In many mainstream Hollywood movies you often see the
characters living in homes and wearing clothes that they
couldn't realisticly afford.  You would see someone, for
instance, playing a waitress working in Washington DC, but her
apartment looks like one that a lawyer could barely afford.
Or, the characters just don't seem like they could possibly
have any financial concerns.  If they have to do something
costly like going back to school (like Julia Roberts in
Something to Talk About) it just happens effortlessly once the
character decides to do it.
        My husband feels that this is done because John and
Jane Public want to see characters they can envy and aspire
to be.  I personally feel it is very distancing, because I
can't relate to the characters.  Do you think that such
characters are a result of people in Hollywood being out of
touch with average people, and that the audience out there
would like to see more characters like themselves?  Or do
you think that Hollywood is right in offering people
escapism - that this is what people still want?
 
 
 
Simone Fary
 
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