I haven't watched The Idea of You yet, but I've always liked Anne and was always confused by those who didn't. I could see if she had said something obnoxious but as far as I know, she hasn't. I really think it boils down to the fact that America hates a woman who tries hard and is open about the effort she puts forth. (You can often see that with female politicians, too. Women are either trying too hard to be the center of attention OR are not working hard enough.)
It's interesting that there was also a backlash against "cool girl" Jennifer Lawrence (who I also like—she has a wicked sense of humor). Women in the spotlight have it really hard, so I'm glad Anne doesn't look at social media. In fact, I've mostly stopped myself and I'm not even close to famous.
Those videos of Anne's responses in the past to all the male journalists asking her about her weight are priceless. Who would not like that person?! She's quick and funny and slapping them down in a way that won't get her called a mean bitch.
The Hillary Clinton Effect, right? How dare you be smart, be the one who studies, knows the answer, AND have the audacity to raise your hand to DEMONSTRATE you know it?
I’ve also always been a fan of Anne Hathaway. She’s a terrific actress, her commitment to Fantine was unparalleled (head shaved live while singing?!?!), and she, AFAIK, has never been one of those actresses whose gotten involved in the feminist versus not a feminist mess.
I’ve also soured on Hilary a lot, too, frankly. Her brand of feminism “Greta and Margot box office gold queens of our hearts blah blah blah” and her completely establishment politics are not progressive.
Genuine question: do we have to be progressive to be a feminist? My brother and I talk a lot about the size of the Feminist Tent. He wonders if there is space for him, cishet white male. I get it. And it freaks me out that he isn’t sure he gets to “count as one”. Does he need to shut up and be a foot soldier in our tent? Yep. Got a lot to learn? Yep. Need to do a lot of listening? Yep. But Dora he belong in here? Fuck yes. Do we need him? Also yes. Feminism has to be a gigantic tent to win. But at what point is it so big that it’s diluted its meaning? Idk. Can you oppose abortion rights and be in this tent? I don’t see how. So…idk.
Your brother can be a good feminist, of course! My dad is one and I married a cis het male who’s also a feminist. I think Hillary’s politics and words are performative. Have you heard of white feminism?
Yes, I’ve heard of white feminism. See above. I’m just saying I think we can stop condemning people who stand on a national or international platform for being centrists. Audiences at that scale are always going to meet disappointment from all angles and then we all bemoan our lack of global leaders. I don’t prefer Hillary’s politics to AOC’s, but I do know that if I expect AOC to make President, I’m not going to get anywhere. Do I want to overturn the electoral college? Yes. Because I’m a native Washingtonian so I have a lifetime of frustration with the tyranny of tiny states that in my cranky moods I think backward and oppressive. But I also think that expecting leaders to *represent* me *and* tens of millions of other people, I can’t insist that they purely meet my standards. Because a) it can’t be done and b) there is a chance that I’m wrong about so many things.
I’m sure I’m wrong about plenty. But I feel pretty secure in my stance that pandering to Hollywood while remaining silent on a genocide is not “centrism” nor the best we can hope for.
I'm another who always liked her, because I was another smart, motivated, try-hard girl. I never had trouble identifying that the "problem" with Anne Hathaway was misogyny, because I got it all day long, every day of my life. And I'm 1) not famous, 2) objectively far less beautiful, and 3) have a terrible singing voice. The level of hate she got/gets is ridiculous, so I really hope people (the internet?) are finally coming around.
This is a great articulation of my thoughts too. Why must we dislike earnest, talented women who are charming and successful so much? (Rhetorical) I've always liked AH but have felt a need to be quiet about that at times because I, too, am a recovering people pleaser who thinks it's much simpler not to say things that are unpopular with the crowd I'm travelling with (often, not always). There is much to learn from Anne yet ;)
Hathaway committed a cardinal sin of femininity by being a “striver.” To achieve the feminine ideals one must work—a lot, femininity takes a lot of work—but you can never let the effort show.
When Hathaway hosted the Oscars with Franco you could see her valiantly working to rescue that hosting gig from Franco’s spaced-out indifference. But America loathes a striver, especially if that striver is a woman.
She definitely triggered my inner bully/internalized misogyny for being such an earnest striver, especially when she whispered “it came true” to herself when she won her Oscar for Les Miz (“I dreamed a dream” was playing as she approached the stage🤮)
But Lena Dunham put it best at that time: “Ladies: Anne Hathaway is a feminist and she has amazing teeth. Let's save our bad attitudes for the ones who aren't advancing the cause.”
This is all true, and the gender aspect of it predominates, but I do think people's focus on it sometimes obscures another issue that she definitely had in that Oscar race: people hate it when the favorite acts like they're an underdog. She was coming off of a few years of being more or less talked about as the next Meryl Streep, was nominated for Best Actress in her 20s for Rachel Getting Married (and was the cool kids' choice to win that year even if she never had a realistic shot in that field), and had won basically every precursor award in the run up to that Oscars ceremony (SAG, BAFTA, Golden Globe, etc.).
This is an extremely well known phenomenon in sports. Acting like it was a shock in that scenario struck me at the time like if Heat-era Lebron went out at a press conference after winning an early playoff series and gave a long speech about how no one ever believed in him or his team. People would have hated that! You can't give that speech when you win the regular season by a dozen games and also were recently the MVP and the overall number one pick in the draft! But people do really do that, and it generally goes about as well as it did for Hathaway. All that said, I'm glad she's back because she rules.
That’s an interesting take, I never thought of the sports analogy (because I never think of sports!)
