shave its butt and teach it to walk backwards!” does. And if you REALLY wanted to get a reaction from someone you could add “The fact _you_ like X proves you’re legally blind, mentally incompetent, and a perv!” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/64 "2014-06-04T19:50:03Z")
Please. let’s not confuse the actor/actress with the role. Anyone can be made up and lighted to look more or less attractive than they actually are in real life. (Compare head shots with the film some day.) If there is a mismatch between how attractive the role is supposed to be and how attractive the role is to you the problem might be your taste or the taste of the director/casting director. If you want to judge someone in real life, that’s different. Except for character actors (and even for many of them) the base standards of attractiveness are pretty high. I’ve been in enough audition waiting rooms to know. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/65 "2014-06-04T20:17:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Except for character actors (and even for many of them) the base standards of attractiveness are pretty high. An interesting illustration of this can be seen at the end of the movie _American Splendor_, in which the real Harvey Pekar is shown with his real co-workers (at his retirement party). There was nothing outlandishly grotesque about any of them—but you don’t see people who look like that in movies, much. As for the “men trash-talking female celebs” phenomenon: no one would be shocked by a claim that it’s a combination of things. One is, as Malthus said, that hyperbole generates responses whereas calm expressions of opinion may not. Two is, probably, that some males DO have a sense of entitlement: \*I was born King of the World and cannot bear the insult of having a sub-standard female paraded before me! Off with their heads! \* Three, perhaps, is that males are more likely than females to preen and posture and assert their claimed place in the hierarchy. As in: _I am so high in status that I can disdain women who’ve achieved movie-stardom! That’s how important **I** am!_ As noted earlier in the thread, one doesn’t see all that many posts from female writers who are determined to make it clear that they deserve better than that revolting loser Brad Pitt (or whoever)…women don’t seem to be as concerned with letting everyone know how high in the pecking order they are, in that particular way, at least. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/66 "2014-06-04T20:17:53Z")
Because some people are psychotic jerks? I mean what sort of lunatic takes it as a personal affront that some celebrity doesn’t meet their arbitrarily high levels of attractiveness? > [@Morbo](#): > > That’s pretty much the only time I wonder about casting choices for actresses - when it’s just not right for the role and it takes me out of the movie. For example, in Snow White and the Hunstman, when Charleze Theron asked her mirror who the fairest in the Land was, and the mirror told her Kristen Stewart was fairer, I thought there was clearly something wrong with the mirror. Maybe the mirror meant “fair” as in “sufficient but not ample”. Like yeah…Snow White’s sort of fair looking. Sort of like “who’s the most average looking in the land?” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/67 "2014-06-04T20:25:56Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > As for the “men trash-talking female celebs” phenomenon: no one would be shocked by a claim that it’s a combination of things. One is, as the Moderator said, that hyperbole generates responses whereas calm expressions of opinion may not. Two is, probably, that some males DO have a sense of entitlement: \*I was born King of the World and cannot bear the insult of having a sub-standard female paraded before me! Off with their heads! \* > Three, perhaps, is that males are more likely than females to preen and posture and assert their claimed place in the hierarchy. As in: _I am so high in status that I can disdain women who’ve achieved movie-stardom! That’s how important **I** am!_ I don’t disagree with any of these, but I think these guys are also picking up on the fact that being hot is a major part of a woman’s purpose in a movie: [compared to men, women are less likely to speak and more likely to take their clothes off](http://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/). Maybe that’s part of why they feel empowered to dismiss any actress who doesn’t meet their personal standards. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/68 "2014-06-04T20:27:12Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > An interesting illustration of this can be seen at the end of the movie _American Splendor_, in which the real Harvey Pekar is shown with his real co-workers (at his retirement party). There was nothing outlandishly grotesque about any of them—but you don’t see people who look like that in movies, much. > > As for the “men trash-talking female celebs” phenomenon: no one would be shocked by a claim that it’s a combination of things. One is, as Malthus said, that hyperbole generates responses whereas calm expressions of opinion may not. Two is, probably, that some males DO have a sense of entitlement: \*I was born King of the World and cannot bear the insult of having a sub-standard female paraded before me! Off with their heads! \* > Three, perhaps, is that males are more likely than females to preen and posture and assert their claimed place in the hierarchy. As in: _I am so high in status that I can disdain women who’ve achieved movie-stardom! That’s how important **I** am!_ > > As noted earlier in the thread, one doesn’t see all that many posts from female writers who are determined to make it clear that they deserve better than that revolting loser Brad Pitt (or whoever)…women don’t seem to be as concerned with letting everyone know how high in the pecking order they are, in that particular way, at least. In addition, I think **NDP** makes a good point: part of the hostility is being expressed, not at the actress, but at the person who previously expressed an opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/69 "2014-06-04T20:36:09Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t disagree with any of these, but I think these guys are also picking up on the fact that being hot is a major part of a woman’s purpose in a movie: [compared to men, women are less likely to speak and more likely to take their clothes off](http://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/). Maybe that’s part of why they feel empowered to dismiss any actress who doesn’t meet their personal standards. Good point. After all, how telling is it that the Bechdel Test is so…undemanding? All it requires is two named female characters who talk about something other than a man…and yet the vast majority of movies fail it. > [@Malthus](#): > > In addition, I think **NDP** makes a good point: part of the hostility is being expressed, not at the actress, but at the person who previously expressed an opinion. I agree (though to me it still seems to be part of the ‘drive to posture and strut’ phenomenon). