WOW, that was a powerful clip. No wonder Dustin Hoffman did such a great job. He was my favorite actor for a long time, simply because he could pull off such different characters, make them interesting and believable, in Midnight Cowboy, Kramer vs. Kramer, and the other famous films you mentioned. But as a woman, it's delightful for me to hear a man "get it" like he does in this clip. I have complained before about all the women in a TV show (like Star Trek) being beautiful and slim, despite the fact that in the future we're supposed to be beyond racial or species or anti-android prejudice, and even my husband doesn't see my complaints about the all-conventionally-beautiful female casting as a valid criticism!
I suppose it's a valid complaint that all the women in most TV shows are beautiful and slim, but to be fair, the majority of the men are handsome too. Let's face it, all of us prefer watching good-looking people in most roles, and how are we supposed to wish we were the protagonist if the romantic interest of the protagonist isn't attractive to us? Even in non-romantic roles, I'm very much OK with Hollywood mostly casting good-looking people, even though that limited my acting to college theater. 😉 (And not every woman cast in Star Trek was conventionally-beautiful and slim *cough* Whoopi Goldberg *cough*)
I was more interested in Hoffman's description of his real-life behavior. I realized even in my 20s that it wasn't fair to women as people that I had less interest in the unattractive ones. But unlike Hoffman apparently, I didn't only meet women in bars and ignore the less attractive ones.
I was in social circles where sometimes women I wasn't attracted to were interested in me. Once or twice there was even a case where it was a woman whose personality I really liked. In one case, I remember wishing I did find her physically attractive. The problem can be compounded because if a person is viewed as less attractive and ignored by the opposite sex, then when someone *does* treat them as a valuable human being, it can create false hope of romantic possibilities.
And this issue does go both ways. Although women typically value more than looks alone, a man not viewed as attractive faces the same sort of discrimination, thus the whole "incel" community.
One thing I really appreciate about women is that, generally speaking, the average woman has more respect for marriage than the average man. So because I am married, I now feel as if I usually don't have to worry about my intentions being taken the wrong way when I treat a woman as an interesting person, even if I don't find her physically attractive.
But I sure agree that was a powerful clip, which is why I included it in the review. I'm glad you liked it! Hoffman was and is a favorite actor of mine as well. So many of his performances are simply amazing, and this was one of his best.
WOW, that was a powerful clip. No wonder Dustin Hoffman did such a great job. He was my favorite actor for a long time, simply because he could pull off such different characters, make them interesting and believable, in Midnight Cowboy, Kramer vs. Kramer, and the other famous films you mentioned. But as a woman, it's delightful for me to hear a man "get it" like he does in this clip. I have complained before about all the women in a TV show (like Star Trek) being beautiful and slim, despite the fact that in the future we're supposed to be beyond racial or species or anti-android prejudice, and even my husband doesn't see my complaints about the all-conventionally-beautiful female casting as a valid criticism!
I suppose it's a valid complaint that all the women in most TV shows are beautiful and slim, but to be fair, the majority of the men are handsome too. Let's face it, all of us prefer watching good-looking people in most roles, and how are we supposed to wish we were the protagonist if the romantic interest of the protagonist isn't attractive to us? Even in non-romantic roles, I'm very much OK with Hollywood mostly casting good-looking people, even though that limited my acting to college theater. 😉 (And not every woman cast in Star Trek was conventionally-beautiful and slim *cough* Whoopi Goldberg *cough*)
I was more interested in Hoffman's description of his real-life behavior. I realized even in my 20s that it wasn't fair to women as people that I had less interest in the unattractive ones. But unlike Hoffman apparently, I didn't only meet women in bars and ignore the less attractive ones.
I was in social circles where sometimes women I wasn't attracted to were interested in me. Once or twice there was even a case where it was a woman whose personality I really liked. In one case, I remember wishing I did find her physically attractive. The problem can be compounded because if a person is viewed as less attractive and ignored by the opposite sex, then when someone *does* treat them as a valuable human being, it can create false hope of romantic possibilities.
And this issue does go both ways. Although women typically value more than looks alone, a man not viewed as attractive faces the same sort of discrimination, thus the whole "incel" community.
One thing I really appreciate about women is that, generally speaking, the average woman has more respect for marriage than the average man. So because I am married, I now feel as if I usually don't have to worry about my intentions being taken the wrong way when I treat a woman as an interesting person, even if I don't find her physically attractive.
But I sure agree that was a powerful clip, which is why I included it in the review. I'm glad you liked it! Hoffman was and is a favorite actor of mine as well. So many of his performances are simply amazing, and this was one of his best.