Posted on 12/24/2004 8:26:14 AM PST by hiho hiho
This appears in this morning's Dallas Morning News. Have a very blessed Nativity.
*** In this corner, ladies and gentlemen, we have Leonardo DiCaprio, adorable star of "Titanic," "Catch Me If You Can," and now, "The Aviator." In the other, we have - oh, pick a name. Clark Gable, Cary Grant, even Jimmy Stewart, for cryin' out loud. Notice any difference?
Such comparisons are prompted by DiCaprio's newest release, "The Aviator," in which he portrays aeronautics engineer, Hollywood mogul, and big-time player Howard Hughes. As Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman puts it, DiCaprio is "a dynamo of an actor" but "at first looks and sounds disquietingly boyish, like a 16-year-old in a high school production." The Village Voice's Michael Atkinson observes that it's hard to see a masterful figure in DiCaprio. "The conscious contrast between baby-faced, teen-voiced toddler-men movie actors and the golden age's grownups is unavoidable, and though DiCaprio is the same age here as Hughes was in 1934, he may not be convincing as a 30-year-old until he's 50."
That helps me answer something I've been wondering about. I like to watch old movies, the black-and-whites from the 30's and 40's. I often find myself wondering, How old *are* these people? Claudette Colbert moves through "Imitation of Life" (1934) portraying a widow who builds a successful business. She's poised and elegant, with a lustrous deep voice. Yet it's hard to figure out what age she is. Today, even people who are much older don't have that kind of presence. A quick check of her bio reveals that this beauty was only 31.
There are plenty of other examples. Clark Gable already had Rhett Butler's authoritative smolder when he portrayed a plantation owner in "Red Dust" (1932). He was 31 at the time. Fast-talking, forceful Hildy Johnson drove the plot of "His Girl Friday" (1940) when Rosalind Russell was only 33. The year that "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) came out, Katharine Hepburn was 33, Cary Grant was 36, and Jimmy Stewart was the baby at 32. Yet don't they all look a lot more grownup than actors do today?
It's not just actors, of course, it's all of us. Characters in these older movies appear to be an age nobody is today. Instead, we're surrounded by toddler-men and women with squeaky, uncertain voices. (Think of Renee Zellwegger's voice, and then of Bette Davis'.) Nobody has that old-style confident authority. We forgot how to grow up.
"Forgot" isn't the right word; Baby Boomers fought adulthood every step of the way. About the time we should have been taking on grownup responsibilities we made a fetish of resisting the Establishment. We turned blue jeans and t-shirts into the generational uniform; grownups dress like they're headed to a playdate. We stopped following world politics and started following movie-star feuds. We stopped wearing wingtips and started playing video games. We identified so strongly with being "the younger generation" that now, paunchy and gray, we're bewildered. We have no idea how to be the older generation. We'll just have to go on being a cranky, creaky appendix to the younger one.
But when all authorities have been trashed the world doesn't feel very secure. No wonder we can believe Zellwegger, at 35, as a nervous little girl. No wonder Hugh Grant could sell himself as a floppy-haired hesitator right up to his 40th birthday. No wonder that we can believe Thomas Haden Church as Jack, a boyish, lustful monument to immaturity, in "Sideways." Church is great in the role, but he's 43. Do you know the wonderful film, "All About Eve" (1950)? In it, Bette Davis portrayed a grand old dame of Broadway who is undermined by an upstart. When she made it she was 42.
In "Sideways" Jack defends a particularly despicable deed to his friend Miles: "I know you disapprove of what I'm doing. And I can respect that. But you just don't understand my plight." Future historians will have to sort out our plight, how a whole generation could forget to grow up, and still attempt to lead a nation through war and terror. Being kittenish, obscene, or adorably perplexed-we can do that. But gathering the gravity and confidence that signals full maturity, the kind of presence we see in these old films, is beyond our capabilities. It's not youth, but age, that has passed us by.
