Hollywood, let actors keep their chest hair!!!!
I’m back with a bone to pick on those in Hollywood and their war on chest hair. Why must we constantly see a hairy chest losing the battle against film and television? When will they get their chance to thrive?
I have, in the past, written about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s problem with chest hair. But it does seem as if the issue has spread far and wide, invading some of our favorite shirtless stars. For whatever reason, gone are the days of Burt Reynolds. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just type “Burt Reynolds photoshoot” into Google and it IS the first image you’ll fine.
We’ve moved away from the epitome of a hot male movie star being his facial hair and the hair on his chest. Now, it is more about the amount of baby oil we can drench the boys of Top Gun: Maverick in to see how they glisten in the sun. My question is simply this: Why? Why are we waxing chests over and over again? Who made this decision? Feels like a man made this choice.
And before I hear the cries of “well, maybe these actors wanted their chests waxed,” why do they have hair on their chest in their daily life? Why do I see photoshoots with my favorite guys with a beautiful smattering of chest hair present but not in films or on television shows? It is yet another weird beauty standard Hollywood forces on its stars. Yes, male actors also get the beauty standard treatment!
When we talk about beauty standards in Hollywood, we typically are shining a spotlight on what female stars have to deal with. But it does extend to the men of Hollywood too. That’s how things like no chest hair happens.
Why is this a thing?
I could wax (pun intended) poetic about how weird this is but I also don’t understand how it became a thing. We used to have men with chest hair in films and television. David Hasselhoff made it cool in the 80s. A young Kurt Russell could be seen with a light bit of chest hair. Harrison Ford made Indiana Jones hot with it! So what happened? When did something change?
I could blame the Marvel Cinematic Universe for it and I think I might. But I’d extend it to all superhero flicks. As a fan of superhero movies, I do love and appreciate how they give those of us attracted to men something to enjoy. But they are nearly almost always clean shaven with few exceptions. As I pointed out in my other piece, men like Charlie Cox had to have their chests waxed and why?!
It has though, in turn, meant that we’ve seen it happen far and wide across popular media. If I wanted to argue, I’d say that indie movies are about the only form of cinema that allows chest hair. Whether that is for budgetary reasons or something else is unclear. But major films have waged war on the chest hair movement and we must stop them.
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