I agree the disingenuousness is what made the moment cringe. I guess that’s the tragic part of her people-pleasing: She feels she needs to apologize for her greatness by acting like an underdog — as if people will be mad at her for being brilliant at her job and knowing it. (That never happens to women 😉)
I just can’t see that as disingenuous. If you’re in that field you must want that SO bad and for SO long. And she has to prepare herself to go in there and act calm and supportive if she doesn’t win? I think a moment of holy shit I wanted this so bad and I got it can come out as I can’t believe it.
Good point, Hetta. I guess it was cringe because her reaction wasn’t anything like, “holy shit I wanted this so bad.” It was the phony “It came true” she said to her Oscar while she cradled it like a baby. (It would be cringe if someone did that with an actual baby — just rewatched, it’s here at the ~2:00 mark: https://youtu.be/k_b5xav1jls?si=0jfG6kBFfxB10PGE)
It just felt like she had a shot at being authentic and relatable, and she blew it with bad acting (rare for her!) Again, I think she’s a brilliant actress and I’m so happy she’s running out of fucks in middle age.
I remember reading in a later interview that she was miserable at the time (she won the Oscar) but felt she had to perform the grateful part. More people pleasing basically. And I think that's what turned me off at the time? I sensed the part of ME I hated in that behavior, and it made me uncomfortable!
Except that sports aren't random the way awards can be in the arts. You win the most games in the finals you're the champion. You can turn in the best performance of your career and if the movie's PR team is underfunded--and even if they're not--you can still miss out. On not just the award, but even getting nominated. It's an incredibly expensive crapshoot.
That might be true at the beginning of Oscar season, but by the time of the awards there's very little mystery left. Just looking at SAG alone, over the past 25 years the SAG winner has won the Oscar about 80% of the time (which makes sense, the voting bodies have significant overlap and the campaigns are run at about the same time). That's pretty good odds! If she had lost that Oscar after winning SAG it would have been a MASSIVE upset. And she had also won a bunch of other major precursors!
Sure. But that's still a twenty per cent chance you don't win. Whereas if you win the most games in the finals you always win. No last minute tide of gossip can swing things against you.
In an interesting turn of timing, I worked with Anne last week. As an actor who is not a celebrity but often works with them, I tend to avoid most celebrity gossip and even profiles. But it’s impossible to avoid altogether the general feelings society carries toward certain celebrities. Without betraying the safe and sacred space of behind the scenes work with someone who is So Famous, I feel I can say that she was exactly what I thought she’d be, while also defying it a bit. Kind but guarded at first, but once a rapport was established, very generous and surprisingly open for only spending a few days together. She was on her phone very little, chatting or reading an actual paper newspaper instead. I obviously don’t know her any better than anyone who has read a profile or two, but for me it’s telling the way someone with a lot of power treats people who have very little. This could be the “people pleasing” side of things, but it came across as genuine, human connection, which I imagine could be easily lost after so many years in a very bright spotlight.
But also, I love this analysis. My profession aside, as a woman of AH’s age, I have found myself in a small but similar metamorphosis. That bit about knowing yourself and being old enough to stop giving fucks… there is something to that. I hope she’s able to use that to play more roles like in Rachel Getting Married, where the character doesn’t have to be so perfect or so perfectly forgivable for any small, humanizing “flaws.”
FWIW she has actually been doing a lot of this lately —‚ but the roles/movies haven't been getting much attention, mostly because of the way that Hollywood operates now. Check out Eileen; she's terrifying in it
she was so good in Eileen!! When I read the book I could not have pictured her in the role… and she was so utterly convincing that I forgot it was Anne Hathaway.
I read The Idea of You shortly after it was published and enjoyed it. It's a sexy book. I remember finding it interesting that the author, Robinne Lee, is Black, and the main characters in the book are all white - same for the film version. Also, in an interview with Lee, I remember she mentioned that she gave Solene the connection to France and French culture in order to make her sexiness and the age gap in her relationship seem more effortless and believeable than she felt it would be if she were American. To me this says a lot about the pressure there is to create and sell stories in very specific molds, and the narrowness of what stories our culture elevates.
The Idea of You (the book, anyway, I haven't seen the movie) is a very aspirational, very specific erotic fantasy - a very white, privileged, sexy, wealthy, toned, erotic motherhood. Those are all the same descriptors I'd use for Anne Hathaway.
Not a Scorpio, but have dated them and they are DEFINITELY the best zodiac sign in bed. My sister is a Scorpio and she is always the object of at least one person's worship, even from afar.
I watched The Idea of You with my 13-year-old daughter last weekend. During the meet-cute scene at Coachella my daughter commented, "Oh, she's a manic pixie dreamgirl." And that to me is the AH archetype transformation: from a Tracy Flick-like striving/perfectionist to the cool girl all grown up. She can make you a sandwich, run a sexy business, rock a long bang, and go on tour at a moment's notice.
On paper, I am the target demographic for this film: a 45-year-old woman with a teenager, a craftsman home filled with quirky art, and a straight-talking best friend. And yet, watching it I felt increasingly annoyed. This woman was too perfect, too contained, too polished. Where were the signs of middle age and all the wisdom and mess that comes with it? Had this woman simply preserved herself better than the rest of us; suspended aesthetically at 27, still packaged for youthful male consumption? I realize that this is a rom-com, and that the fantasy is part of the allure, but I couldn't help but wish for something a bit more...real?
First of all, I'm gobsmacked that your teen knows "manic pixie dreamgirl," well done. Mine is fully into disavowing all millennial knowledge, which - fair! But we could have fun with a shared vocabulary!
