Hollywood is a place (and a situation, really) where the hottest cheerleader from every town in America comes, only to find that she's just, oh, a solid 7, compared to all the other hot cheerleaders from all the other towns.

College is a place (and a situation, really) where the smartest kid from every town in America comes, only to find that she's just, oh, a solid 7, compared to all the other brainy kids from all the other towns.

Yep, welcome to life. Happens to most of us, one time or another.

When your looks are central to your life, growing old is tough, and even more so when you don’t have much else to offer.

I wouldn't kick Ally out of my bed.

Well, except to go make me a sammich.

I found a similar article by her cousin Alan Sheedy:

On one of my first auditions, a director told me he liked me but could not possibly cast me because there was a "fight" scene. Apparently, my 5'2" height and beer gut were going to get in the way of my fledgling career. I was five two and weighed about 200 pounds.
It did not matter that I did a good job on auditions, that I was smart, that I had natural ability. My soft appearance was the "thing."

It seems I was unable to get starring roles as super heroes or macho spies, gunslingers, etc. despite my great acting ability and character.

A few years later, I was told point-blank that my career was moving slowly because "nobody wants you to fuck them." There was something about me, sexually, that wasn't selling.

I was shocked, shocked I tell you that producers wanted stars that people would pay to watch in their movies. Oh, the humanity!

College is a place (and a situation, really) where the smartest kid from every town in America comes, only to find that she's just, oh, a solid 7, compared to all the other brainy kids from all the other towns. ~ Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at May 13, 2018 5:41 AM

That was my story. In high school, I was the smart but lazy kid. I was sleeping in class, doing my homework on the bus, and writing term papers in the class before the one in which the paper was due. Then, I got to college and half-assing it didn't work.

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To Sheedy's point, Hollywood is overly fixated on looks and drama. I was watching a British mystery program last night and the women were unusual in that they were ordinary. The frumpy housewife was not played by a supermodel with fake glasses, but by a somewhat dumpy hausfrau. Likewise, the tired, middle-aged detective was not played by a tall, thin guy with a full head of hair, but by a short, dumpy, balding guy with the beginnings of a gut.

Nor were we asked to believe that he was a former Navy SEAL out for vengeance or a genius with a 197 IQ. He was just an astute observer of humanity doing a job. No one was gay or transgendered. No one was fighting the demons of a troubled past come back to haunt them. The characters in the show were just people, ordinary people - except for the one who committed murder.

A few years later, I was told point-blank that my career was moving slowly because "nobody wants to fuck you."

I think this might mean nobody like Harvey Weinstein.

"As for those differing priorities, well...you don't see men writing essays about how rotten it is that you can't get a hot girlfriend (or probably any girlfriend) while unemployed and sleeping on a couch in your grandma's basement."

Google "incel".

Maybe their writing doesn't rise to the level of an essay, but they are certainly making the complaint.

Is she only complaining because she can't land an acting job any more?

Steve, you beat me to it. Especially the part about how their pieces aren't exactly mature/articulate/sophisticated enough to be called "essays." But they certainly count.

For anyone who didn't see this:

"Sex and Shame: What Incels and Jihadists Have in Common"

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/opinion/sex-shame-incels-jihadists-minassian.html

Check the comments too - the NYT Picks mention things the op-ed writer didn't.

And in Google News, I found scary articles ABOUT incels by David Futrelle and Dan Savage - plus conservative Ross Douthat's column on sex robots - I never thought I'd see the day.

Btw, while I certainly don't want to date someone who's chronically unemployed, there are other pretty important factors too; anyone who never wants to go outdoors or who has almost no speaking vocabulary (believe it or not, I know a novelist who's like that) is also off my list.

"Is she only complaining because she can't land an acting job any more?" charles

Probably a big part of it. Much is due to how high of a pedestal young pretty women are put on, they think they deserve it always, and when their youth and/or looks fade it's quite a drop. They cry unfair about the drop but conveniently ignore the crazy heights they got when they were young.

Everything about life is "unfair" in some sense. It is unfair that I'm too short for basketball. Unfair that I didn't inherit a fortune. Unfair that we get old. People really need to get over it. In hollywood, there are maybe 1000 top actresses (the name ones) out of 350,000,000 people in the US. And part of many roles is sex appeal because life includes sex and looks matter, especially for beach or nude scenes. It is like saying it is unfair that sports require speed.

The market doesn't lie, even to make you feel better.

Let Sofia Vergara walk into your restaurant, and few will notice much else.

That should answer any question about who the public will pay to see.

The one grain of truth in Sheedy's screed is that Hollywood is, in fact, pretty damn shallow. But it's that way for everyone. John Wayne was a great actor, but he didn't get all those roles solely for that reason.

How sad that Marie Dressler, Mae West, Kathy Bats, and Queen Latifah are unknowns.

KateC, explain? I don't follow. I would very much have wanted to meet Marie Dressler (1868-1934), but I suspect that for the last half-century or so, only diehard film enthusiasts have recognized her name. (Unlike with Mae West, who was also clearly better looking.)

But if you're simply referring to the fact that all four of them were highly successful despite three of them being overweight and Mae West's not getting into the movies until age 39, I get it.

Steve, you beat me to it. Especially the part about how their pieces aren't exactly mature/articulate/sophisticated enough to be called "essays." But they certainly count.
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Of course, anyone who's unknown and chronically unemployed likely CAN'T write well enough to get published in a respected publication anyway.

I would add that WOMEN who are reasonably attractive but have trouble holding a job should not complain about not being able to get a boyfriend, either. After all, even a man who thinks he wants a housewife might think twice about marrying someone who couldn't support him should he get hit by a car.

Also, if you only count those men who actually CALL themselves incels, I wonder how many of them really have trouble earning a living, as opposed to those who think their good looks and good jobs should make up for their very bad issues. Like George Sodini, who couldn't get a second date with anyone for years - and became a murderer.

I used to want to bang Breakfast Club Ally Sheedy.

And here's a cartoon I remember (sorry, I don't know how to find it online):

A slim woman, who's job-hunting, is standing before her interviewer. She says unhappily:

"You're not hiring me? It's because I'm fat, isn't it?"