not a trope: Cookie Cutter Cuties

Trivia is for stuff you'd find in an encyclopedia, documentary or DVD Bonus Content that is not within the media in question. The main problem with the trope is that we have nothing that clearly connects an example as being an example.

We already have Celebrity Resemblance, if we're just pointing out actress that look like other actresses.

So do we have any idea what we would be redefining this trope to? It's time for a crowner, but while most people seem to realize there's an issue with the trope no one has any idea what to do?

I think many people have suggested cutting it.

We could make Marilyn Clone etc afterward, but none of those possible pages would make use of this one's content.

I think the trope being referenced here is 'All Actresses Are Beautiful' but if this page in and of itself continues to exist it should be a Useful Note, and shouldn't be cited on other pages unless the narrative is SPECIFICALLY about the pressure on actresses to conform to a certain stand of beauty.

No one has stated anything to redefine the trope to, and thus I will conclude that no one has any idea how to make this more tropeable. If I am wrong, feel free to add some kind of redefine option to this crowner.

Hooked.

Changing the tone of the article isn't really redefining it, least I don't think so.

If this gets cut (which is very likely), we should also cut Pro Porn Clones, since it's the exact same thing except for porn.

Oh, woops, it was supposed to be 'rewrite.' I guess I was too focused on the idea of adding an option for rewriting the article to be something more tropeworthy.

^ That seems reasonable to me. The Same But More is already discouraged, isn't it? Are there any particular arguments for not doing so?

edited 7th Sep '11 5:08:56 PM by Arha

Possible rewrite if the consensus is to go down this path. It does involve a rename but it turns it into an article about a trope rather than a page of complaining. Please note this is very abridged, doesn't cover everything, and I would expect someone much more intelligent and well-established on the forum than me to judge this the work of a ridiculous n00b who should STFU.

All Actresses Are Beautiful

In order to make it in Hollywood, it isn't enough for an actress to be talented. She also needs to look a certain way - that way being conventionally beautiful by the current standard.

This trope appears in narratives when characters who are actresses, especially film or TV actresses, are presented as conforming to the beauty standard of the time noticeably more so than other characters. For example, the young starlet who may have murdered her producer on a cops-and-lawyers police procedure drama is slender, toned and tanned, immaculately manicured, lacquered and groomed and dressed to please the male gaze, with a perfect head of hair, and even more perfect set of breasts and pearly whites. All the female characters in the sho w may well be conventionally attractive, but the actress character will stand out noticeably in the way she has been cast, dressed and made up.

If a character dreams of being an actress, others may warn her that she's not pretty enough. If the story is about her making it in La La Land, there will be scenes where casting directors, agents and producers pick her looks apart, and she may have a makeover montage. In films and TV shows depicting scenes set at casting calls and big Hollywood parties, the actresses playing the, well, young Hollywood actresses, can tend to blur into a background of generic hotness against which the main action is set. Characters do not just refer to the actress's talent, but to her physical beauty and sex appeal. If a character playing an actress does not "fit the mould" so to speak, other characters will remark on it, or she will lament her lack of work opportunities, or be portrayed as having a niche playing character roles rather than leading ladies and love interests.

Note: This trope can appear in real life as well as fiction. As there is pressure on working actresses to look a certain way in order to get regular work, it can create problems when a Hollywood actress is required to play a character who is not supposed to look like a Hollywood actress. Usually makeup, costume and acting ability are enough to suspend the audience's disbelief, but when the actress is distractingly too unlike the character she is supposed to be playing the phenomena of Hollywood Pudgy and Hollywood Homely occur.

edited 7th Sep '11 6:42:25 PM by raisingirl83

I like that. This needs to be preserved in some form.

@Mega J: Thank you. I know I'm not very well established on the site, but this seems the beginnings of a fair article to me. I guess now it will just be a matter of voting and whether people decide this trope is important enough to deserve a page. I've been a little bit surprised at how the fact that there is a pressure on working actresses to look conventionally beautiful (and therefore kind of samey) is such a blind spot for some site members.

edited 7th Sep '11 6:39:14 PM by raisingirl83

I think that could make a good article. But since it refers chiefly to characters who play actresses and are portrayed as beautiful/glamorous, it's totally independent of the current page, which describes real-life casting.

Okay, well if Cookie Cutter Cuties gets cut, then would there be support for creating a page addressing about the All Actreses Are Beautiful trope? I completely understand if consensus says no, as this is clearly a trope that some people feel hostile about looking at.

I don't think anyone's hostile toward the trope you suggested. They're hostile about the current page, which complains about casting choices and even insults real actresses.

@Routerie: Oh okay. I thought I read some posts much earlier in the conversation implying that if you thought this trope was important you must be a bitter ugly jealous girl, but maybe I was misconstruing that.

Your write-up is a good trope. Take it to YKTTW. But its not really related to CCC in its current form.

@Falco: Okay, I just did that. I sincerely didn't mean to post something that is irrelevant to the subject, as I think that it does address the argument. Please don't report it to a moderator to be thumped with the 'stay on topic' stick.

No I'm not going to report it- I think you've done a good job taking into account how this might work in media (something I wanted several pages back). Taking it to YKTTW will help garner examples, which will show how much of a trope it is.

CCC in its current form needs to go.

After lurking for a while, it's nice to see this issue is moving. This page can't really be worked with at this point; even if you can make a casting trope out of it (I am skeptical), it would be easier to start over from scratch then work with this piece of bile. I vote on cutting.

I'm liking the idea of All Actresses Are Beautiful. I don't have any examples on the top of my head so I can't be of much help down at YKTTW, but I wish you luck.

I've offered a proposed redefinition at least twice so far. Here it is again:

"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 newcomer 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. " .

edited 7th Sep '11 11:13:17 PM by Madrugada

I have little problem with this in theory. I just have a problem putting up examples in practice.

That's still not a trope, just a business trend.

You'll note that a lot of the things we have articles for are also business trends. Sure, not all of those things are tropes, but they still can be highly relevant to media and to things that are tropes. Those articles are typically called "Useful Notes" or "Trivia". This one could, and most likely would, be one of those.

In other words, "it's not a trope" is not a valid argument against making an article about this on TV Tropes.