By Arwa Haider
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreader: Qin Tian
Source: BBC Culture (9 February 2021)
Tom Hanks, 64, is now in the fifth decade of his screen career, and he's perfectly adapted to the role of a movie star, even being called the resident dad in the movies. In real life, Hanks is as kind as you might expect, and he has grown into a fatherly, white-bearded figure while also playing some baby boomer-friendly roles.
His two most recent films are last year's Greyhound, a very Hanks World War II thriller in which he plays a naval commander, and the upcoming Netflix World News: a Western film set a few years after the end of the American Civil War.
World News (2020)
In the new film, Hanks plays a veteran who travels through the Texas hinterland during reconstruction, stumbling upon a lost young white girl (Helena Zegel) who only speaks Chiovan, and is forced on a dangerous journey to bring the orphan back to her family.
Hanks takes the young girl to safety—first abruptly, then suddenly bursting with affection for her—which makes the previous coldness even more poignant. He reminds us once again that, without exaggeration, he was a standard dad in many ways.
Aging star system
In fact, "Daddy" is a title that can be given to many big Hollywood actors — at least in terms of age. In recent years, a lot of people have been talking about the lack of new heavyweight male stars in mainstream Hollywood movies. Talented actors may be everywhere, but real movie stars are a different story.
They have a clear "image" with a magnetic field around them that always draws the viewer into their orbit. We have the self-deprecating humor of Dwayne Johnson, and the solemnity and majesty of Denzel Washington. When someone praises an actor as the "new Tom Hanks successor," you know they're movie stars.
But they all seem to be old. Including Leonardo DiCaprio, 46, Johnson, 48, and Brad Pitt, 57; Tom Cruise, all 58. Others are even older than Hanks himself, and Washington is 66 years old. It makes you wonder when a new generation of male movie stars under the age of 40 will show up, and if they will.
This may have something to do with the countless changes that have taken place since the 1980s and 1990s and the film industry itself, or it may have to do with changes in people's attitudes towards masculinity, or with the delicate boundaries between "image" and characterization, as actors tend to be wary of the latter. This makes Tom Hanks' type—his entire faction—increasingly rare.
By the time he starred in Penny Marshall's figure swap comedy Grow Up (1988), Hanks already had the pro-people image of an ordinary person.
Grow Up (1988)
Pleasant and familiar faces, mischievous brown eyes and often furrowed brows have allowed him to navigate several stages of his career, from silly comedy to serious drama (he cemented his position by winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for two consecutive years for "The Philadelphia Story" and "Forrest Gump") to the veteran politician in large American historical films.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Off camera, he also often brings his inexhaustible passion to the screen, telling the story of the country, such as the HBO World War II drama "Company of Brothers" that he co-produced.
As far as starship is concerned, Hanks has always had an openness that lets one down guard, and his characteristics seem to be ready-made, conveying a determined heroism and the ability to do wonders. This slightly naïve boyish personality has led him to frequently play ordinary people in special situations throughout his career, whether it is the favorite fool in Forrest Gump (1994), the pilot who saves the world in Captain Sully (2016), or Captain Miller who is in trouble in Saving Private Ryan (1998).
Captain Sully (2016)
Often, these characters are based on real people; Hanks is known to be an avid reader of history and biography, seemingly always looking for stories that offer a certain optimism and humanism. In other words, fundamentally he plays the good guys.
Hanks can play unlikable roles, but he rarely plays bad guys. His role as an FBI agent in Cat and Mouse (2002) is already close to the villain, playing a vivacious young Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays the master of deception Frank Abbagnale, and Tom's character is more of a determined cat than a real foil than Leonardo's cunning mouse; he is just a serious man in the Eisenhower era, with his own work to do.
Cat and Mouse (2002)
In Pink League (1992), he played a coach of a women's baseball team who liked to shout, once again becoming a well-tempered but cute mentor.
Pink League (1992)
In Sam Mendes' classic gangster film Road to Doom (2002), he further tests the boundaries of the killer — and while we know he's a killer, we never really see him turn into a rogue outright. The film mainly observes him through the eyes of his young son, which can't help but soften the impression of him a little. Even if he's a bad guy, he's fine.
