Last night, I watched "Bonnie & Clyde" (and subsequently heard about Farrah Fawcett's death the next day) and started to think about human attractiveness. One of the cliches about human aesthetics insists that youth translates reliably into beauty. This is very specious reasoning, and I can cite two examples that are not simply anomalous.
1. Faye Dunaway--she was attractive in "Chinatown" (don't get me wrong), but she was exquisitely beautiful in "Bonnie & Clyde," filmed seven years earlier.
2. Tom Cruise--he was a stud (I'm not gay, although I've said countless times that I wish I were, because things would be so much easier) in "Risky Business," but didn't really attain the hot-ness that we all accept until, arguably, eleven years later, with "Interview With A Vampire."
I know that many people would take umbrage with both of these, but they're just being wimps trying to act PC. First of all, Dunaway came to resemble Predator a little bit. I half expect her to widen her jaws and taunt me to battle her. On the other hand, the early Cruise had a very prominent probiscus that I, and I suspect other people as well, could not look past (pardon the pun).
These are only two examples. I could mention Jennifer Connelly ("Career Opportunities" vs. "Little Children"--come on) or Vincent Price (look up his filmography, kiddies, but he was much more handsome in "Tower of London" than in "Edward Scissorhands").
Clearly, there are those who got worse with age. I think everybody can think of classmates in high school who now make them cringe. There is a sexist component to this that I'm trying to stay away from, but it's the proverbial elephant in the room. Nevertheless, both sexes have strong examples of this phenomenon of age superceding youth when it comes to beauty.
Baldness, however, is one of nature's great equalizers, and tends to afflict a disproportionate number of men, obviously. This brings me to my impending chemotherapy. In a month, I could very well look like Nosferatu. However, my hair should grow back, barring a "Seinfeld"-esque miscalculation. If it doesn't, I can always wear it short like Bruce Willis.
Nevertheless, nature generally has an unfair predilection toward male aesthetics when it comes to age. It's patently unfair, but generally true. Even obesity favors men unjustly: think of Kirstie Alley vs. Biggie. (I know that that has more to do with success, but those are the only examples I can think of right now.)
Am I wrong?
Rick
ADDENDUM: I'm actually in the minority of people that doesn't subscribe to this. Case in point: my appreciation, and attraction to, Helen Mirren and Carrie-Anne Moss. Not to say that the latter is old, but she's getting a little long in the tooth.
