Would the National Enquirer have all of us men hide our aging faces?
Recently, I happened across an excerpt from a National Inquirer article regarding Brad Pitt’s Chanel No. 5 campaign. It was in the Week’s “It must be true… I read it in the tabloids” department. This column is meant to be a tad skeptical of the tabloids, while still allowing us respectable readers a glimpse into that world. In a nutshell, the excerpt suggested Brad Pitt is screwing up his career by allowing the world to see that he is aging.
So I tracked down the original article in the National Enquirer penned by columnist Mike Walker.
WRINKLE, WRINKLE, LITTLE STAR! Stop wondering why BRAD PITT’s new flick “Killing Them Softly” bombed:
His own reps say it’s all his fault, reports an insider!They’re telling the star that his stubborn insistence on letting his facial wrinkles show is killing his career – because fans are shocked by the sudden loss of his boyish good looks. Trouble started with the 49-year-old’s much ballyhooed Chanel No. 5 ad campaign featuring huge posters showing him looking weathered and aged – all because he refused to allow any photo retouching.”
I have written previously about how the media loves to build up celebrities and tear them down. For very profitable reasons, publications like In Touch and the National Inquirer have cultivated the public’s seeming appetite for simultaneously loving and hating celebrities. Attacking celebrities is such a cash cow for tabloids that the resulting stream of fabrications about people like Pitt’s wife Angelina Jolie is nothing short of obscene.
Our culture’s century old obsession with celebrity driven media has created a lurid ecosystem of celebrity “journalists” who, having done little that is genuinely creative in their own careers, yap at the heels of the very same celebrities they themselves built up in the first place. No doubt this is the modern equivilent of the bread and circuses of ancient Rome, whereby the unwashed masses were diverted from the real issues of the day by lurid entertainments aimed squarely at their baser urges.
Mr. Walker’s insistence that Brad Pitt somehow stop aging would be laughable were there not so much anti-aging hysteria being promoted at every turn. And make no mistake, the narratives that people like Mr. Walker ceaselessly promote in the world come back to haunt us all. I mean, for god’s sake, are we to condemn people, either men or women, for getting older? We might as well condemn them for breathing. Yet here is Mr. Walker suggesting we do just that.
And for the record, I ran smack into Pitt’s Chanel No. 5 ad here in NYC on a bus stop shelter. The ad was printed ten feet high by five feet wide. The image of Pitt stopped me dead in my tracks. I literally stopped and stared. Brad Pitt is a BEAUTIFUL man. And the thing about the ad that startled me was how the aging of his face has made him even more so. (Never mind Pitt’s considerable accomplishments in supporting humanitarian and political causes, his work supporting sustainable architecture and his standing as a husband and father.)
So when Mr. Walker chastises Pitt for showing his age, the next question that comes to mind is, would Mr. Walker have all of us men who are aging, hide our faces as well? (This from a guy whose photo, by the way, is printed half the size of postage stamp.) Culturally, we’re being encouraged to adhere to a bizarre and destructive narrative about beauty. This narrative seems to operate on the assumption that all celebrities are uniformly arrogant and dismissive of us when in their prime, and so deserving of our contempt as they age. This appeals to what exactly? Our baser natures as jealous and resentful creatures? Like the little red devil standing on our collective shoulders, the tabloid press says, go on, you know you want to, hate them.
It’s nothing short of disgusting. Because it not only encourages us to harshly judge others, it ultimately makes us employ the same shallow criteria to judge ourselves. And so, when Mr. Walker declares that these unretrouched photos of Mr. Pitt are “trouble” for Pitt’s career, I can only say that this:
Maybe Mr. Walker should spend less time being catty about the appearance of others and take a few minutes to reflect seriously on his laughably tragic body of professional work; which is ultimately debasing and damaging to us all.
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For more by Mark Greene on our cultural construction of beauty please see:
Why I Feel Sorry for Gorgeous Female Celebrities (The Poor Sweet Dears…)
and
Sexed-Up Models, Advertising and the Candy Bar Game
Do you agree that the tabloids are way off base about aging?
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I agree with Erin that our current culture is much less forgiving of women celebrities aging. However, the overall preoccupation with the subject tires me. As a man of 46 I have no qualms with the fact that I was much more physically attractive & desirable when I was 25. I have adjusted my wardrobe accordingly & keep my shirt on at the beach. But what I offer society now is greater: raising my daughter, being a professional, engaged in charitable work, and gaining a broader knowledge of the world. Beauty is subjective & perceptios of it evolve. I accept… Read more »
Dominic, glad you shared your perspective. I certainly bet and agree you absolutely offer more to society and the people in your life (your daughter) more than when you were 25. And that is an awesome thing. I just wish more men felt like you and felt that women also offered more to society as they got older and gained experience.
