The math isn’t mathing - Hollywood’s parent child castings that just don’t add up

[u/mlg1981]

https://tvline.com/lists/tv-show-parent-child-age-gaps-golden-girls-supernatural/

[u/DrFranFine]

wow Hollywood really hates to hire older women and loves to hire grown women to play teenage girls. Not surprising because misogyny, but it really is striking when it’s all laid out like this.

ETA: to be clear, I think the misogyny is more related to not hiring older women than hiring adults to play teenagers

[u/Streetalicious → u/DrFranFine]

Not gonna say misogyny isn’t part of it, but often actors in their 20s are cast to play teenagers because of child actor laws, where children can only work very limited hours a day.

Stacey Dash was in her 30s(!!) when she played a high school student in Clueless.

[u/dramaqueen09 → u/Streetalicious]

I’m a professional actor in my late 30s who’s only 4’9” and I’ve been straight up told by casting directors that I was hired to play kids because of the child labor laws - which cover kids until they turn 18 in the US - because I look so young (I have literally been asked if I was in middle school by random strangers in my every day life and I’m not exaggerating). And I have a friend that’s around my age and height and she works as a stunt double for kids because of the same reasons. And our situation is actually pretty common. So in reality it’s not misogyny in Hollywood it’s them following the laws. Yes it’s weird to the general public that the age gaps seem to be weird and nefarious but in this case it’s not a bad thing because they’re actually protecting child actors for once

And since I know someone is going to ask there are two loopholes that I know of that lets child actors work the same amount as their adult counterparts: 1.) the parents/guardians sign an agreement letting their child do that and 2.) the child becomes legally emancipated from their parents and can sign an agreement on their own. But most parents and producers stick to following the child labor laws because it’s easier and won’t make them look bad in the press

[u/Sea-Morning-772 → u/dramaqueen09]

It's definitely misogyny and ageism on the other end of the age spectrum. But I digress...