Is it just me or are mainstream Hollywood actors getting way less attractive these days?

PsychicPenguin22

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Like, you have people like Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch or Joseph Quinn all starring not only as leading men in big productions but sometimes cast or considered in roles that should be inherently sexy. And then some of the other dudes getting all the buzz as the new leading men are super mid, like Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.

Growing up in the mid 00s, you would get bombarded everywhere with some the hottest dudes ever: Chris Evans, Tom Welling, Sean Faris, Jesse Metcalfe, Jensen Ackles, Chad Michael Murray, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, etc. Now though, it's pretty slim pickings everywhere you look. Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.

Is this what getting old feels like? Am I out of touch or is it the children that are wrong? Are Gen Z's beauty standards simply much, much lower?
 

vex4

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Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.
Did you just say Simu Liu was "not" eye candy? I do hope I misunderstood. 1701405219722.png
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I think he's really sexy. ;)
 

Yolofolife001

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Like, you have people like Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch or Joseph Quinn all starring not only as leading men in big productions but sometimes cast or considered in roles that should be inherently sexy. And then some of the other dudes getting all the buzz as the new leading men are super mid, like Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.

Growing up in the mid 00s, you would get bombarded everywhere with some the hottest dudes ever: Chris Evans, Tom Welling, Sean Faris, Jesse Metcalfe, Jensen Ackles, Chad Michael Murray, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, etc. Now though, it's pretty slim pickings everywhere you look. Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.

Is this what getting old feels like? Am I out of touch or is it the children that are wrong? Are Gen Z's beauty standards simply much, much lower?
I actually agree. Mainstream actors are just mid now. Like, they're not ugly, but they're not handsome either.

Like when you look at one guy at a certain angle at first you're like "nah" but then in a different angle you're like "Oh maybe, yeah, I'd tap that" and then shift the light a little bit and then you're like "ooofff.., ahhhhh... Idk"

Those are the actors we're getting now.
 

PsychicPenguin22

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PsychicPenguin22

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I actually agree. Mainstream actors are just mid now. Like, they're not ugly, but they're not handsome either.

Like when you look at one guy at a certain angle at first you're like "nah" but then in a different angle you're like "Oh maybe, yeah, I'd tap that" and then shift the light a little bit and then you're like "ooofff.., ahhhhh... Idk"

Those are the actors we're getting now.
That perfectly describes the likes of Jacob Elordi or Paul Mescal, but there are some that are straight up ugly.
 
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bmagic

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Nice body. The face, not so much. But at least that's more than can be said about several other current actors.
Everybody has different taste. What you may think is good looking, others may thunk otherwise and vice versa but what's wrong with his face? Lol
 
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Nalyd4Slave

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I'm probably mostly writing BS here based on my own incredibly incomplete knowledge of cinema, but one thing I'm confident about is these things come in waves. Whatever one likes will probably be back 'in' at some point.

Watch enough movies from different decades you start to notice different things were in. I notice in a lot of 80s movies the leading men are mostly best described as very pretty. Not model or jock like, not completely unmasculine or anything either, just very pretty. I think of say a young Rob Lowe or Tom Cruise. The kind of guy that would've fit in those 'brat pack' movies.

I think in the 90s things shifted a bit to where the leading men were still pretty of course, but in a more mature way, brooding or a bit rugged on occasion. A little bit more of an obvious appeal crossing multiple age demographics. Like Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves etc. of course. I also think of Matthew Fox in his Party of Five days. That was a peak 90s face. A toned body was a bonus in this era but I don't think it was fully 'in' as such.

Then in the 2000s we got a bit 'younger' again, but in a different way than the 80s. Tall and well-muscled jock fantasies like Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds were in. For a man of colour I could probably include at least early-2000s peak-fitness Will Smith in that. Not brooding masculinity like the 1990s anymore, but a more in your face friendly jock-like masculinity.

