Ageist Hollywood! 20 year junior female co-star???

I admit, I'm not great with ages of actresses, but as I recall watching CUTTHROAT ISLAND, where the leading lady has about 3-5yrs on her love interest, I always thought he was about 7 or so years older than her. And I never realized there was an age difference (based on looks- not how long each of them had been on the scene) between Cher and Nic Cage in MOONSTRUCK, as I honestly thought based on looks- they were the same age.

Granted, I think that somehow in western culture, we haven't really moved passed when it was normal and it 'worked' for there to be a 10+ year age difference with men being older. When a man had to 'establish himself' before he could be expected to marry and a woman still had to be young enough to pop out several children- it made sense that a man might marry an 18-24 year old woman when he was in his 30s or 40s.

Although, I read a study once of American couples who had been married or living together for 10+ years. They found what these couples had in common: the women were "one level more educated than the man" (i.e. if he had a masters- she had a PhD), they were the same religion, and the women were 8-12 years younger than the man. And with women maturing a bit faster from their mid-teens to their 30s, than their male counterparts, it isn't so hard to understand just how it got to being that men married younger women, and that Hollywood reflects that idea.

That's just my two cents.

*leaves to go pop in a Maureen O'Hara movie*

"There is still hope." - Arwen