Second ... I feel a similar sort of conflict as you described; thank you for bringing it up. Someone else mentioned a "do I want to be her or date her" reaction, and, same; she's just so stunning and aspirational. But as a fellow 41 year old with brown hair and long bangs, I feel like my face/mind/body currently look and feel more like a crumpled up piece of paper being crushed under the weight of late stage capitalism!!! (or something.) I'm ascending into the world of no fucks, as well, but this oddly pulled me back into a weird insecurity. I am less ... well preserved .... and still fully stuck in a post-2020 soft pants style crisis and kinda barely hanging onto my job. Sometimes compared to all the images around us I feel like I have to open up my Facebook account every few months or so and fail to recognize my high school friends' faces in order to remember what aging is really like.
That's a big part of it, right? Without the money to preserve ourselves in the same way, our bodies simply don't look like that anymore. But they COULD, and that's a huge part of the messaging, even if it's not delliberate.
“I feel like my face/mind/body currently look and feel more like a crumpled up piece of paper being crushed under the weight of late stage capitalism!!! (or something.)”
This isn't my own insight, but to me the question of her being too perfect for the movie to be "realistic" is kind of silly. The answer to the question of "what kind of 41 year old Mom would a 27 year old heart throb pop star want to date" is very clearly "one who looks like Anne Hathaway and is weirdly perfect!" Like, that's the *only* "realistic" answer to that question!
Do older women have to be perfect to be attractive to younger men? Doesn't that guy have access to all kinds of women who fit that description? Why her? Wouldn't his character be infinitely more interesting if he was attracted to something other than that?
Well. Haven’t seen the movie but the book is all about how perfect her face is-literally. That’s a direct quote. She’s “39….point five” cuz we all know 40 is The Cutoff. And they literally list what they’re good at and he names all the sports and instruments and she’s basically like, exercise and speaking French cuz I’m the bilingual child of immigrants- but wait! The sexy sophisticated white kind that came here to be a Harvard professor. Of course we are more interesting at 40 than we are at 20. But I’m not sure any 20 year old cares if you come with turkey neck, post breast feeding tits. But I imagine the combo of an experienced, post portal woman with a virile 20 year old could be hot.
I can't wait to watch The Idea of You. I'm really loving this era for her. However, I want to offer an observation on the backlash ten years ago, as a fellow (if muuuuch less famous) professional actor. So many folks have pointed to her Oscar acceptance speech as the turning point for their opinion of her, and while I agree with everything you've pointed out, AHP, (the misogyny, the comparison to Jennifer Lawrence, they overexposure, the theater kid energy, the people pleaser trying too hard) what's missing from that discussion is that she didn't believe, let alone FEEL, a single word she said in that speech.
I've spent years coaching theater kids (particularly in musical theatre) in addition to performing and training in that world, and it is painfully clear to me that she was saying what she thought she was supposed to say, rather than what she actually felt in that moment. That inauthenticity, especially in such a high profile, high stakes moment, is what most of us reacted to the most, even if we didn't know why.
It's the difference between hating a theatre performance, enjoying a theatre performance, and being moved by a theatre performance. In the first, the actor isn't feeling what their character is in any way, shape, or form; in the second they're not very good at communicating what their character is going through, even if they are actually feeling it inside themselves; and in the third, they have fully felt AND embodied the emotional reality of their character to the extent that you can feel it with them. Most people can't really say why they liked or didn't like a performance; they just know they didn't really connect with it (and then they often blame the writing or the music or the subject). This isn't a criticism! Just the reality of how few people have had good acting training in their lives to be able to spot the difference. (How I wish everyone was required to do art classes in school! We would have such different conversations and interactions with each other.)
I don't know what she WAS feeling at the moment (exhaustion, fear, maybe preoccupation with some other part of her life that was in crisis that we may never know about), but she clearly felt she had to perform gratitude and some sort of cutesy joy in line with what she thought her image was at the time. As a fellow former people pleaser, I GET IT and I have immense compassion for where she must have been emotionally to have had such a public disconnect from what she thought she was "supposed" to be feeling. But that disconnect is exactly why so many reacted against her. It struck all of us as wrong, somehow - but the reason was clear for the theatre kids.
But conversely-- if she'd gotten up there and not been effusive, the narrative would have been that she expected it, that she wasn't grateful, that she was above herself--you've just constructed another "can't win" scenario for her based on your reading of what you *think* she was or wasn't feeling in that moment, don't you think?
I'm not disagreeing that there's a misogynistic, women-can't-win scenario at play, nor am I constructing a "scenario." It's just an observation from a professional understanding of her emotional disconnection at the moment, and why it was the breaking point for so many people's engagement with her as a celebrity.
Yes, I feel like if she was like, "I worked hard and earned this!" (like the Pulitzer Prize in the Barbie movie), everyone would hate her for that.
And to be honest, I don't think most creative types think they're killing it, even when they are. Most tend to be insecure and hard on themselves (not saying she is because I don't know).
This is so interesting. Agree, it was the Oscar speech that made me cringe and judge her, though yes, if she hadn't performed gratitude enough we would have also judged her, there's no winning, etc. I would love to learn more about this idea of connecting with/rejecting others due to the degree a person is genuinely embodying their emotional truth. I never had those theater classes in school and think this is really fascinating.
She's one of my favorite celebrities. We are the same age. I met her 20 years ago (in our early 20s), and she was so genuinely sweet and kind (a very stark contrast to Michael Kors who was also there and who was ugly mean). Anne didn't have to be kind to me but she was pure kindness and the vibe was similar to the "she's so nice" vibes that radiate out of her films and interviews.