It seems like we never fully got over the 2000s type (personally that's my favourite era 'cause who doesn't love cocksure muscular men?) completely, but now it seems like it's a mixture of that and a weird mutation of the 80s 'pretty' type, only now a lot of them are covered in unsightly tattoos and veer a little bit too far into androgyny for my personal tastes as a gay man.

So I feel what the OP is saying. That said, these things do come in waves. It's fashion. Things go in and out all the time.
 

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Although I would also add we live in an age where there's hardly any longevity in anything at all, including but perhaps especially in entertainment media. Not meaning to sound 'in the good old days,' but I think pretty objectively that the biggest consumers of pop culture (youth) tend to move on much more quickly to the 'next thing' because of social media. Name a single generation-crossing and lasting popular song that came out later than early 2010s for instance. So, I wonder how that will affect say trends in what's 'in' with actors etc. going forward.
 

Iamyesyouareno

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Like, you have people like Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch or Joseph Quinn all starring not only as leading men in big productions but sometimes cast or considered in roles that should be inherently sexy. And then some of the other dudes getting all the buzz as the new leading men are super mid, like Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.

Growing up in the mid 00s, you would get bombarded everywhere with some the hottest dudes ever: Chris Evans, Tom Welling, Sean Faris, Jesse Metcalfe, Jensen Ackles, Chad Michael Murray, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, etc. Now though, it's pretty slim pickings everywhere you look. Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.

Is this what getting old feels like? Am I out of touch or is it the children that are wrong? Are Gen Z's beauty standards simply much, much lower?
You're right though! I feel EXACTLY the same way. Welcome to being a millennial :sob:
 

Yolofolife001

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Although I would also add we live in an age where there's hardly any longevity in anything at all, including but perhaps especially in entertainment media. Not meaning to sound 'in the good old days,' but I think pretty objectively that the biggest consumers of pop culture (youth) tend to move on much more quickly to the 'next thing' because of social media. Name a single generation-crossing and lasting popular song that came out later than early 2010s for instance. So, I wonder how that will affect say trends in what's 'in' with actors etc. going forward.
I agree. I believe it's because of on-demand streaming services like Netflix. One can now watch a whole season of a show in one day. Then after that, they move on to another show. I think streaming services at this point try to pump out quantity instead of quality. They don't have enough actors so they just pick whatever actors are left.
 
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Yolofolife001

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Like, you have people like Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch or Joseph Quinn all starring not only as leading men in big productions but sometimes cast or considered in roles that should be inherently sexy. And then some of the other dudes getting all the buzz as the new leading men are super mid, like Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.

Growing up in the mid 00s, you would get bombarded everywhere with some the hottest dudes ever: Chris Evans, Tom Welling, Sean Faris, Jesse Metcalfe, Jensen Ackles, Chad Michael Murray, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, etc. Now though, it's pretty slim pickings everywhere you look. Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.

Is this what getting old feels like? Am I out of touch or is it the children that are wrong? Are Gen Z's beauty standards simply much, much lower?
I would like to add another example. A very recent one. Netflix just released a show called Obliterated. A show with full male frontal. But none of the male actors are hot. The most attractive guy is maybe Nick Zano but it depends on the angle. Everyone else is mid.
 
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Nalyd4Slave

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I agree. I believe it's because of on-demand streaming services like Netflix. One can now watch a whole season of a show in one day. Then after that, they move on to another show. I think streaming services at this point try to pump out quantity instead of quality. They don't have enough actors so they just pick whatever actors are left.
The truly big stars also seem to be mostly swerving these Netflix type shows you're talking about. Some have done the odd Netflix exclusive movie, but still. It's as if they assume they're kind of like the McDonalds of entertainment. I don't think they're all bad, but sometimes they'd be right.

It's just a very weird time for the industry it seems lol.
 
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FooGee87

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Like, you have people like Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch or Joseph Quinn all starring not only as leading men in big productions but sometimes cast or considered in roles that should be inherently sexy. And then some of the other dudes getting all the buzz as the new leading men are super mid, like Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.

