Discussion Main / HollywoodHomely

I honestly hate this trope. If you ask me, this makes people insecure about their appearance!

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Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Not objective , started by captainpat on Jun 27th 2011 at 12:55:51 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Would it be acceptable to add a very general Real Life example to this trope, backed up by personal observation? It'd be something like this:

"This trope is actually quite often Truth in Television. It's easier when watching a TV show or a film to recognize that the 'homely' girl is actually quite pretty underneath the glasses and the braces because we're all familiar with this trope. Yet in reality most people tend to perceive an unconventional/unflattering sense of style in someone as a perpetual characteristic of that person. You might have that one high school teacher whom you can't for the life of you imagine without their one-size-too-big suits or their 80s haircut, or you might have experienced dressing up for a special occasion and receiving praise from someone who seems genuinely -if somewhat insultingly- surprised. More often than not it takes a professional stylist to be able to imagine what a person might look like with a style very different from their present one. Most people just don't bother, so unflattering clothing and hair styles may very well cause people to be perceived as less than attractive, regardless of their actual physical features."

Edited by bombadilla

Does this trope only apply to a persons physical appearance?

For example, I have seen a Spongebob episode where Patrich writes a song that is actually kind of catchy and yet everyone in the work acts like their ears were being raped (the band that played it actually died doing so). Another example is in How I Met Your Mother, when Lilly makes paintings which are actually alright yet everyone acts like those paintings are horrible (to the point where she could not even sell them at a hobo garage sell [and where birds kill themselves upon seeing them]).

If Hollywood Homely only applies to people, than what is the trope for inanimate objects which are treated this way?

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This trope seems to largely come down to someone being Bullied or Unpopular in school, when they look attractive to the Audience.

In Real Life I know people who where bullied in school but where very attractive, and from studying real life cases know of many others, and no I don't just mean my own personal preference, I mean people who could be Supermodels if they wanted to. One example I actually consider a Stacey Farber look a like.

To me it's a Hollywood invention that there must be a correlation between attractiveness and popularity in school. But there are any number of reasons someone could be bullied, in the case of the Farber look alike for her religion. Believe or not even today being non Christian can make you a social outcast, but also the other hand so can being a Christian if your more open then the average Christian about it.

Yes, the bullied person is more often then not accused of being ugly "WWE spoofed this when they had Lay Cool mock Mickie James claiming that the extremely fit Diva was fat and calling her Piggy James." this DOES happen in real life, which is why I feel it's outright offensive that either the WWE or the Troper who added this thinks it's a Joke, lots of very attractive women have committed suicide because of receiving this exact treatment.

Edited by 216.99.32.42 Hide / Show Replies

Many of these examples don't fit the trope. Elizabeth Bennett and Scarlet O'Hara, although not presented as extremely or conventionally beautiful are not meant to be seen as homely either.

The Psycho example is odd. Where is it actually said that Carolyn is considered plain? All she says to Marion is "he [Mr Cassidy] was flirting with you. He must have noticed my wedding ring". It veers more towards Informed Attractiveness on Marion's part if you ask me.

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"She'll also be much thinner, since women of average build are considered to be lumbering oxen by most Hollywood producers even if they're as fit as an Olympian."

There just seemed to be a little dig in that statement. Yes, it's true that in media you wonder why a woman is considered "fat", but I would argue that anyone falling under this trope would usually overlap with Hollywood Pudgy, since that trope often plays on a women not having a perfect supermodel figure, and common standards of beauty tend to favor more petite builds. The page image would be Hollywood Pudgy too, since Ugly Betty's protagonist wore a fat suit for her role. But in any case, I think that sentence should be changed, because it almost comes off as bitter toward skinny people.

Ringo Starr may be an example, but I don't know whether that counts. Some people may consider him to be ugly. However he looks very adorable, beautiful and attractive in my opinion. I am like Marge from the Simpsons episode "Brush with Greatness". Ringo doesn't get the same treatment as a Hollywood Homely. He usually dresses up nicely. He does have a big nose, which is more of a natural thing. He usually isn't scorned by appearence. The trope title implies that examples tend to be movie actors. Ringo has done some acting, but he is most famous as the drummer for the band, the Beatles. He does get a Hollywood Homely moment in the first Beatles movie, "A Hard Day's Night". The little old man said, "He [Ringo] can't help having a hideous great hooter [nose], and the poor little head trembling under the weight." Who knows. Maybe Ringo could be a real life example of Ugly Cute.

I've noticed and heard from many others that many Hollywood Homely women actually look a lot like some local homecoming queens and/or local beauty pageant winners (and I don't mean stereotypically ugly places, either). Could that be worked into the article or is it just natter?

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Cut this example:

* If Katy Perry puts on glasses and one of those stupid wire braces retainer things nobody actually uses anymore as she does in the video of "Last Friday Night" that doesn't stop her from still looking like Katy frikkin' Perry!

Because it doesn't really fit. The video depicts her as an awkward teenager, yes, but does not suggest that she is unattractive. Just awkward, and being very good-looking doesn't stop you from feeling awkward as a teenager. It's just part of growing up. And the wire retainer, like so much of the video, was a deliberate homage to The '80s.

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Edited by riddlerj

Big Bang Theory, Bernadette hotter than Penny? I most people i know preffer Penny(Kaley Cuoco) over Bernadette(Melissa Rauch). Don't get me wronge, if not make up as Bernadette, Melissa is beautiful. Just not as beautiful as Kaley Cuoco.

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I removed the following:

• The Pussycat Dolls. If you think about it, the song Don't Cha is essentially pointing this trope to the listener. "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?/Don't you wish your girlfriend was raw like me?/Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?/Don't you?/Don't you?".

because I don't see what this has to do with anything. It is saying that the singer is hotter and sexier than the girl that "you" are with. There's no lines or anything that indicate that "your girlfriend" is actually attractive.

Should there be anime examples here? I was under the impression that they were supposed to go under Generic Cuteness.

"If there's a hole, it's a man's job to thrust into it!" — Ryoma Nagare, New Getter Robo Hide / Show Replies

Marilyn Munster, anyone?

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