I miss when people in movies just look like real people

I’ve been watching a lot of older movies lately, especially from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and it is weirdly refreshing to see actors who look like actual people. Not unattractive people — obviously Hollywood has never been a charity for regular faces — but people with variety. Different teeth, different noses, different expressions, faces that were beautiful without looking like they were all assembled from the same strict blueprint.

Watching The Terminator, I was struck by Linda Hamilton because she is so ordinary and so beautiful at the same time. She looks like a person, not a product line. Her teeth are not blinding white, her face is not frozen into expensive symmetry, and she still completely holds the screen. It made me realize how much modern film and television have narrowed the standard of beauty into something so formulaic. Everyone is polished, perfected, and lit within an inch of their life.

There is something really nice about old movies where people still looked specific. They had charisma, texture, and faces that could actually move. Very controversial concept, apparently.