Growing up in the mid 00s, you would get bombarded everywhere with some the hottest dudes ever: Chris Evans, Tom Welling, Sean Faris, Jesse Metcalfe, Jensen Ackles, Chad Michael Murray, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, etc. Now though, it's pretty slim pickings everywhere you look. Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.

Is this what getting old feels like? Am I out of touch or is it the children that are wrong? Are Gen Z's beauty standards simply much, much lower?
You're comparing a list six guys who are essentially modern character actors who mostly work in indie films and some studio features, to a list of mid-00's names who are basically either the stars of The WB shows (Welling, Murray, Somerhalder, Ackles), major network series (Fox, Holloway, Metcalfe) or teen movie stars (Evans, Faris) - three categories that require conventionally handsome young hot guys.

If you're gonna compare then compare more equally. The big mid-00s character actors to compare to would be the likes of Benicio del Toro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and maybe Orlando Bloom for the pretty Elordi/Mescal type.

On the TV front the modern-day equivalents of those mid-00's shows would be the likes of KJ Apa, Tom Holland, Tyler Hoechlin, Austin Butler, Noah Centineo, Michael Cimino, Charles Melton, Joe Keery, Grant Gustin, etc.

It's better now. 20 years ago we didn't have a Chris Hemsworth, Henry Cavill, Jamie Dornan, or a Michael B. Jordan, whilst others like Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Orlando Bloom, etc. are still around and still pretty damn hot. There's also a more welcome diversity of hotness, not just white dudes who got ripped in the gym and with chemical assistance and are perfectly symmetrical.
 

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What he means is that his face is not white
Lol that's quite an assumption. Based on these pictures I agree that guy is pretty mid for Asians. I'd take say Steven Yeun over that guy.

steven-yeun-7.jpg
 

PsychicPenguin22

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What he means is that his face is not white
Excuse me, what the fuck? If you could read, which I'm sure you can't, you'd realize that the vast majority of the ugly actors I mentioned are white. I could mention a dozen Asian actors that are infinitely hotter than the regular white boys of the month. And in case you didn't know, even Asian people don't think Simu Liu is good-looking.

So do yourself a favor and next time stfu, it's free.
 

PsychicPenguin22

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On the TV front the modern-day equivalents of those mid-00's shows would be the likes of KJ Apa, Tom Holland, Tyler Hoechlin, Austin Butler, Noah Centineo, Michael Cimino, Charles Melton, Joe Keery, Grant Gustin, etc
And they still come up short. Hoechlin and maaaybe Holland (I love him, but let's be real, his main appeal is being a twink in a franchise full of big muscle hunks, so we can fantasize about them using him as their personal cumdumpster) aside, that's a pretty damn mid list. Like, Centineo, Keery and Gustin are like any dude you'd see off the street, Butler is a yassified Napoleon Dynamite and Melton is literally just Handsome Squidward.
 

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Like, you have people like Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch or Joseph Quinn all starring not only as leading men in big productions but sometimes cast or considered in roles that should be inherently sexy. And then some of the other dudes getting all the buzz as the new leading men are super mid, like Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.

Growing up in the mid 00s, you would get bombarded everywhere with some the hottest dudes ever: Chris Evans, Tom Welling, Sean Faris, Jesse Metcalfe, Jensen Ackles, Chad Michael Murray, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, etc. Now though, it's pretty slim pickings everywhere you look. Used to be at least you could count on stuff like the MCU to deliver some consistent eye candy, but these days all you get are the likes of Tenoch Huerta, Joe Locke or Simu Liu.

Is this what getting old feels like? Am I out of touch or is it the children that are wrong? Are Gen Z's beauty standards simply much, much lower?
sounds like your problem is more they don't just cast hot white guys anymore
 

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sounds like your problem is more they don't just cast hot white guys anymore
Yawn. They don't cast any hot guys anymore, of any race. Like, the latest Mortal Kombat movie, it starred a buffet of hot Asian daddies: Lewis Tan, Ludi Lin, Max Huang. But where are they now? Hollywood just keeps shoving Simu Liu in our faces.

You tried though!