Road to Destruction (2002)
Hanks is often referred to as the James Stewart of our generation, and the similarities between the two are certainly there. With his shy personality and Apple-like American character, Stewart has also starred in many war films and family dramas. The difference is that in the second half of his career, Stewart slowly moved toward evil through collaborations with directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann.
His postwar role, full of short-sighted obsessions, stalker-like insanities, and a desire for revenge, doesn't seem to resemble an image That Hanks is willing to interpret. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Hanks said he felt he couldn't summon the malice needed to play certain roles. Maybe he's right: Does anyone really want to see Tom Hanks subvert the image?
An outdated idol
Movie star status is, of course, also a double-edged sword: when an "image" is deeply rooted in the public mind, people will fall in love with you because of this "image", and it will be difficult for you to get rid of it. You may gravitate toward past success patterns and risk aversion, and work becomes predictable or even mediocre.
Hanks's taste for film projects and directors is undoubtedly aristocratic, but there are a few highly provocative exceptions, such as the first mainstream film about the AIDS crisis, The Philadelphia Story (1993); he has worked with Spielberg on five films, and has worked with Ron Howard and Robert Zemeckis many times, both admirable but slightly conservative directors who love Capra-esque films. (Meanwhile, failed films like the gruesome animated film Polar Express and the Coen Brothers' remake of Elin's Comedy", "The Old Woman Killer," show just how outrageous this tendency can be.) Because of this, some have scoffed at Hanks, seeing his mediocre Hollywood films as both outdated (indeed) and conservative (disagree).
The Philadelphia Story (1993)
Recently, on Twitter, a debate broke out about whether Tom Hanks had actually made a good movie. While this may be a reverse thinking for the average moviegoer, and especially to me, it may be an outrageous idea, but this claim is interesting.
In fact, Hanks' "image" is legendary, and many people love him — especially young people — not because they appreciate his identity as an actor, but because he is a likable, pop culture character: the voice of Toy Story cowboy Woody; the man with whom they grew up. News about him doing good deeds for strangers, collecting typewriters, comforting crying journalists, etc. went viral on the Internet, and if you don't like him, there must be something wrong with you, even if you will never re-watch Forrest Gump.
Toy Story (1995)
Hanks can — and has — be analyzed in a less flattering way, not because of what he does or says, but because of the way his image can be interpreted. His peaceful and firm view of male authority is friendlier and gentler than we are accustomed to seeing, but some might dismiss it as a result: a reassuring endorsement of white male justice and paternalism, a period that liberal critics would say was the pinnacle of similar values, a time he gave birth to in the Reagan era of the '80s.
Hanks may really enjoy playing tough but trustworthy authority figures, including soldiers, policemen and politicians. Sometimes, it could mean that he's playing a role that my generation (aka millennials) most likely doesn't like. But then again, if Tom Hanks were the "baby boom dad" of the film industry, he would have some rebellious offspring.
While all of the above factors should be taken into account, those assertions also don't seem quite accurate when you do watch a lot of Hanks' films, or when you're able to look at a film individually rather than collectively denying them. World News gives a satisfying, chewy, slow-throated account of the chaotic, violent life of Texas — severely divided by the Civil War, with class and racial hatred still brewing, and a wide variety of Americans — white, Native American, and black — trying to coexist. This is self-evident in the innuendo of the United States today.
There's also the fact that when Hanks is at his best, his glow is hard to hide. Captain Philip (2013), based on true events, tells the story of an American merchant ship hijacked by Somali pirates, and the crew is moved to the point of hysteria by his ordeal;
Captain Philip (2013)
In Marielle Heller's "A Good Day in the Neighborhood" (2019), he plays the gentle and gentle way of speaking of Mr. Rogers, an American children's television icon;
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
In Apollo 13 (1995), he plays the astronaut commander Jim Lovell, who has red eyes but maintains a dignified calm, telling his companions that it is his honor to be on a mission with them, and that he is ready for death;
Apollo 13 (1995)
Even in Bridge of Spies (2015), he played a man who had been cold for many years, performing a tragicomic low cough with ease.
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Hanks is a potential representative of an endangered genre image: a fine, old-school movie star whose "real life" seems magically almost in line with his image as a gentleman. Blurring the lines between images on and off the screen is part of the power of stardom. In our extremely cynical age, celebrities have fewer secrets and more and more uniform people. This made Hanks a movie star that we could trust wholeheartedly — a man of genuine passion whose legacy would endure for a long time.