Hollywood's Most Shocking Double Standards

The Worst Double Standards in Hollywood

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be discussing some of the most egregious examples of the Tinsel Town double standard.

The Blame Game

It’s become almost like this perverse waiting game. The anticipation that occurs with any film that has incurred any sort of online controversy. We collectively scan the reviews and online chatter about whether or not a movie with a ballooning budget flops, or if a flick that’s perceived by some as “woke” underperforms at the box office. However, at which point do productions need to take responsibility for their poor scripts or substandard execution, and when is it a case of review-bombers ruining a perfectly serviceable effort for the silver screen?

Sometimes, it’s about historical double standards regarding gender, specifically how certain styles of movies are marketed. The era of the ‘80s action movie was great, but we also no longer live in a commercial space where those kinds of hyper-masculine and occasionally jingoistic films get produced on the regular. So, if a female-fronted action movie like “Furiosa” or “The Marvels” fails, is it because the movie wasn’t up to snuff, or do audiences genuinely not wish to see women be their action heroes?

It’s important to note here that older generations also had plenty of iconic women who played the action game alongside their male counterparts. Actors and martial artists like Cynthia Rothrock in the ‘80s or Etsuko Shihomi in the ‘70s. These women and more proved that there IS a market for female-led action movies… so long as the movies themselves are entertaining and engaging. Then again, neither Rothrock nor Shihomi were forced to battle online harassment or community-led tirades on review sites back in the day, either.

Fans from both sides love to point fingers at the end of the day, whenever a movie they decided to champion that week succeeded or failed. This sort of toxic behavior doesn’t do any good, and instead poisons what’s already a very tribalistic cinephile community.

LGBTQIA+ Roles & Casting

We live in a much more inclusive world today than we did when actors from the LGBTQIA+ communities first began making their voices heard in Hollywood. Before this, it wasn’t exactly uncommon for actors from outside of these spaces to win awards or accolades for portraying LGBTQIA+ characters. Movies such as “Milk” from 2008 saw Sean Penn portraying the first openly gay man to serve in California’s public office. Elsewhere, both Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal’s work on “Brokeback Mountain” was the subject of both critical praise as well as humorous jabs from comedians.

Do actors from the other side of things receive the same opportunities, however? Or are LGBTQIA+ actors typecast and hamstrung into playing roles that lean into stereotypes? It’s a valid question that’s getting asked more every day, but also one that we might not need to ask forever. 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise,” for example, included Morgan Davies within its cast, a trans actor who took on the role of Danny. Yet, neither gender nor sexuality is mentioned within the film’s actual story, normalizing the casting decision while also allowing for Davies’ performance to speak for itself.

This is a far cry from films such as “Partners” from 1982, which leaned heavily into gay stereotypes within its “odd couple” buddy-cop dynamic. Still, although we may no longer be living during a time where this sort of screenplay would be considered a good idea, it’s also important to note how the fight for continued and equal on-screen representation remains ongoing and valid.

Roles For Aging Actors

It’s one of the oldest pitfalls for actors from every generation, but it falls particularly hard on female actors. Specifically, how a performer might graduate from earning “ingenue” roles to “girlfriend” roles, before finally enjoying those golden years portraying moms and grandmothers. This sort of career arc doesn’t happen to every actor, of course, but there’s a legitimate conversation to be had about ageism in Hollywood, and how thankless many roles are for actors that reach a certain age.

Comedian Amy Schumer lampooned this idea brilliantly on her Comedy Central show, “Inside Amy Schumer,” alongside some famous friends. The sight of Schumer, Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus on this Tolkien-esque journey to the land where they’re no longer seen as sexually desirable speaks to the battles many female actors are required to fight as they age. Sure, we all may know that “there are no small parts,” but we also know that Hollywood loves to cast hot people while they’re at their hottest. They’re also not required to cast them when that steam heat dissipates and floats away.

There have been some actors who have managed to maintain relevance while continuing to deliver quality performances within their craft. Jessica Lange, for example, was cast as the gorgeous young starlet “Dwan” in the 1976 “King Kong,” but she was never defined by this role. Téa Leoni’s career has certainly contained meatier roles than the one she had in Michael Bay’s “Bad Boys,” and there’s absolutely nobody who’s going to argue against Meryl Streep as one of the all-time acting GOATS. Yet, the latter had actually auditioned for the aforementioned “King Kong” role that eventually went to Jessica Lange. The reason why Streep didn’t get that part? She was told that she was “too ugly.”

