“Desperate Housewives” did a funny bit last year about models and age. Former model Gabby (Eva Longoria) went back to work at age 29 or 30, and the only assignments she got were 1) car shows, or 2) playing a fresher-faced model’s mother!

One of the things Historiann likes about being Historiann (instead of Modelann or Moviestarann) is that compared to other historians, she looks pretty good. (Kind of like the distinction between “Washington pretty” and “Hollywood pretty,” I know, but it’s a consolation!)

I wonder to what extent the globalization of the movie industry has played a role in the masculinization of Hollywood. After all, action movies with lots of things blowing up are easy to (not) translate, and have proven their global box office value. Dialogue-heavy movies about characters and relationships are harder to translate, and moreover, won’t sell in large swaths of the world where modern Western women are held up as signs of decadence and cultural decay.