Jennifer Lawrence shot to fame this year with her Oscar-nominated performance in
Winter's Bone. If that still doesn't ring a bell, she's the very voluptuous Mystique in the super awesome
X-Men: First Class. She's really hot for a young girl, kinda reminds me of a young Scarlett Johansson.
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J. Law |
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ScarJo |
She's also the actress who got the coveted role of Katniss Everdeen in the movie version of
Hunger Games. And I don't like it one bit.
(If you haven't read
Hunger Games, stop reading this blog and go to the nearest bookstore and grab a copy!)
The book's protagonist is Katniss, a grim survivor of the Capital's annual Hunger Games, where young representatives from each of the nation's 12 districts battle it out to the death. Yep, you read that right: They send out children to their deaths. Katniss is described as a petite girl, strong for her size and hard for her age because of the years of hunting she had to do to provide food for her family. She has suffered years of having very little to eat, exposure to the bitter winters of District 12, and more unspeakable horrors from the government.
Does this look like a hungry girl to you?
Jennifer is aware of the criticism and has retaliated with this: "I'd rather look a little chubby on camera and look like a person in real life than look great on screen and look like a scarecrow in real life."
Now I'm all for looking healthy but, Jennifer, you're supposed to look
hungry, especially in a movie with the word "hunger" in its title. I think you're drop dead gorgeous and more girls should embrace their bodies the way you do. But, Jennifer, you're also an actress who bagged a role that requires a body battered by years of suffering. Darling, you look like you've led a lovely, well fed life.
I think she's either too young to understand what the role demands of her, too confident of her ability to convince viewers that her "chubby" body can look like it's endured hunger for years, or too vain to totally immerse herself in the role.
Even though she's taken on the positive body image defense, acting is not about positive body image. It's about taking on the role and whatever it entails. The actor is supposed to disappear so that the character will be brought to life. Jennifer Lawrence is supposed to disappear so that Katniss Everdeen will be brought to life. That means changing your appearance.
Take these following excellent examples:
Tom Hanks lost weight to look like an HIV/AIDS victim in
Philadelphia
Tom Hanks again lost weight and built lean muscle to become the sole plane crash survivor living on an island in
Cast Away
Renee Zellwegger put on weight to portray the hefty adorable office girl Bridget Jones
Charlize Theron put on weight to transform into murderous prostitute in
Monster
Christian Bale starved himself to look horrific in
Machinist then had to bulk up fast for
Batman Begins
Christian Bale again lost an alarming amount of weight for his role as Dicky Eklund in
The Fighter
Natalie Portman took up a rigorous regimen of ballet and strict diet for an entire year and a half to become the obsessed and insecure Nina in
Black Swan
There are many more examples of actors who have completely changed their looks for a role. There is no vanity in true acting because a real actor knows his body is his one instrument in his craft. If he must distort his face, build muscle, shave off her hair, get fat, and, yes, lose weight--if the role requires it, then a true actor will do it.
Image sources from here: Just Jared, Monster, Philadelphia, The Fighter, Cast Away, Black Swan, Bridget Jones, Machinist