not a trope: Cookie Cutter Cuties

This trope is feels like a thinely vieled rant on "hollywood's" standard of beauty and since it's primary dealing with hollywood actresses, a small pool of them mind you, it's not a recurring trend or a device that exists in fictional works.

Agreed, if only because I don't want to go through the 99th battle with tropers over Mickie James. Purge the page.

Yeah, this trope shouldn't exist. Weirdly, someone added it to the page on Anne Hathaway on the grounds she looks very similar to Penelope Cruz (She does? I guess they have sort of similar noses and cheekbones...) That one seemed to be more like an Identical Stranger kind of example, but still kind of strange.

Looking at the Cookie Cutter Cuties page image, I can see about three or four "looks", but even that defies the premise of the trope.

edited 5th Jun '11 2:25:42 PM by Jordan

I agree, it's not a trope. But it does have some pretty strong inbounds, so cutting may be difficult.

If cutting's not an option, we could always retool it.

captainpat, I am fine with cutting this too, but if we actually want to retool it, I think the Bratz example may be a good place to start.

Still, I feel like the overwhelming majority of the examples right now seem to just be about real life actress appearances and I am not sure what that has to do with storytelling.

edited 5th Jun '11 2:31:32 PM by LouieW

Yea, just look at this line in the trope

This really should raised some red flags.

edited 5th Jun '11 3:00:17 PM by captainpat

I think this could be a casting trope, if it's rather extensively reworked.

Here's what it could become:

At any given period in time, there is a group of actresses who are considered major stars. They may vary greatly in appearance from each other, or they may tend to look alike. What they always have in common is that they are very popular and provide good box-office returns.

At the same time, there are the minor stars and supporting actresses. They tend to be of the same physical type as one of the major stars. If/when the big name star falls out of favor, the cookie-cutter starlets copying her look either change their look to that of another big star, or fall out of favor themselves.

What a Cookie Cutter Cutie looks like, therefore, varies according to who the hot major star(s) is/are at the time.

edited 5th Jun '11 3:49:55 PM by Madrugada

That still has nothing to with fictional works themselves and without knowledge from the actress themselves, as to why the changed their look it feels like it would set itself up for speculation and stealth insults ("Well, she obviously copied *insert famous actress* look so so she can get ahead")

Casting is an aspect of fiction though, on the technical side. Same as editing, lighting, sound, etc. Still a part of a work.

That's called Paratext, I believe.

Do we have a Casting Index, or something like that? This could go on there.

Characters and Casting?

True, the but assumption (that's what it without input from the actress) that an actress changing her appearance to match another actress in hopes that it lands her more roles doesn't have anything to do with the casting (decision of the cast would would have been made) of particular works.

edited 5th Jun '11 4:29:28 PM by captainpat

Right, that one. If we redefine this to how Hollywood casts women, that could work. Like how most actors are good-looking in general. We'd have to cut this off some of those indexes, but that would take three seconds.

EDIT: Ninja'ed

edited 5th Jun '11 4:24:03 PM by Discar

We're not supposed to objectively label real life people as attractive.

No, that's my point. We can objectively say that Hollywood has decided that this face and body type sells, so they hire actresses like that. It doesn't really matter whether we agree.

We can't do that either. Hollywood isn't a Hive Mind, aside from generalities we can't definitively say want "hollywood" wants. Also, this still isn't relating to the actually works, where's the recurring themes or devices in the works?

It's a casting trope and, as described, it's the Real Life equivalent of Generic Cuteness and Only Six Faces for women when men aren't held to the same standards.

In the works, some examples do mention it, notably the comic book section and the live-action section. It's what you need to look like if you want to be cast. The image page is somewhat instrumental in the matter.

Hollywood isn't a Hive Mind, but it's possible to look at what physical type was getting work and which ones weren't at any given time and see a pattern emerging. And we aren't saying "this is attractive"; we're saying "This was one of the preferred looks at this time."

Neither Generic Cuteness nor Only Six Faces can exist in real life

That could work as trope, but IMO also feels like something that would be a useful notes pages since it's kinda broad and doesn't seem like something you could definitely say that the work or casting is trying to invoke. However, it's better than what we have now.

edited 5th Jun '11 5:08:48 PM by captainpat

It's a casting trope. Those are patterns that emerge from works, not tropes that are put into work. Like Dawson Casting — the author doesn't say "Oh, for this to work the actor playing the 17-year-old needs to be 26 in Real Life" — it comes from a casting practice, rather than being imposed onto a casting practice.

Ok that fine, but is this something that can be applied to specific works, definitively?

No. It applies to people. Actors, specifically.

Ok, which one? the actress who started the trend or the one who's supposedly emulating it. This sounds a lot like Follow the Leader

Except it's more the casting staff who sets the trend. So it's a little different than Follow the Leader.