Tone it down with the teeth whitening, Hollywood.

 I know that having super white teeth is in vogue now. There are so many products advertised everywhere and everywhere you go lots of people have really white teeth. Some to the extreme, I think. I have seen some people that have teeth that are so white they are almost blue. Adults’ teeth are just not naturally that white.

BUT, I know that white teeth are important to a lot of people. My mother-in-law whitens all the time and she has quit drinking coffee and tea because they would stain her teeth. Not a bad thing at all, I suppose.

How white your teeth are is your choice. And if you want your teeth unnaturally white, that is your choice as well. BUT when you are an actor, acting in a period piece where I KNOW people’s teeth would not be glowing white, it is just a distraction. I won’t name any movies, but Hubby and I were watching something the other night and several characters were dirty, in raggedy clothes with straggly dirty hair and their teeth were glowing white. LOL! I asked Hubby, “Is it just me, or are his teeth a distraction?” He told me it was not just me.

Then, this weekend, I binge watched a mini-series on Netflix. It was good and I really enjoyed it, but once again, it was a period piece. There were characters that were dirty, with dirty hair, raggedy clothes and those glowing white teeth. I know they are actors. I know it is a movie. But the producers did a lot to make the costuming and the staging seem real so the teeth were distracting.

I don’t think people need to go back to stained, yellowed teeth, although I must say my family didn’t whiten our teeth when growing up and we didn’t have stained, yellowed teeth. But we do have good dental hygiene. My mama saw to that.

But filmmakers need to pay attention to what they are doing. One example where this was not the case was a movie called “Mud” starring Matthew McConaughey. He had snaggly teeth in the movie that fit in with his character. I looked it up after watching the movie as I know he has pretty white teeth. For this film, he wore prosthetic teeth. Yes, he wore ugly teeth for the part. And, in this instance, his teeth might not have even been a distraction. But they were going for realistic.

I know Hollywood filmmakers and actors would not care what I think. But I think they should pay more attention to actors’ teeth if they are trying to be realistic.

Oh, and I do use whitening toothpaste sometimes….if it was really cheap with a coupon. But my teeth will never be glowing white.

Rant over.

Happy Monday all!