By Irene Cohen and Ellie Mulvaney

Since Hollywood’s creation in 1910, this film industry has been a huge source of influence for its audience. It is currently the most dominating movie production agency in the world, and often is used as a representation of Americans, regardless of this image’s attainability. This becomes an issue when it is taken into consideration just how unrealistic the beauty standards in Hollywood are. It’s incredibly damaging for people to compare themselves to these famous figures, when the actors themselves struggle to fit the paragon of how they should look.

One example of this is one of Hollywood’s biggest icons; Marilyn Monroe. It was discovered that the actress had multiple plastic surgeries in secret with Dr. Michael Gurdin, and a few of his colleagues, throughout her years in the spotlight. The image that she projected onto young, impressionable women, was one that she herself didn’t even naturally have.

Of course, getting plastic surgery is not inherently harmful, but it further perpetuates unrealistic standards when it is not explicitly stated that certain features are artificial. Monroe went through chin, nose, and breast alterations, as reported by her medical records, where she got the surgeries using a cover name. Obviously, great lengths were taken to conceal the fact that her appearance was not completely natural, which consequently implied to her audience that they were expected to organically look like the figures that they saw on screen.

Monroe was praised as the ideal woman, though she herself went to extreme lengths just to fit the crazy Hollywood norms. She once stated, “When my looks start to go, so will most of my fans,” proving just how image-based the film industry is.

Another example from the past, was John Travolta’s transformation for the John Woo film ‘Broken Arrow,’ in the 1990’s. As a military officer, his character required him to lose around 20 pounds in a few weeks by boxing and dieting. Even at the age of 40, he was under scrutiny for his weight, influencing viewers to potentially not recognize the impacts of aging on the body. For everyone to think that they should look like, and weigh as much as, a young adult, even in their midlife years, is a damaging ideology that Hollywood has dangerously promoted.

One more recent example of this comes from actress Carrie Fisher. One might think that she may have gotten criticism for her weight when she was still a young, unknown actress, but now that she has achieved a legendary status, studios would want to book her regardless of her weight. Right? Turns out, this is not the case.

Fisher opened up about how she was forced to lose 35 pound to be cast as her renowned role as Princess Leia in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ Carrie Fisher had this to say after she was pressured to lose weight, “Nothing changes, it’s an appearance-driven thing.” You can clearly see why she said this especially with the history she has with the Star Wars franchise telling her to lose weight for her role. All the way back in 1977, when she was just 19 years old, and 105 pounds, producers still asked her to lose weight for her role as Princess Leia. Fisher was too right with this quote, and many actors and actresses can attest to that fact.

This pressure to be thin in Hollywood is not only thrust upon actresses, but actors as well. One Richard Madden speaks out on this fact. In one British Vogue interview he says, “I find myself with actor friends – after we’ve done a kind of barely eating, working-out-twice-a-day, no-carbing thing for these scenes – looking at each other going: ‘We’re just feeding this same s*** that we’re against.’”

He also goes on to say that he’s had his body rolls pinched at auditions, corset-like costumes to slim him down for the cameras, and flat out been told to lose weight and to go to the gym. In his interview, he clearly says that how he is filmed is not how he usually looks. The preparation he does for these scenes is not sustainable nor realistic, but many men may see these scenes and think to themselves, why don’t I look like that?

By: Teah Henry

‘Hannibal’ was a TV drama series that aired on NBC. The show was about Hannibal Lecter, a cannibalistic psychiatrist, and the FBI criminal profiler Will Graham. The show explored their relationship, and was highly praised by critics for its visuals and good characters.

Unfortunately, not many people watched the show while it was airing. Despite being loved by critics, the show was cancelled after its third season due to low viewership, and was only on for a little over two years.

The show was well liked by the people that did watch it, and it gained a pretty loyal fanbase (labeled Fannibals). Many fans enjoyed the way the show represented Hannibal and Will’s relationship with each other. Throughout the series, Will becomes more and more involved with Hannibal, which brings out the violent side of him that he tries to push down. The two become co-dependent, and their relationship has romantic undertones. 