As a fellow people pleaser who is "so nice" but isn't really... I have always related to her (of course, this is part of her and Swift's idealness as a celebrity). By the way, I can't stand Swift but love Hathaway, so go figure.
Happy to say that we've reached the age of "gives no fucks." The core sense of self that always allowed us the bandwidth to be so nice is so done being judged for trying not to be judged. We finally have the confidence and lack the emotional energy to people please indiscriminately. I know what makes me happy, so I will do my thing and don't care if you invited me to the party or not (or hate me for being me) anymore.
Finally, her reason for making this film really resonated. She's aging like fine wine.
Your comment makes me think -- I wonder how we'll all feel about Taylor Swift in a few years when she has more portal energy? It will be super interesting to watch.
I loved this breakdown. And loved The Idea of You! I only recently started getting into romantic movies (for whatever reason, three decades disliking nearly anything besides horror and sad sci-fi), and I watched The Idea of You on a bummed-out day last week. It totally brightened up my mood and reminded me why I’ll pretty much always watch something starring her.
Also: If anyone hasn’t seen “Colossal,” do it! It’s one of my favorites movies and, god, it’s just so nuanced, funny, weird, and pulled-back...I hate spoilers and don’t wanna ruin the plot for anyone, but it’s so good!!!
I remember in 2013 when people suddenly started hating Anne Hathaway and, as you mentioned, simultaneously saying they loved Jennifer Lawrence—because you cannot like two people simultaneously!!—and thinking that those same people would absolutely turn on the latter within a year (and that she’d get inevitably get accused of faking relatability, including that red-carpet trip at the Oscars, regardless of how ludicrous that theory is).
It reminded me of college when I knew this group of mostly men men who always seemed to have a new “cool girl of the week,” usually on the younger side, that they’d get tired of after a few months before moving on to a new girl, never fully accepting any of them into their friend group. (Can you tell it took me a while to get over this situation happening to me? Lol.) In any case, even though it seems like the Hollywood press cycle’s been pretty messed up to Anne Hathaway, I’m just grateful she’s never left acting behind.
I lived through the 'cool girl' phase in real life back in the 80's/90's. After 10 years of manic pixie dreamgirls tropes it was kind of weird to see the cool girl/tryhards trope return to pop culture in 2013 with the Anne Hathaway/Jennifer Lawrence fake dichotomy.
I don’t have anything more constructive to say than that this was great. And I wrote that as someone who was not plugged in to the cited media, and who had no particular feelings about Anne Hathaway (other than that she’s extremely attractive).
Anne reminds me of SJP in that trusting, yearning, Theater Kid Energy. SJP is famously nice (unless you ask Kim Catrall), I believe she doesn't even like to swear. I do like SJP, but also feel like she is playing the Role of SJP at the same time.
I really do think Anne would have been best served not to have written her Oscar winner speech to start with "it came true" as a reminder that her song in Les Miz was "I Dreamed a Dream". Even I thought 'yikes', and I was neutral at the time.
I do love the callback to 'Celebrity Gossip, Academic Style', which is how I first knew AHP. Celebrity analysis is my weakness!
I don't think I have strong Anne Hathaway feelings, in general, but I was struck while watching her in The Idea of You that I didn't find her particularly believable as either a mother or a sexpot. The mother thing may be partially a casting issue - the actress who played her daughter wasn't believable as a teen and Anne looking like a Hollywood 40 means that they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.
I think I would have had Anne on my internal list of "celebs who are beautiful but not sexy" (why do I have this list? I think I blame the patriarchy, maybe?) alongside Taylor Swift (though I do think I find Taylor sexier now and I wonder about the Travis Kelce of it all... do I find her more sexy now because I find him sexier than any of her past boyfriends?). I think Anne and Taylor are also both people who, as has been noted, celebs who get knocked for being too eager, to transparent about wanting to be good at their jobs, not having a whole lot of chill about their careers, etc. ... and I wonder if I have some associations with sexiness involving some degree of not giving a fuck? So even as the current media campaign around "look, Anne is sexy!" feels like a strain of someone who is again trying hard to be seen in a certain way and not an actual revelation of her sexual side (and, of course, she doesn't *owe* us access to her sexual side)
As someone who is much closer to the Anne/Taylor side of the work hard, try hard spectrum and who both enjoys sex but doesn't think of myself as "sexy", this does make me want to do some more thinking about why I have this association with those qualities and a lack of sexiness. This is why I love thinking about pop culture because ultimately how I see Anne (and other celebs) ultimately tells me some interesting things about myself.
Reese Witherspoon is a great example who can play the Type A “Election” roles, ditzy comedy “Legally Blonde” roles but also just a believably play serious and sexy roles in “Walk the Line,” etc. As I think more about it, and reading all of the comments here, I do wonder if Anne might not have the acting chops that we associate with someone at her level. I think she was believable as the underdog in “Devil Wears Prada” and “Princess Diaries” but she just doesn’t cut it for the more mature roles.
I haven't watched The Idea of You yet, but I've always liked Anne and was always confused by those who didn't. I could see if she had said something obnoxious but as far as I know, she hasn't. I really think it boils down to the fact that America hates a woman who tries hard and is open about the effort she puts forth. (You can often see that with female politicians, too. Women are either trying too hard to be the center of attention OR are not working hard enough.)
It's interesting that there was also a backlash against "cool girl" Jennifer Lawrence (who I also like—she has a wicked sense of humor). Women in the spotlight have it really hard, so I'm glad Anne doesn't look at social media. In fact, I've mostly stopped myself and I'm not even close to famous.
Those videos of Anne's responses in the past to all the male journalists asking her about her weight are priceless. Who would not like that person?! She's quick and funny and slapping them down in a way that won't get her called a mean bitch.
