Transformers and Avengers

Last week I saw the movie The Avengers with two friends. I originally wondered why Scarlett Johansson was cast in the part of Agent Romanova. Scarlett has had a very legitimate and respectable acting career, however, she is also often portrayed as a sex symbol. This, like it or not, probably played a role in her choice as the part of Agent Romanova in the movie. There are many action scenes in the movie, and many parts in which I suspected a stunt double was being used, and I thought surely there must have been more actresses who were more suited to play the part. I then realized that Scarlett, while being an accomplished actress, played into the beauty myth. People want to see beautiful women on the screen. The girl with the best fighting capability is not always the one chosen for the acting part, beauty goes a long way in show business, and often trumps talent.

One movie where I believe that beauty played a disproportionately large role in casting is the Transformers series. Megan Fox was chosen for a starring role in Transformers in 2007 (she is also regarded as a sex symbol). Megan has had an interesting acting career, with Transformers being her first major role in a successful film. She was then propelled to stardom, and as a model, was idolized by fans and movie lovers alike. The need/want to see beautiful women on the screen goes back generations, but why is it that many actresses are beautiful? Why should this play such a large part in the film industry and in our culture as a whole? The need to see beautiful women on the screen has become a given in Hollywood and the film industry, to the point that models are making the switch to acting careers. We are a consumer based society, and our obsession with beautiful women in movies is a trend that I cannot see changing anytime soon.