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Guest Post: My Disappointment in Television
My friend Adrienne is precisely average-sized, but she and I have had many conversations about feminism and sizism in our culture and my own journey of self-acceptance. The other night, we were chatting about her current obsession with the USA television show White Collar and she had some particularly perceptive realizations which I invited her to share here.
White Collar is my favorite new show. It is funny, and has one of those fantastic anti-hero the media has convinced me are so sexy right now (I happen to agree). Matt Bomer is wonderful eye candy, with gorgeous blue eyes and some great suits. Female audience? Appealed to.
But Matt Bomer is 32. The actress who plays his girlfriend, Kate, is 23.
Here, we are left to do the math. Neal (Bomer’s character) spent approximately 4 years in prison prior to the start of the show. Before that, there was this whole “Catch Me if You Can” thing going with the other male lead in the show (Special Agent Peter Burke played by Tim DeKay) for about 4 years. It is strongly implied that these 4 years were spent with Neal, Kate, and Neal’s friend Mozzie (played by 45-year-old Willie Garson) working as a team in a variety of white-collar criminal acts, including counterfeiting, art forgery, and art theft. So it has been at least 8 years (likely longer) since Neal and Kate met.
But, wait. The actress playing Kate is only 23. If the character is also 23, that means she has been a very accomplished con artist since the age of 15. I suppose this is possible (certainly according to The Riches), but it is still highly unlikely. So, then, it is unlikely Kate is 23. The character is clearly much older than the actress.
These all seem like minor details, of course. But they aren’t. By using a 23-year-old actress to portray a character who is much more likely in her 30s White Collar is creating an unhealthy standard for women’s bodies. This casting choice is strongly implying that when I am in my 30s I should look the same as I look today, at 19.
This alone wouldn’t bother me much. Unfortunately for my beloved USA Network, this is a double standard. It can rather easily be believed that the character Neal is in his 30s. I’ve known people who have become established criminals and even made it through prison a couple of times by their early 30s. Which means, at the very least, that Matt Bomer is portraying a realistic body standard for males: in your early 30s, you will look like someone in their early 30s.
But USA went even more extreme. Based on a photograph from earlier in their marriage, Agent Peter Burke and his wife are at least close in age. Yet while Peter is portrayed by 46-year-old Tim DeKay, his wife, Elizabeth, is played by 35-year-old Tiffani Thiessen. This not only sets a high body standard for women (look 5-10 years younger than you are), but an extremely low one for men (don’t worry if you look 5-10 years older than you are).
These standards make women feel bad about their bodies, and encourage men to just go ahead and get old. It is an unfair double standard, and I wish I didn’t have to see it in my favorite new television series.
Television, I am not angry. I am just very disappointed.
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Adrienne is the writer over at A Hard Day’s Knit, and a perfectly average size college student who refuses to feel bad about not being TV-thin, or appearing older than her 19 years. She loves the USA Network, in spite of their occasional shortcomings, and is currently addicted to The Beatles’ Old Brown Shoe.
Patsy Nevins, and 5 others are discussing. 
Jazz 12:20 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
Double standards are pretty much unfair by definition…
Trabb's Boy 12:51 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
Me? I’m angry.
aharddaysknit 4:07 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
I would have to expect better to be angry.
Jackie 3:23 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
I completely agree! I love this show, but the first time I saw Kate I couldn’t believe it–she looks like a teenager! I cannot possibly see them together (even in tv land). It just doesn’t make sense to me. Most of the show the thief spends time seducing women closer to his own age, which I appreciate. Mostly what I like about this show is that it all about very “valuable” items that our society doesn’t really value much anymore–art, books, etc.. And, I love that!
BTW, Trabb’s Boy, I’ve been loving your comments lately–thanks!
jackie
My Guest Post « A Hard Day's Knit 4:13 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
[...] My Guest Post 2009 December 13 tags: TV, White Collar by aharddaysknit My intense love of procedural crime dramadies and pretty boys in suits has recently lead me to a wikipedia induced rage over the age differences in White Collar. You can check out the Guest Post I wrote about it for the Fat Sisters here. [...]
Patsy Nevins 5:38 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
I wish I could say that this is new, but it isn’t. I am not a tv or movie fan, but have spent a lot of years living with them & picking up things. In the ‘good old days’, it was common for leading men in movies to be cast opposite women considerably younger than themselves & rare enough to be noteworthy for them to be cast opposite women around their own age. To take John Wayne as an example (because I spent many years living with a rabid fan), in his very early movies, his leading ladies were within 4-5 years of his age; then, they gradually became 15-20 years younger, then 30 years younger, until at the end of his career, he was cast opposite women sometimes 35 years or more younger than himself. My own message is that it is okay & in fact natural & necessary for ALL of us to get old & also, now, at 60, with the love of my life a handsome man who is 9 years my junior, that I don’t much care if people love &/or marry those who are quite a bit younger/older than themselves, but I too hate the double standards & the constant message, one which has been sent for at least 70 years or more that I know about, that a woman must always be young & beautiful…&, of course, thin…or else she doesn’t deserve the love of any man, not even one old enough to be her father.
Deeleigh 7:28 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
I’ve always found this double standard disturbing, as well. It’s amazing the extent to which the mass media promotes self esteem in men and attempts to destroy it in women. Fortunately, the real world doesn’t always work like the movies and TV. I’m also married to a wonderful man who’s younger than I am.
Linda 8:06 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink
No kidding. This is an industry that placed Angelina Jolie in the role of Colin Farrell’s mother. When Clint Eastwood cast Merle Streep opposite him in The Bridges of Madison County, he had to defend her against the charges that she was too old for the part. He simply noted that the woman in the movie was 45, and…so was Streep. As a result of movie/tv casting, we have a ridiculous view of what a woman should look like at almost any age.