The Hillary Clinton Effect, right? How dare you be smart, be the one who studies, knows the answer, AND have the audacity to raise your hand to DEMONSTRATE you know it?
I’ve also always been a fan of Anne Hathaway. She’s a terrific actress, her commitment to Fantine was unparalleled (head shaved live while singing?!?!), and she, AFAIK, has never been one of those actresses whose gotten involved in the feminist versus not a feminist mess.
I’ve also soured on Hilary a lot, too, frankly. Her brand of feminism “Greta and Margot box office gold queens of our hearts blah blah blah” and her completely establishment politics are not progressive.
Genuine question: do we have to be progressive to be a feminist? My brother and I talk a lot about the size of the Feminist Tent. He wonders if there is space for him, cishet white male. I get it. And it freaks me out that he isn’t sure he gets to “count as one”. Does he need to shut up and be a foot soldier in our tent? Yep. Got a lot to learn? Yep. Need to do a lot of listening? Yep. But Dora he belong in here? Fuck yes. Do we need him? Also yes. Feminism has to be a gigantic tent to win. But at what point is it so big that it’s diluted its meaning? Idk. Can you oppose abortion rights and be in this tent? I don’t see how. So…idk.
Your brother can be a good feminist, of course! My dad is one and I married a cis het male who’s also a feminist. I think Hillary’s politics and words are performative. Have you heard of white feminism?
Yes, I’ve heard of white feminism. See above. I’m just saying I think we can stop condemning people who stand on a national or international platform for being centrists. Audiences at that scale are always going to meet disappointment from all angles and then we all bemoan our lack of global leaders. I don’t prefer Hillary’s politics to AOC’s, but I do know that if I expect AOC to make President, I’m not going to get anywhere. Do I want to overturn the electoral college? Yes. Because I’m a native Washingtonian so I have a lifetime of frustration with the tyranny of tiny states that in my cranky moods I think backward and oppressive. But I also think that expecting leaders to *represent* me *and* tens of millions of other people, I can’t insist that they purely meet my standards. Because a) it can’t be done and b) there is a chance that I’m wrong about so many things.
I’m sure I’m wrong about plenty. But I feel pretty secure in my stance that pandering to Hollywood while remaining silent on a genocide is not “centrism” nor the best we can hope for.
I'm another who always liked her, because I was another smart, motivated, try-hard girl. I never had trouble identifying that the "problem" with Anne Hathaway was misogyny, because I got it all day long, every day of my life. And I'm 1) not famous, 2) objectively far less beautiful, and 3) have a terrible singing voice. The level of hate she got/gets is ridiculous, so I really hope people (the internet?) are finally coming around.
This is a great articulation of my thoughts too. Why must we dislike earnest, talented women who are charming and successful so much? (Rhetorical) I've always liked AH but have felt a need to be quiet about that at times because I, too, am a recovering people pleaser who thinks it's much simpler not to say things that are unpopular with the crowd I'm travelling with (often, not always). There is much to learn from Anne yet ;)
I’ve soured on Jennifer Lawrence a lot due to her continuing allegiance to Amy Schumer who has spewed so much racist vitriol online.
Hathaway committed a cardinal sin of femininity by being a “striver.” To achieve the feminine ideals one must work—a lot, femininity takes a lot of work—but you can never let the effort show.
When Hathaway hosted the Oscars with Franco you could see her valiantly working to rescue that hosting gig from Franco’s spaced-out indifference. But America loathes a striver, especially if that striver is a woman.
She definitely triggered my inner bully/internalized misogyny for being such an earnest striver, especially when she whispered “it came true” to herself when she won her Oscar for Les Miz (“I dreamed a dream” was playing as she approached the stage🤮)
But Lena Dunham put it best at that time: “Ladies: Anne Hathaway is a feminist and she has amazing teeth. Let's save our bad attitudes for the ones who aren't advancing the cause.”
This is all true, and the gender aspect of it predominates, but I do think people's focus on it sometimes obscures another issue that she definitely had in that Oscar race: people hate it when the favorite acts like they're an underdog. She was coming off of a few years of being more or less talked about as the next Meryl Streep, was nominated for Best Actress in her 20s for Rachel Getting Married (and was the cool kids' choice to win that year even if she never had a realistic shot in that field), and had won basically every precursor award in the run up to that Oscars ceremony (SAG, BAFTA, Golden Globe, etc.).
This is an extremely well known phenomenon in sports. Acting like it was a shock in that scenario struck me at the time like if Heat-era Lebron went out at a press conference after winning an early playoff series and gave a long speech about how no one ever believed in him or his team. People would have hated that! You can't give that speech when you win the regular season by a dozen games and also were recently the MVP and the overall number one pick in the draft! But people do really do that, and it generally goes about as well as it did for Hathaway. All that said, I'm glad she's back because she rules.
That’s an interesting take, I never thought of the sports analogy (because I never think of sports!)
I agree the disingenuousness is what made the moment cringe. I guess that’s the tragic part of her people-pleasing: She feels she needs to apologize for her greatness by acting like an underdog — as if people will be mad at her for being brilliant at her job and knowing it. (That never happens to women 😉)
I just can’t see that as disingenuous. If you’re in that field you must want that SO bad and for SO long. And she has to prepare herself to go in there and act calm and supportive if she doesn’t win? I think a moment of holy shit I wanted this so bad and I got it can come out as I can’t believe it.