******** Frederica Mathewes-Green www.frederica.com
**********
The author makes a good point with regard to the baby boomers, but unfortunately, I believe that the actors mentioned aren't baby boomers.
No, the actors aren't baby boomers, but we are (some of us) and we're the ones buying into those films (some of us).
This is a stupid article. He pointed out young looking actors. But there are many actors who look and play their age. Julianne Moore, Catherine Zeta Jones come to mind for women. And there are tons of men.
Her point about Clark Gable is an excellent one - what 31-year-old actor today could deliver a performance with that kind of adult presence? DiCaprio as Howard Hughes seems like ridiculous casting to me, although I'll probably go and see the movie, anyway.
Clive Owen projects adulthood, IMHO. He's 40. But he's a rare one. I think for me the big change is that stars used to be cast according to their ability to win our respect. Now they often seem cast according to their ability to win our sympathy. Julia Roberts has made a career out of sad eyes and aura of victimhood, as has Johnny Depp. Don't get me wrong, I think Depp's a great actor, but they all are so very ... nonthreatening.
I wish baby boomer wouldn't grow up, then they can't rape social security and every other program because it's their "right". That would be nice.
Generation Reagan Ping!
Exactly my reaction to DiCaprio: still dressing-up as his father.
Indeed the actors in question are Xers. Personally I don't find them to be any more youthful than other actors of the past were when they were in their 30s. DiCaprio in a top hat with a goatee doesn't look like a kid, in Gangs of New York. I think that films made to appeal to boomers (which many of these ones with younger actors are not) tend to cast actors who are much older than their parts. Whereas, the ones made to appeal to the rest of us tend to cast people slightly older or at the ages of their parts. Boomers cannot stand getting older, and they are literally the only generation who feel so en masse. Therefore, they love to call us Xers kids. Yeah, I'm a kid, I've been out of school (um, college that is) for nearly 20 years!
Bingo! But this Boomer doesn't mind getting older, I'm looking forward to retiring and hanging on the FReep all day, and posting rants in the Smoky Backroom when I'm off my meds. :)
Of course, there are exceptions, but in a general way this is true. The real Boomers began spouting in the 60s about "never trust anyone over 30," and they have never grown up. The American Spectator had it right when they nicknamed Clintbilly "Boy Clinton." Of course he grew up in some ways, and he's beginning to look his age. But he never really matured, and he never will.
There are good ways of remaining forever youthful, and there are bad ways. The Boomer generation found mostly the bad ways. Never growing up, never taking responsibility, never accepting any moral constraints.
As St. Augustine points out in "The Confessions," a baby comes into the world as a bundle of wants and needs. He cries when he wants to be fed. He learns to talk so he can give people orders. In the old days, children learned discipline and maturity over the course of time. Under the aegis of Dr. Spock a whole generation grew up never learning discipline or self-control from their parents.
Many in that generation somehow managed to grow up anyway. But all too many never grew up, and never will grow up. They will remain self-indulgent right up to the moment of their deaths.
I am reminded of an observation made by George Carlin during one of his stand-up routines: "Do you ever look at some of the bit players in old movies, and wonder if they're dead now?". He then muses: "Let's see....that guy looks like he was about 70 years old there. When was this movie made? 1939?...yeah, he's dead now!"
He could be cast in 'Saved By The Bell' or a remake of the 'Partridge Family', and no one would blink an eye.
I'd be satisfied if they could just get shirts long enough to cover their belly buttons and their plumber's cracks.
For a long time I've called the Boomers (of which I am one) a bunch of Peter Pans. Like Peter they arrogantly proclaim with nearly every word, action, or deed "I won't grow up; I'll NEVER grow up!"
It gets tiresome especially for those of us Boomers have grown up, accepted responsibility, and look forward to the future (old age) rather than fearing it.
"I believe that the actors mentioned aren't baby boomers."
I'm certain you are correct. It seems I recall the baby boomer generation ended about 1963.
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