The season three finale ended with Hannibal and Will Graham defeating the serial killer they had been trying to catch for the past few episodes. They hug and Will throws them off a cliff together. It can be seen as a definitive ending, with them dying together after their fall. However, there is also a possibility they survived, especially since the people working on the show wanted to create more seasons. 

‘Hannibal’ appeared on Netflix in the beginning of June, giving hope to the fans that they would pick it up for a fourth season. Netflix has picked up cancelled shows before such as ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Arrested Development’. There’s a good chance it will be picked up, as the entire cast and the creator would be happy with filming a season 4, and given Netflix’s history with cancelled shows.

The cast also had a reunion about two months ago. Nothing is confirmed, but there’s a lot of hope in the air for a fourth season of ‘Hannibal’.

By: Hayden Fitzsimons

Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ was a revolutionary movie for the world of film, as it may have changed the award system forever.

The release of ‘Parasite’ in 2019 was met with immediate fanfare, as many critics claimed it was the best of the year. Once ‘Parasite’ hit Western consumers, the general consensus of the public aligned with that of the critics, for once.

In Korea, prior to ‘Parasite’ being internationally released, the film was a blockbuster which grossed around 70 million dollars, making it one of the most successful films in Korean history. Internationally (including Korea), ‘Parasite’ grossed 211 million dollars, but in America & Canada it grossed only around 50 million.

‘Parasite’ was an instant hit, however many still didn’t see it despite rave reviews. So, for those who didn’t see it, was ‘Parasite’ really the Best Picture?

The likelihood of ‘Parasite’ winning, or even getting nominated, for Best Picture was low from the start. The Oscars’ track record of best picture nominations hasn’t been the best, as ‘Parasite’ was the first foreign language film to ever win Best Picture. So, despite the sheer quality of ‘Parasite’ being so high, the belief in the film getting any recognition was low. Fortunately, for the movie-going audience, the Oscars didn’t mess up for once.

‘Parasite’ was nominated, which was enough for some who had become cynics towards the seemingly inept Oscars Academy. Yet, to many’s surprise, ‘Parasite’ actually won. If ‘Parasite’ seemingly deserved the Best Picture win so much, what was it about?

‘Parasite’ follows the Kim family, who are a lower class family struggling to survive. The son of the family, Ki-woo, manages to get a job as the tutor to the daughter of the Park family, an extremely rich family, and he eventually manages to get all of the other workers fired and replaced by his family. This leads to a meteoric rise in wealth for the Kim family. However, the fired employees are not all out of the Kims’ lives, leading to a karma-filled struggle to keep their lies and their new life from unraveling.

The story on it’s own is compelling enough, but Bong Joon-ho brings out the best of his performers and their acting transforms the film to another level. Not to mention the constant messages layered into the dialog, cinematography, and nearly every detail of the film. Without a doubt, ‘Parasite’ is a once-in-a-lifetime film which undoubtedly deserved the award for Best Picture.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a 2005 animated series that’s made in the style of an anime. It features a kid named Aang, who is the Avatar of his world. The Avatar can bend all four elements (fire, water, earth, and air), and is destined to face the Fire Lord to end the war between nations.

First, let’s get one thing straight: this is not a kid’s show.

The characters in Avatar are probably my favorite part of the show. Each one is unique, and the cast of characters they meet throughout the show is so diverse there is someone you can find yourself in.

The world is also amazing. Everyone is split into four tribes, either: water, fire, earth, or air. Each tribe can bend that particular element, so water tribe people can make water float and splash out in their opponents faces.

Some things I don’t like about the show is its pacing. Season 1 is pretty slow and has a number of filler episodes as they travel north. However, the show is written well enough so that it doesn’t get boring. In fact, many of the characters in these filler episodes come back later in the show, so I wouldn’t recommend skipping any of them on a first viewing. This problem is pretty much just in season 1; once you get into season 2, it starts to get really good.

My final rating for this show is a 10/10.