Good point, Hetta. I guess it was cringe because her reaction wasn’t anything like, “holy shit I wanted this so bad.” It was the phony “It came true” she said to her Oscar while she cradled it like a baby. (It would be cringe if someone did that with an actual baby — just rewatched, it’s here at the ~2:00 mark: https://youtu.be/k_b5xav1jls?si=0jfG6kBFfxB10PGE)
It just felt like she had a shot at being authentic and relatable, and she blew it with bad acting (rare for her!) Again, I think she’s a brilliant actress and I’m so happy she’s running out of fucks in middle age.
I remember reading in a later interview that she was miserable at the time (she won the Oscar) but felt she had to perform the grateful part. More people pleasing basically. And I think that's what turned me off at the time? I sensed the part of ME I hated in that behavior, and it made me uncomfortable!
Good point! Maybe that's the same with Taylor Swift hate? She acts like the underdog and that sets people off?
Except that sports aren't random the way awards can be in the arts. You win the most games in the finals you're the champion. You can turn in the best performance of your career and if the movie's PR team is underfunded--and even if they're not--you can still miss out. On not just the award, but even getting nominated. It's an incredibly expensive crapshoot.
That might be true at the beginning of Oscar season, but by the time of the awards there's very little mystery left. Just looking at SAG alone, over the past 25 years the SAG winner has won the Oscar about 80% of the time (which makes sense, the voting bodies have significant overlap and the campaigns are run at about the same time). That's pretty good odds! If she had lost that Oscar after winning SAG it would have been a MASSIVE upset. And she had also won a bunch of other major precursors!
Sure. But that's still a twenty per cent chance you don't win. Whereas if you win the most games in the finals you always win. No last minute tide of gossip can swing things against you.
In an interesting turn of timing, I worked with Anne last week. As an actor who is not a celebrity but often works with them, I tend to avoid most celebrity gossip and even profiles. But it’s impossible to avoid altogether the general feelings society carries toward certain celebrities. Without betraying the safe and sacred space of behind the scenes work with someone who is So Famous, I feel I can say that she was exactly what I thought she’d be, while also defying it a bit. Kind but guarded at first, but once a rapport was established, very generous and surprisingly open for only spending a few days together. She was on her phone very little, chatting or reading an actual paper newspaper instead. I obviously don’t know her any better than anyone who has read a profile or two, but for me it’s telling the way someone with a lot of power treats people who have very little. This could be the “people pleasing” side of things, but it came across as genuine, human connection, which I imagine could be easily lost after so many years in a very bright spotlight.
But also, I love this analysis. My profession aside, as a woman of AH’s age, I have found myself in a small but similar metamorphosis. That bit about knowing yourself and being old enough to stop giving fucks… there is something to that. I hope she’s able to use that to play more roles like in Rachel Getting Married, where the character doesn’t have to be so perfect or so perfectly forgivable for any small, humanizing “flaws.”
FWIW she has actually been doing a lot of this lately —‚ but the roles/movies haven't been getting much attention, mostly because of the way that Hollywood operates now. Check out Eileen; she's terrifying in it
she was so good in Eileen!! When I read the book I could not have pictured her in the role… and she was so utterly convincing that I forgot it was Anne Hathaway.
Well of course that’s the case. Thanks for the rec, I’ll for sure check it out.
AHP’s Big Portal Energy!
I read The Idea of You shortly after it was published and enjoyed it. It's a sexy book. I remember finding it interesting that the author, Robinne Lee, is Black, and the main characters in the book are all white - same for the film version. Also, in an interview with Lee, I remember she mentioned that she gave Solene the connection to France and French culture in order to make her sexiness and the age gap in her relationship seem more effortless and believeable than she felt it would be if she were American. To me this says a lot about the pressure there is to create and sell stories in very specific molds, and the narrowness of what stories our culture elevates.
The Idea of You (the book, anyway, I haven't seen the movie) is a very aspirational, very specific erotic fantasy - a very white, privileged, sexy, wealthy, toned, erotic motherhood. Those are all the same descriptors I'd use for Anne Hathaway.
This is a great piece. And also, as a similarly aged Scorpio, I knew exactly what she meant😂.
Not a Scorpio, but have dated them and they are DEFINITELY the best zodiac sign in bed. My sister is a Scorpio and she is always the object of at least one person's worship, even from afar.
YEP. Same.
I watched The Idea of You with my 13-year-old daughter last weekend. During the meet-cute scene at Coachella my daughter commented, "Oh, she's a manic pixie dreamgirl." And that to me is the AH archetype transformation: from a Tracy Flick-like striving/perfectionist to the cool girl all grown up. She can make you a sandwich, run a sexy business, rock a long bang, and go on tour at a moment's notice.
On paper, I am the target demographic for this film: a 45-year-old woman with a teenager, a craftsman home filled with quirky art, and a straight-talking best friend. And yet, watching it I felt increasingly annoyed. This woman was too perfect, too contained, too polished. Where were the signs of middle age and all the wisdom and mess that comes with it? Had this woman simply preserved herself better than the rest of us; suspended aesthetically at 27, still packaged for youthful male consumption? I realize that this is a rom-com, and that the fantasy is part of the allure, but I couldn't help but wish for something a bit more...real?
First of all, I'm gobsmacked that your teen knows "manic pixie dreamgirl," well done. Mine is fully into disavowing all millennial knowledge, which - fair! But we could have fun with a shared vocabulary!
