People shocked by what 18-year-olds looked like in 1970s movies
Topics: Film and TV
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
Topics: Film and TV
People have been left shocked after seeing how 18-year-olds look in 1970s films as compared to now.
In the decades since the 1970s, films have changed quite a bit - from the CGI that is used to the type of stories that are being told.
But one thing that has particularly grabbed film fans' attention is the way characters are portrayed in the films - especially characters looking a lot older than they are meant to be in the film.
This discussion has been brewing on Twitter, as someone posted a screenshot of the characters Kenickie and main protagonist Danny Zuko in the 1978 musical classic Grease.
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In the film, Danny is 18-years-old, though the actor John Travolta was actually 23 when Grease was filmed in 1977.
Kenickie, on the other hand, was supposed to be 17 or 18 in the film as the second command of the T-Birds.
But actor Jeff Conaway was actually 26 when filming took place for Grease, meaning he graduated high school years before he featured in the film where he was a student.
A picture of the pair starring in Grease was posted to Twitter by Johan Lenox, with him adding: "If you think that’s crazy in 1978 this is was 18 year olds were supposed to look like."
Many people replied to the comment, with some quick to point out that despite Grease being released in 1978, it was set in the 1950s and was depicting 18-year-olds back in that time.
One person said: "I think the guys look more from the 1950s!"
A second added: "They were accustomed to mixing 20+ aged actors into teen roles back then."
And a third said: "They make way more of an effort now to cast young looking people. Those previous shows had a generation thinking most school teens had full grown bodies."
While many were suggested that 18-year-old characters in films actually look their age nowadays, one fan suggested that things haven't changed much.
The Twitter user said that the characters in the Netflix drama Riverdale actually look a lot older than the 15/16-year-olds they are meant to be.
The original Grease tweet actually came as a reply to a tweet about how 45-year-olds looked in films in the 1990s.
The example given here was Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in the 1995 comedy Father of the Bride Part II.