Actor Timothée Chalamet needs little introduction, especially among young adults. Chalamet’s career has been on a steep upward trend for several years, propelled into stardom by the 2017 adaptation of André Aciman’s novel “Call Me By Your Name.” Since then, he has made strides as a relatively new actor, venturing into everything from science fiction with this month’s remake of “Dune” to dramas and comedies.
For some of his most notable projects, Chalamet has worked alongside director Greta Girwig and actress Saoirse Ronan in two movies—“Ladybird” and the 2019 remake of “Little Women.” These are entirely different stories taking place in entirely different time periods, but the movies have some parallels, aside from the obvious fact that they share a director and several cast members. Both have a mostly female cast and even have the words “lady” and “women” in their titles. Both feature Chalamet in supporting roles, but have become more strongly associated with him than anyone else.
When you Google “Little Women cast,” Timothée Chalamet’s picture is the first to come up. While his character is important to the plot, Jo (played by Saoirse Ronan) is ultimately the main character. One could argue that he was the most famous actor and would bring in the most attention but this simply isn’t the case as the cast featured many household names like Meryl Steep and Emma Watson. Similarly, the Netflix cover picture for “Ladybird” is a picture of his character, Kyle. Ronan is again the star of this film and Chalamet plays a supporting role as the stereotypical emotionally unavailable love interest.
While these observations may seem small and insignificant, they are indicative of a larger issue. These movies are both coming of age stories centering young women with Chalamet as a side character. So why are the main characters in these films being defined by their love interests?
This question doesn’t have a simple answer, and my intention isn’t to try to find it. Instead, I am hoping to draw attention to this pattern that many of us might not even realize we are a part of. Like most industries, the movie industry has been historically dominated by white men and while progress is being made, this won’t change overnight. Even if Netflix received backlash and changed their cover picture for “Ladybird” tomorrow, it wouldn’t erase the fact that someone believed that using a male actor would make the movie more marketable and appealing than the actual main character.
I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with seeking out movies and watching them because an actor you like is in them. I have admittedly sat through several otherwise bad movies to see someone I was a fan of, even if they only made an appearance for a few minutes. It is impossible to not fall for these marketing techniques because we are so used to seeing them. But just because we are not individually to blame doesn’t mean we can’t take the time to reflect on our own choices. There is no “right” way to enjoy something, but it is important to give credit where it is deserved and be aware of how we are appreciating movies. It’s normal to be drawn to the movie because his name is attached to it, but I think it’s important to be mindful of what we take away from the movies beyond that because they have so much more to offer.
This is not meant to be a criticism of Chalamet as an actor or as a person. “Little Women” is one of my favorite movies and I plan to see one of his newest movies, “The French Dispatch,” when it comes out in theaters. And after seeing the way other celebrities such as One Direction or Taylor Swift who have fan bases made up of primarily teenage girls have been underestimated and judged, I think the amount of attention he gets is in many ways a good thing. My goal is to bring attention to and open a discussion about this pattern, which is prominent throughout our world in all forms of media, and there are so many other celebrities I could have focused on. There are obviously many more pressing issues in Hollywood than who is on the poster for a movie, but these things all play into the bigger picture.