Second ... I feel a similar sort of conflict as you described; thank you for bringing it up. Someone else mentioned a "do I want to be her or date her" reaction, and, same; she's just so stunning and aspirational. But as a fellow 41 year old with brown hair and long bangs, I feel like my face/mind/body currently look and feel more like a crumpled up piece of paper being crushed under the weight of late stage capitalism!!! (or something.) I'm ascending into the world of no fucks, as well, but this oddly pulled me back into a weird insecurity. I am less ... well preserved .... and still fully stuck in a post-2020 soft pants style crisis and kinda barely hanging onto my job. Sometimes compared to all the images around us I feel like I have to open up my Facebook account every few months or so and fail to recognize my high school friends' faces in order to remember what aging is really like.
That's a big part of it, right? Without the money to preserve ourselves in the same way, our bodies simply don't look like that anymore. But they COULD, and that's a huge part of the messaging, even if it's not delliberate.
“I feel like my face/mind/body currently look and feel more like a crumpled up piece of paper being crushed under the weight of late stage capitalism!!! (or something.)”
Yessssssss. Thank you.
This isn't my own insight, but to me the question of her being too perfect for the movie to be "realistic" is kind of silly. The answer to the question of "what kind of 41 year old Mom would a 27 year old heart throb pop star want to date" is very clearly "one who looks like Anne Hathaway and is weirdly perfect!" Like, that's the *only* "realistic" answer to that question!
Is it?
Do older women have to be perfect to be attractive to younger men? Doesn't that guy have access to all kinds of women who fit that description? Why her? Wouldn't his character be infinitely more interesting if he was attracted to something other than that?
Well. Haven’t seen the movie but the book is all about how perfect her face is-literally. That’s a direct quote. She’s “39….point five” cuz we all know 40 is The Cutoff. And they literally list what they’re good at and he names all the sports and instruments and she’s basically like, exercise and speaking French cuz I’m the bilingual child of immigrants- but wait! The sexy sophisticated white kind that came here to be a Harvard professor. Of course we are more interesting at 40 than we are at 20. But I’m not sure any 20 year old cares if you come with turkey neck, post breast feeding tits. But I imagine the combo of an experienced, post portal woman with a virile 20 year old could be hot.
Your observations encapsulate why I've been holding off on watching the movie!
I can't wait to watch The Idea of You. I'm really loving this era for her. However, I want to offer an observation on the backlash ten years ago, as a fellow (if muuuuch less famous) professional actor. So many folks have pointed to her Oscar acceptance speech as the turning point for their opinion of her, and while I agree with everything you've pointed out, AHP, (the misogyny, the comparison to Jennifer Lawrence, they overexposure, the theater kid energy, the people pleaser trying too hard) what's missing from that discussion is that she didn't believe, let alone FEEL, a single word she said in that speech.
I've spent years coaching theater kids (particularly in musical theatre) in addition to performing and training in that world, and it is painfully clear to me that she was saying what she thought she was supposed to say, rather than what she actually felt in that moment. That inauthenticity, especially in such a high profile, high stakes moment, is what most of us reacted to the most, even if we didn't know why.
It's the difference between hating a theatre performance, enjoying a theatre performance, and being moved by a theatre performance. In the first, the actor isn't feeling what their character is in any way, shape, or form; in the second they're not very good at communicating what their character is going through, even if they are actually feeling it inside themselves; and in the third, they have fully felt AND embodied the emotional reality of their character to the extent that you can feel it with them. Most people can't really say why they liked or didn't like a performance; they just know they didn't really connect with it (and then they often blame the writing or the music or the subject). This isn't a criticism! Just the reality of how few people have had good acting training in their lives to be able to spot the difference. (How I wish everyone was required to do art classes in school! We would have such different conversations and interactions with each other.)
I don't know what she WAS feeling at the moment (exhaustion, fear, maybe preoccupation with some other part of her life that was in crisis that we may never know about), but she clearly felt she had to perform gratitude and some sort of cutesy joy in line with what she thought her image was at the time. As a fellow former people pleaser, I GET IT and I have immense compassion for where she must have been emotionally to have had such a public disconnect from what she thought she was "supposed" to be feeling. But that disconnect is exactly why so many reacted against her. It struck all of us as wrong, somehow - but the reason was clear for the theatre kids.
But conversely-- if she'd gotten up there and not been effusive, the narrative would have been that she expected it, that she wasn't grateful, that she was above herself--you've just constructed another "can't win" scenario for her based on your reading of what you *think* she was or wasn't feeling in that moment, don't you think?
If I've learned anything over the years, it's that women can never win.
I'm not disagreeing that there's a misogynistic, women-can't-win scenario at play, nor am I constructing a "scenario." It's just an observation from a professional understanding of her emotional disconnection at the moment, and why it was the breaking point for so many people's engagement with her as a celebrity.
Yes, I feel like if she was like, "I worked hard and earned this!" (like the Pulitzer Prize in the Barbie movie), everyone would hate her for that.
And to be honest, I don't think most creative types think they're killing it, even when they are. Most tend to be insecure and hard on themselves (not saying she is because I don't know).
This is so interesting. Agree, it was the Oscar speech that made me cringe and judge her, though yes, if she hadn't performed gratitude enough we would have also judged her, there's no winning, etc. I would love to learn more about this idea of connecting with/rejecting others due to the degree a person is genuinely embodying their emotional truth. I never had those theater classes in school and think this is really fascinating.
She's one of my favorite celebrities. We are the same age. I met her 20 years ago (in our early 20s), and she was so genuinely sweet and kind (a very stark contrast to Michael Kors who was also there and who was ugly mean). Anne didn't have to be kind to me but she was pure kindness and the vibe was similar to the "she's so nice" vibes that radiate out of her films and interviews.
As a fellow people pleaser who is "so nice" but isn't really... I have always related to her (of course, this is part of her and Swift's idealness as a celebrity). By the way, I can't stand Swift but love Hathaway, so go figure.