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/70 "2014-06-04T21:10:55Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Except for character actors (and even for many of them) the base standards of attractiveness are pretty high. I’ve been in enough audition waiting rooms to know. Well sure. We are talking about Hollywood standards. Its like complaining about the worst player on your favorite major league baseball team. He might suck in the context of a pro team but he is still probably a better athlete than you have ever met in your life. But you can still boo when he strikes out. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/71 "2014-06-04T22:22:10Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Hard for me to say, since I’m not a man, but several men in this thread are claiming a problem with suspension of disbelief. I guess I can understand that. From a woman’s point of view, watching, for example, “As Good as it Gets,” I could not fathom why Hellen Hunt would end up anywhere _near_ Jack Nicholson’s character. And I may not have felt angry, but because he’s a celebrity, I felt free to add as much vitriolic color to my language as I could. Words like, “decrepit asshole” and “withered old cock” were likely. > > So, maybe it’s not so much anger as the anonymous nature of the internet, along with the subconscious belief that celebrities aren’t really _people_, anyway. > > “Sub-mediocre” is a fairly mean thing to say about someone. But then, as I just pointed out, I’ve said some pretty mean things about celebs too. So I’ll concede that point on the basis that it would make me a hypocrite to continue supporting it. I’m the one who first used that phrase in this thread and I’m not a man either. I am also giving a woman’s point of view. Helen Hunt going for the much older, uglier, and fucked up Jack Nicholson was weird. But in the film they pointed out many times that he was old, ugly and fucked up. They never pretended he was handsome. He wasn’t miscast. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/72 "2014-06-04T22:40:23Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Helen Hunt going for the much older, uglier, and fucked up Jack Nicholson was weird. But in the film they pointed out many times that he was old, ugly and fucked up. They never pretended he was handsome. He wasn’t miscast. However this kind of thing happens all the time in movies and on TV, and most of the time we’re supposed to accept it as normal. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/73 "2014-06-04T23:01:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The truth is, any moment when you could be have a boner and you don’t is wasted. You are truly the Sage of the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/74 "2014-06-04T23:58:55Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Depends. Are you so violently repulsed by **all** women you don’t happen to find attractive? Do you also “ridicule” them as “skanks” and “troll-wives” simply because they’re not appealing to you? > > Do you feel as though Julia Roberts and Hilary Swank are in some way **obligated** to be attractive to you, and deserve to be punished for failing in that duty by being insulted and mocked? > > I mean, hell, I see guys all the time that I don’t think are attractive, and some that I find downright ugly, even if they happen to be movie stars. But if I experienced emotions of _anger_ or _disgust_ toward them on that account, or had a “visceral reaction that trends towards vomiting” upon seeing images of them, I would be freaked out to the extent of seeking counseling. That just doesn’t seem sane to me. Tough beans. That’s how I feel about them whether you feel it’s “sane” or not. I really don’t quite see how my feelings towards those people affect you. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/75 "2014-06-05T00:03:31Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > He’s available ladies; better snatch him up while you can. Actually, I’m not. I was just giving you examples of female celebrities that I don’t find the least bit attractive. And here I thought “honesty is the best policy.” Guess not. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/76 "2014-06-05T00:40:09Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > Tough beans. That’s how I feel about them whether you feel it’s “sane” or not. I really don’t quite see how my feelings towards those people affect you. I don’t think any of that answered her questions. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/77 "2014-06-05T01:09:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Marley23 > The truth is, any moment when you could be have a boner and you don’t is wasted. > [@dropzone](#): > > You are truly the Sage of the SDMB. That, or an ad writer for Viagra. Or, I suppose, both! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/78 "2014-06-05T01:43:18Z")
How about sour grapes? Poor, mediocre little man knows attractive women wouldn’t give him a moment of their time, so he fumes and works up a hate and pre-emptively rejects them before they can reject him! Sad little king with an imaginary harem. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/79 "2014-06-05T08:11:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > However this kind of thing happens all the time in movies and on TV, and most of the time we’re supposed to accept it as normal. Men getting together with women way younger than them is depressingly common in broadcast media, I agree. But the films/TV shows don’t usually act as if those men are unusually handsome when they’re not. It’s a different issue to miscasting. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934/80 "2014-06-05T11:19:32Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I remember when Alicia Silverstone got cast as Batgirl after gaining a few pounds. I also remember LOTS of people being pissed about it. > > Ironically, if the producers of that movie hadn’t given her a costume that was three sizes too small, I doubt the ire wouldn’t have been nearly as bad. I thought that was ridiculous, that Alicia looked yummy as Batgirl, and that her acting skills were up to the level of that movie. (I did feel sorry for Michael Gough who was pretty much slumming through it.) I was pissed at the “daughter of Alfred’s longtime friend” back story instead of the Barbara Gordon one, as ordained by God. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unattractive-celebrities-u-mad-bro/689934.md?page=5)