Why did movie stars in old Hollywood movies appear more beautiful?
This got me thinking. There were so many incredible beauties in 40s and 50s Hollywood films. Women that looked flawless, took your breath away – think Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn etc. IMO, whilst these women were all different, they all looked like female perfection in their own ways.
Movie stars these days are still stunning, but the majority of them (again, in my opinion) do not have that classic beauty that takes your breath away, they lack the aura. A lot of them seem beautiful in a more fake way (fake tans, hair extensions.)
So what do you think it was that set old movie stars apart from today’s starlet’s. Was it:
The fact that old films and photos were mainly in black and white – thus everyone appeared more ‘flawless.’
That faces have actually “changed” over time and bone structure now looks different.
The glamour of old Hollywood stars – their styling, their haircuts, their auroras.
Thoughts?
I think your suppositions 1 and 3 answer your question. Stars were heavily groomed in the “Golden Age” of Hollywood. It was a system: wardrobe, hair, diction, etc. But there was also just a different type of storytelling and filmmaking then. It’s not just that B/W photography was used (though not nearly exclusively) but that B/W requires more attention to lighting for better depth/contrast, and to promote the star system, glamour lighting and techniques were used: women stars were generally in softer/more diffused light (less direct) but also lit brighter than their co-stars, and the focus tended to be softer. (Sharp focus is not as forgiving; and in contrast, men would appear more rugged/masculine.) Filmmaking now (and for the last 40-50 years or so) tends to aspire more toward verisimilitude (less glamour, fantasy).
There was also more media control over what you saw of stars. You almost never saw (non-staged) ungroomed, dressed-down photos of them, and that helped perpetuate the mystique of untouchable perfection.
And yes, of course, culture has also changed, but you have to remember that most of the stars of the Golden era were also made over and over again until an image was perfected. Most of them did not have their natural hair color (and B/W hides the harshness of some of these haircolors and eyebrow-haircolor disparities). We just see a lot more of the reality behind how manufactured stars are now.
I’ll also add that time is a great filter. We look back now and only remember the “cream of the crop,” so to speak. The same will happen for the stars of today. (In terms of talent and beauty.)
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