Did a piece on age gaps in Hollywood movie relationships miss its target?
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Version 0 of 1. A tongue-in-cheek film blogpost that took aim at the entrenched Hollywood sexism that means heterosexual screen couples usually consist of an older man with a younger woman – often a much younger woman – missed its intended target in the eyes of some readers, and instead hit a raw nerve. The article – published on 27 May with the headline “Why disaster movies are leading the way for age-appropriate relationships” – highlighted the fact that the disaster film San Andreas had paired a male and female lead who are the same age. One reader emailed the readers’ editor’s office to complain, saying he was “angered by both the main title and various statements in the article. The worst example being: ‘In the film, Johnson is paired with Carla Gugino, an actor who … wait for it … is… exactly ... the same age as him. Like a real human couple!’ “I am in a successful marriage of 15 years, to a woman 23 years older than me, and I find accusations that our marriage is not ‘age-appropriate’ or ‘like a real human couple’ to be deeply offensive, especially from a newspaper which apparently prides itself on its tolerant and liberal values. It appears from the reader comments below the article that I am not alone in being offended by this and I might suggest you choose a more ‘appropriate’ title as well as adding some form of clarifying statement at the end. An apology wouldn’t go amiss, either.” Indeed, a handful of commenters below the line also saw red. One wrote: “Is ‘age-appropriate’ a thing now? Shall we tell Sam Taylor-Wood, married to an actor who is precisely half her age? Deborra Lee-Furness is 13 years older than Hugh Jackman. Is this ‘age-appropriate’? Who is defining what is and is not age appropriate? Half your age plus seven? Anything goes as long as it doesn’t make Guardian film writers feel icky? What?” The complaint was handled by a colleague, who in his reply mentioned that he happens to be married to an older woman. He said: “I was not offended by this piece – I think it’s clear that its target is the sexism in Hollywood that means older men are usually/often cast with much younger women as their girlfriends/wives (this itself a consequence of the sexism that means older women find it harder in general to get good film roles, and are judged on their looks more than men are by casting directors). “While there are many people in relationships with a larger age gap, the fact is that the age gap in the vast majority of couples – about 90% – is nine years or less, and the age gap in about 60% of couples is three years or less. That is simply not reflected in Hollywood movies. In the context of the piece – and the surrounding long-running debate on the issue, which was brought to greater prominence by the recent comments made by Maggie Gyllenhaal that it refers to – I think it’s quite clear that the article is not making comment on what is or isn’t an ‘appropriate’ age gap in real-life relationships.” The complainant disagreed that it was “at all clear that it is not making a comment on what is, or is not, an ‘appropriate’ age gap in real-life relationships … As I mentioned in my original email, I found the choice of the phrase ‘age-appropriate’ to be inappropriate as it does exactly what you claim it does not – to make a judgment about the appropriateness of age-gap relationships, regardless of the gender of the partners. A more appropriate choice of title may have been ‘Why disaster movies are leading the way for more age-representative relationships in Hollywood’ which would, perhaps, be a more accurate way of portraying what the author was writing about.” I think my colleague made a persuasive argument from a close perspective, although I don’t entirely agree. I think using “age-appropriate” – a phrase normally used in connection with child development – in this context understandably jars for some. While I don’t think there was any intention to stigmatise those with partners of substantially different ages – the target was pretty clearly Hollywood – the phrase “age-appropriate” evidently gave some readers the wrong message. It may be one for the editors of the Guardian’s style guide. Perhaps they will be able to find a more appropriate phrase that will last ages. |