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:: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 ::

The Fallacy of the Silver Screen Age

Why, for the love of all that is bright and beautiful, do they continue casting people who are obviously beyond the age of the role they are cast to play? And why, for the love of plastic surgery and the age of photoshop, do they not do any fancy film magic to make them look younger?

Do you seriously expect me to believe that Christopher Lee is young enough to be an undergraduate? And come on, surrounding him with all the youngsters isn't going to make him look younger any more than sticking a leather jacket among silk blouses is going to make it look smooth. Still with me so far?

If anything, watching him pretend to be an undergraduate, (A senior, I'll grant them that) makes me want to laugh. And laugh. And laugh. Because if someone that old turned up at school when I was an undergraduate - that's what would probably happen behind his back. Yes, we can be that shallow. Our fine education system doesn't do much to help Singaporeans mature. Believe me. I've tried, and there is nothing one can do to help students/people mature short of shoving them on the streets and making them work for their own keep while others spit on them and are ungrateful for their work. Singaporeans are too spoiled. But I digress, and as part of the spoilt Singaporean generation, I'm also a hypocrite, so I'll just sidle away from this hot button topic and return to what I was originally ranting about.

If they wanted to disguise the fact that Christopher was significantly older than the rest of his cast, they should have... well, picked an older cast. Granted, it might tickle my funny bone much more if they were trying to get me to believe that Fann Wong was a spritely young thing from the school of Arts and Social Sciences, but at least poor Christopher wouldn't look so damned out of place.

Or like a cradle snatcher. Guys, guys, guys... You have to stop using the same old actors again and again. No, really. Stop. It isn't funny to see an man in his late thirties romance someone in her twenties. What's worse, you up the "disturbing May - Decemember romance" ante by making the older man behave as if he was much younger.

That's. Just. Wrong.

If there's anything I loathe, it's watching someone continually and consistently not act their age. It gives me the heebie-jeebies. This, coupled with the fact that pairings with significant age gaps (say...a gap of 40 to 50% of the younger person's age?) make me feel uncomfortable, equals a lack of respect for the show, and generalizing, Singaporean drama serials.

Don't even get me started on Singaporean drama serials. I simply cannot respect any show that uses tired, typical baddie behaviour like rape, backstabbing, treachery, adultery and murder to hammer into the viewer's heads the following message: "This man is bad! He's evil! Yeah, you be careful of him. He no good!" It's just that... ugh, the characters are so polarized? The good guys are all Cinderellas - angst and sadness and boohoo-cakes. The bad guys kick puppies.

I'm just going to make one final point because otherwise I'll never stop writing. I believe that the only reason they had Christopher Lee (Yes, we're back on our original point! Yay!) on the show was because he is a good actor, and must carry the show. None of the other young male actors has the talent he has, nor the popularity, I believe. Which is really sad, and predicts a trend of ageing actors being paired with sweet young things.

(Kids, if he's any more than 40% older than you, he's probably too old for you.)

By the way, if you haven't already guessed, this is Singapore, and I'm talking about Christopher Lee Ming Shun, not the other guy. Because imagining British Christopher Lee acting as an undergraduate...

That... that would just take the cake.

(Then again, actresses *do* seem to mature much faster than actors... I mean, Cameron Diaz is only 35 to Kutcher's 30, but she looks like his significantly older... okay. I'll stop.)

:: And that's all she wrote 9:19 PM [+] ::
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