I think men your age can be very attractive. You don’t have to keep your shirt on at the beach. 🙂 Unless of course, this makes *you* personally more comfortable.
I would imagine from the “wrinkle free and tight eyed” older men in show business that we see that the pressure is pretty intense on them to retain their boyish looks. I always groan when I see these plastic surgery jobs and think, ” Oh no, you lost everything about your face that gave you your uniqueness and character.” I think a man who ages naturally is very attractive and quite appealing!
Hallelujah!
I admit I find it a relief to see men’s faces (and women’s) looking real. Brad Pitt doesn’t need to retain his “boyish” look. He’s a man. Why on earth do we insist on this unnatural youth worship?
Fortunately for men, they are allowed to become “weathered and aged,” whereas women in the US increasingly feel they have no such option. More’s the pity.
Exactly D. A. Wolf. Thank you.
“I mean, for god’s sake, are we to condemn people for getting older? We might as well condemn them for breathing. Yet here is Mr. Walker suggesting we do just that.” Mark, I respect the spirit of which you write this article. I respect you as writer on this website. You bring fresh and fair perspectives. I respect the the issue this brings up for you and other men. But the reality is that men are simply not as condemned for aging as women are in our culture. Men are not as condemned by society for aging and they are… Read more »
Hi Erin,
Thanks for your kind words about my writing. I’ve revised the sentence you quoted to reflect my concern that this issue is equally relevant for men and women.
“I mean, for god’s sake, are we to condemn people, either men or women, for getting older? We might as well condemn them for breathing. Yet here is Mr. Walker suggesting we do just that.”
No one here is denying that women are judged, on a regular basis, about their looks, especially as she ages. No one here is saying that is is a problem that only men experience. I have seen lots and lots of articles talking about pressures on women regarding their looks. I think that the blog-o-sphere has that pretty solidly covered with enough people who are interested in writing about it to keep it covered, so can you grant just one teeny tiny article that address the impact on men as well? Especially when the author links, at the very beginning… Read more »
Are there other examples where men have been discriminated against because of their age? I can give you more examples of how women are discriminated against in our society because of age. I can give you tons of examples of how women are discriminated against in our society because of age perpetuated by men themselves. I think closer to the truth is that most men only care about ageism in society when it directly affects them, even on a smaller scale, than that of which women are affected by and have been affected by for generations. And I guess it… Read more »
Because Sean Connery represents ALL old men, of course. By the time you’re 70, everyone treats you like the king, just because you have a penis, right?
Get real, most old men are treated just as badly as most old women. The Sean Connery guys are *exceptions*. Otherwise you need Hugh Hefner bank accounts to attract.
No, older men are not treated as badly as older women. However, in recent years, men do face new pressures. I don’t want to ignore that conversation but it seems to me that a lot of men are proponents of discriminating against women for their age more often. Yet this one situation with Brad Pitt has set off an interesting conversation about the way men think of women and how they think of themselves. I think our society does still treat older men with more reverence than it does older women. Hence why so many older male actors are paired… Read more »
“I think our society does still treat older men with more reverence than it does older women. Hence why so many older male actors are paired with younger actresses.”
The word actor is key here. How many people are actors? There’s probably more pro-hockey players than actors.
Apex fallacy – how we treat men at the top is NOT REPRESENTATIVE of how we treat men overall, young or old.
Johnny Depp’s treatment tell us NOTHING about how we treat Joe Average working at Office #4587 as a clerk in Randomtown. Or retired Older Joe for that matter.
I think there is a clear distinction between how male actors are treated vs female actresses that is reflective of our societies beliefs about perceptions and roles of men abd women in general. Which is why older male actors are often paired with partners years younger. But you don’t have to just focus on that aspect, I did mention other aspects where this comes through socially. Both personal experiences and situations that don’t involve movie relfections. I don’t feel the need to restate them yet again as you can read them above.
“Hence why you can have 35+ year old quarterbacks but not 35+ year old cheerleaders. Hence why there are cheerleaders at all.” If they’re there are eyecandy it also means men, even the best-looking men, don’t make the cut to be eyecandy. Same for most of prostitution -> it means male sexuality is seen as so valueless and easy-to-get that very few people would pay for it. “Schala, let me ask you, what other examples can you and the other guys here give where men have been discriminated for your age? I am sincerely interested if there are other examples… Read more »
Schala, men not being cheerleaders is an entirely other topic then the youth that’s promoted in society. Sorry for assuming you were a man. However, can you think of more examples of where men are discriminated for based on their age both personally and socially? I’m not sure what you getting carded at 29 has to do with this or the fact that you seldom use skin or make-up products or how you don’t appear your age. Being carded because you don’t look your age isn’t age discrimination that we are currently talking about in this article. I agree that… Read more »
“most people are very intelligent and I don’t feel it’s a great thing to claim that people that struggle with cultural messages about their looks or femininity or masculinity deserve to told they don’t have a brain if they don’t conform to what *you* personally believe in.” There is a difference between: 1) Doing what society tells you because you’re so insecure at the idea of not doing it, and 2) Doing stuff and it just so happens to conform with what society tells you, but you personally are fulfilled by it, don’t feel bad at all about it, actually… Read more »
Schala, if you don’t like talking about issues of cultural messages, don’t. You are free to take your own advice and ignore it. Of coures, if we all ignored what we simply didn’t approve of or condone, none of us would have any kind of discussion on GMP. Infact, this very article that was written wouldn’t exsist at all. I get it. Truly I do, you ignore cultural messages. More power to you. However, I don’t personally believe the discussion stops there although I certainly agree that both men and women should stand up against cultural messages about their worth.