Beauty Standards vs. Botox

Celebrities can usually be relied upon to say a lot of encouraging things to their fans, or to emphasize well-intentioned sentiments concerning individualism.

“Be yourself.” “Love who you are.” These are all great ideas, but it’s easier said than done for most people. Additionally, not everybody wants to hear these sorts of sentiments from picture-perfect Hollywood stars, those who just might have access to plenty of beauty regimens, personal trainers, and, yes, botox. It’s a lot easier to take care of oneself when you have the financial means to do so, right?

To be clear, we realize that, for most, celebrity doesn’t occur overnight. There’s usually some sort of journey from the bottom to the top, and it’s also painfully obvious when a certain actor has undergone some sort of procedure to alter their appearance. Fixing one’s teeth is usually one of the first steps taken to this end, as an actor’s life rises from minor parts to major roles. We also, perhaps unfortunately, no longer live in the climate inhabited by former Hollywood A-listers. Actors such as Charles Bronson could still be considered as major movie stars, despite possessing real-looking faces that appeared carved out of granite. Elsewhere, many “normal” looking performers are relegated to character status, with true leading roles never really winding up in the cards.

So why should we hold our beauty standards to the inherent artifice of Hollywood? Maybe we’d be better off ignoring their beauty tips and actually treat “being oneself” as a true mantra, rather than mere lip service.

Role Stereotyping

It’s an ongoing and fluid struggle, as Hollywood’s landscape of diversity and inclusion continues to adapt against criticism.

Roles in the modern day are now being made available to a wider net of potential actors than ever before in Hollywood’s history. Yet, at the same time, a growing clamour remains prevalent within certain corners of the internet… and it’s getting increasingly louder all the time. If an actor from a certain ethnic group takes on a certain role, is that actor then required to lean into cultural stereotypes, or should they course correct? What about if a stereotypical performance actually makes sense for the hypothetical actor in question? Would it then be disingenuous?

It’s the opinions from these affected groups that ultimately bring up questions of outage or acceptance. Should an Asian actor portraying a Jedi in the “Star Wars” universe, for example, lean into those well-worn stereotypes of wise and sage teachers? Or should Latin-American actors give into their temptations to give passionate, fiery performances… even at the risk of alienating those who might see such performances as reductive or culturally insensitive?

We realize that we’re asking a lot of questions here, and there truly isn’t a place where the answers come easy. There’s a lot of pushback sometimes with regard to the validity of criticism in these spaces, particularly if said critic doesn’t happen to come from a similar ethnic or socio-economic background. It might all depend upon how seriously one takes cinema as an art form, and how much time that same person is willing to spend discussing the pros and cons of role stereotyping.

On-Screen Age Gaps for Couples

This Hollywood double standard is perhaps the most obvious one discussed here today. It isn’t solely the product of yesteryear, either, since many modern movies still feature this confusing trope within their cast. Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!”, for example, starred Jennifer Lawrence alongside Javier Bardem as a married couple. This was despite an over twenty-year age gap between the actors.

The on-screen age gap for couples is one that usually, but not always, occurs in favor of the male actor within the production. This double standard could very easily be seen as a product of the male gaze, of a certain beauty standard being offered up as a counterpoint, or even a prize, to a film’s leading man. It’s nothing new, either, since this idea of an aging man becoming “distinguished,” while an aging woman simply becoming “old” has been with us as a society for decades.

These age gaps are also not always mentioned within the film’s creative narrative. At least, when it comes to the men. Granted, the image of a skirt-chasing lothario does exist, one that definitely points out certain on-screen age gaps in a comedic way, or in a manner that shows the male protagonist as being emotionally immature. But the sight of a May-December Hollywood couple existing in the opposite direction is noticeably rarer, and is usually done to depict the female characters as retaining some kind of “boy toy.”

Fictional Hollywood couples of today enjoy a much wider array of creative options for their characters, but it’s important to remember how so many of these double standards are still very much in our recent rear-view, and how we can hopefully learn from them, making the necessary changes in the future.

What are some other double standards you see in either casting or creative storytelling? Let us know in the comments!