Happy to say that we've reached the age of "gives no fucks." The core sense of self that always allowed us the bandwidth to be so nice is so done being judged for trying not to be judged. We finally have the confidence and lack the emotional energy to people please indiscriminately. I know what makes me happy, so I will do my thing and don't care if you invited me to the party or not (or hate me for being me) anymore.
Finally, her reason for making this film really resonated. She's aging like fine wine.
Your comment makes me think -- I wonder how we'll all feel about Taylor Swift in a few years when she has more portal energy? It will be super interesting to watch.
I came to Taylor late, and I'm a decade older--I can't WAIT to see what she ages into.
I already like her now significantly more than I did 10 years ago.
I loved this breakdown. And loved The Idea of You! I only recently started getting into romantic movies (for whatever reason, three decades disliking nearly anything besides horror and sad sci-fi), and I watched The Idea of You on a bummed-out day last week. It totally brightened up my mood and reminded me why I’ll pretty much always watch something starring her.
Also: If anyone hasn’t seen “Colossal,” do it! It’s one of my favorites movies and, god, it’s just so nuanced, funny, weird, and pulled-back...I hate spoilers and don’t wanna ruin the plot for anyone, but it’s so good!!!
I remember in 2013 when people suddenly started hating Anne Hathaway and, as you mentioned, simultaneously saying they loved Jennifer Lawrence—because you cannot like two people simultaneously!!—and thinking that those same people would absolutely turn on the latter within a year (and that she’d get inevitably get accused of faking relatability, including that red-carpet trip at the Oscars, regardless of how ludicrous that theory is).
It reminded me of college when I knew this group of mostly men men who always seemed to have a new “cool girl of the week,” usually on the younger side, that they’d get tired of after a few months before moving on to a new girl, never fully accepting any of them into their friend group. (Can you tell it took me a while to get over this situation happening to me? Lol.) In any case, even though it seems like the Hollywood press cycle’s been pretty messed up to Anne Hathaway, I’m just grateful she’s never left acting behind.
I lived through the 'cool girl' phase in real life back in the 80's/90's. After 10 years of manic pixie dreamgirls tropes it was kind of weird to see the cool girl/tryhards trope return to pop culture in 2013 with the Anne Hathaway/Jennifer Lawrence fake dichotomy.
OOH. Interesting, because I think of manic pixie dream girl as a subtype of cool girl. This is a taxonomy I wish to see someone explore!!
Agree re: Colassal! Surprisingly nuanced and clever, very much enjoyed it, especially since I went in expecting a low budget monster movie.
YES I loved Colossal!
Just hopping on to say I love when an AHP celeb commentary pops up in my inbox. this one did not disappoint. thank you Anne!
I don’t have anything more constructive to say than that this was great. And I wrote that as someone who was not plugged in to the cited media, and who had no particular feelings about Anne Hathaway (other than that she’s extremely attractive).
Anne reminds me of SJP in that trusting, yearning, Theater Kid Energy. SJP is famously nice (unless you ask Kim Catrall), I believe she doesn't even like to swear. I do like SJP, but also feel like she is playing the Role of SJP at the same time.
I really do think Anne would have been best served not to have written her Oscar winner speech to start with "it came true" as a reminder that her song in Les Miz was "I Dreamed a Dream". Even I thought 'yikes', and I was neutral at the time.
I do love the callback to 'Celebrity Gossip, Academic Style', which is how I first knew AHP. Celebrity analysis is my weakness!
I actually wrote the Hathaway piece at BuzzFeed but yes!!!
The good old days of Facebook, right? ;)
I don't think I have strong Anne Hathaway feelings, in general, but I was struck while watching her in The Idea of You that I didn't find her particularly believable as either a mother or a sexpot. The mother thing may be partially a casting issue - the actress who played her daughter wasn't believable as a teen and Anne looking like a Hollywood 40 means that they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.
I think I would have had Anne on my internal list of "celebs who are beautiful but not sexy" (why do I have this list? I think I blame the patriarchy, maybe?) alongside Taylor Swift (though I do think I find Taylor sexier now and I wonder about the Travis Kelce of it all... do I find her more sexy now because I find him sexier than any of her past boyfriends?). I think Anne and Taylor are also both people who, as has been noted, celebs who get knocked for being too eager, to transparent about wanting to be good at their jobs, not having a whole lot of chill about their careers, etc. ... and I wonder if I have some associations with sexiness involving some degree of not giving a fuck? So even as the current media campaign around "look, Anne is sexy!" feels like a strain of someone who is again trying hard to be seen in a certain way and not an actual revelation of her sexual side (and, of course, she doesn't *owe* us access to her sexual side)
As someone who is much closer to the Anne/Taylor side of the work hard, try hard spectrum and who both enjoys sex but doesn't think of myself as "sexy", this does make me want to do some more thinking about why I have this association with those qualities and a lack of sexiness. This is why I love thinking about pop culture because ultimately how I see Anne (and other celebs) ultimately tells me some interesting things about myself.
Reese Witherspoon is a great example who can play the Type A “Election” roles, ditzy comedy “Legally Blonde” roles but also just a believably play serious and sexy roles in “Walk the Line,” etc. As I think more about it, and reading all of the comments here, I do wonder if Anne might not have the acting chops that we associate with someone at her level. I think she was believable as the underdog in “Devil Wears Prada” and “Princess Diaries” but she just doesn’t cut it for the more mature roles.
I’m a Scorpio. On Saturdays I watch rugby, then watch some streaming option. I know how to PAR-TAY.
The fact that she used 'resonate' correctly definitely gave her some points in the positive column, right?