We like to watch old black and white movies, where the male movie stars were significantly older on average: Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart…Brad Pitt certainly has some interesting qualities but I prefer the handsome talent of these earlier stars!
“So when Mr. Walker chastises Pitt for showing his age, the next question that comes to mind is, would Mr. Walker have all of us men who are aging, hide our faces as well?”
Many men who are aging want women who are aging to hide their faces.
And isn’t that one of the big topics that woman’s rights activists like to bring up? How woman are “pressured” to wear make-up and that it is an example of the “objectification of women?” Isn’t “men’s telling women how they should wear make-up” the reason for the latest big “Good Men Project mraw; Matlack evil misogynist!” blow out. The scope of this article IS NOT to address women, make-up, and expectations of female beauty. It is an article about men being held to a certain standard of “beauty.” Isn’t it a bit hypocritical that it’s “silly” (or worse, infuriating) when… Read more »
People who pursue youth for its own sake, be they men or women, are chasing an illusory benefit for reasons that will eventually leave them frustrated and empty. What I like about the comments here is how many different people are saying that they prefer the look of a person who has lived some. The implication being that an older man or woman might be more thoughtful, experienced and self aware.
I completely agree. In my opinion Pitt, while he is definitely showing his age a bit, it doesn’t make him look any less interesting or less good looking of a man. As many people have already said the wrinkles add character and add a certain sense of experience and weight to his presence. What’s funny is growing up in art studios for most of high school and college I saw lots of different models and the most interesting and challenging models to draw were always the women and men who were older (40s+) because there were more interesting shadows and… Read more »
So, I’ve never been a huge Brad Pitt fan. I never thought he was particularly attractive, and although a good actor, I never found him all that compelling. That said, I think he is significantly more attractive now than when he was younger. Looks like he has more character, less of a predictable cookie cutter “hot guy.”…. And the thing about not allowing re-touching, the minute I read that, he got hotter. That’s the kind of character that makes a man attractive to me. An ability to appreciate and find beauty in reality is attractive.
Great article and thank you very much for writing it. You are completely right.. And if Brad had been full photoshop .. He would probably write a shity article as well about. Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt. And in my opinion he is a handsome man no matter what age.
Older men are more appealing to most women, so who cares about this Enquirer guy. He’s probably dateless. This is really just one part of the national attitude towards aging in this country, cutting people down because they are older because of looks. The conversation in this country needs to change to focus on experience and wisdom. What’s been interesting to me is now that I’m in my 30’s, no one really seems that old to me unless they are in their 90’s. At which point – fair enough! But my parents are in their 70’s and they look nothing… Read more »
And what of older women NSNY…or should we only tout the virtues of how good older men look?
“Older men are more appealing to most women”
Not really.
Speak for yourself.
As should all.
Oh my gosh. He is amazing.
My perception of him (not knowing him personally, of course) is that he is smart, sensible, caring and well-rounded.
He is certainly a “Beautiful Man” and I’m so glad he is bucking the trend to appease the Photoshop, Botox or Die generation.
Hear, hear!
Thank you for such a refreshing article. It’s always so frustrating to have celeb gossip sites and even mainstream/supposed-to-be respected media republish tabloid stories as if they are the truth. Please do continue writing these kinds of articles.
Speaking as a woman of a certain age, Mr. Pitt IS a beautiful man and wrinkles are lovely things.
Most of the men that I have know long enough to have witnessed this aging process, have indeed grown more beautiful with the years. They have character and credentials now and are more attractive than they were as youths.
The truth is much more interesting than the fiction. Let me see your pretty face.
Although Mr. Pitt has great acting ability, don’t ya think that his rep was often based upon his looks rather then his talents? Or at the very least his looks in conjunction with his talents? It’s obviously not exclusive to Mr. Pitt. Once high definition TV came out, a lot of actors and actresses struggled with what the screen will show. Then you have to look at someone like Sean Connery, aged extremely well and didn’t appear to worry about his looks. To be honest, as a 58 year old, I like seeing wrinkles on these actors, maked them more… Read more »