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We debated the merits of Tom Cruise, and now we’re onto Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In my humble opinion, JGL is a twee sex symbol of epic proportions. But Daniel Holloway, national news editor at Back Stage, thinks he sucks, even going so far as to proclaim: “Wanting to make out with him is like wanting to make out with your little brother.”
Our arguments, below:
Daniel: America used to produce male movie stars who looked like men. Gary Cooper? Man. Humphrey Bogart? Man. Marlon Brando? Hell, Brando had more testosterone in his jowls than most men have in their whole bodies. But nowadays, the best we can muster is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The 29-year-old actor first made a name for himself playing a girl with pretty hair on the late-’90s sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun. When the show ended in 2001, it felt safe to assume that the actor would enroll at Bryn Mawr or Smith, graduate with a degree in English literature, and spend the next few years working as an assistant at Penguin Classics before marrying an investment banker.
Instead, he kept acting. He was cast as the lead in the 2005 high-school noir Brick. Then came (500) Days of Summer, a remake of Annie Hall conceived and executed by the sort of people who think Nora Ephron can still write. (She can’t.) Suddenly, women everywhere were swooning over an actor who, by the looks of him, stands 5-feet-2-inches tall and weighs just south of 100 pounds.
While America has spent a generation churning out the tiny likes of Tobey Maguire, Emile Hirsch, and Casey Affleck, we have also been outsourcing our masculinity to places like Australia and wherever Christian Bale is from. Those countries are now producing the men who our women should want. What does it say about our country when all our movie stars look like the twitchy writers who complain about our movie stars?
Ladies, take heed: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not a man to lust after. Is that spinning-hallway fight scene in Inception the most badass thing in the movie? Yes – but we’re talking about a film that devotes 90 minutes to a slow-motion shot of a van falling into a river. Badassery is relative. And it doesn’t change the fact that wanting to make out with him is like wanting to make out with your little brother.
Erin: Damn, those ares fighting words, and I take hearty disagreement with your take that Nora Ephron can’t write – Did you see Julia Julie and Julia? – and also that JGL lacks enough masculinity to be a sex symbol on par with Brando or shouty Christian Bale. While Leonardo DiCaprio is the so-called “hotter one,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the best thing about Inception – and most of my girlfriends are inclined to agree. He’s a great actor, yes, but beyond that, he is appealing because he seems so accessible and emotionally intelligent and just really cool. And what isn’t sexy/masculine about that? In other cliched words, JGL is a Thinking Woman’s Sex Symbol.
Apart from that, most guys seem to like him. Maybe it’s because they identify with his hipster-y unrequited love for Zoey Deschanel in (500) Days. Or maybe it’s because he’s an effing good actor. If acting competition like Shia LaBeouf were less pressured to live up to the hype with Spielberg-approved mainstream roles, maybe Shia would be allowed to be as compelling and risk-taking as JGL. And maybe that would lead to a coveted role in an “intelligent” Christopher Nolan summer blockbuster. Then again, JGL is a classically gifted actor with a modern, unconventional style – in this regard, Shia doesn’t even come close. Not many actors do.
Sounds a lot like Brando to me.
What do you think: Are you on Team JGL Is Awesome or Team JGL Is Overrated?
i think hes beautiful. There’s something so mysterious about him that you cant help but feel drawn towards. His acting style is unique and Shia did say he fears his credibility as an actor and that speaks volume. The main reason i love is the way he carries himself as film actor and choosing roles that seem to bring his acting style in the form of art that many cannot embody.
JGL should be the next Jason Bourne..
I think Daniel is jealous of Joe, not to mention quite outdated as far as gender stereotypes are concerned. Being a completely masculine ‘man’ can be sexy, but it’s not the only way to be sexy. And if you can’t appreciate or understand that, please take a time machine back to 1950, thanks.
Where are you even getting your facts and information from, Daniel? Because just about every female I know has great admiration for Joe in addition to their crush, and just about every male I know (gay AND straight) have man crushes, because he’s truly that wonderful of a guy.
He takes the time to appreciate and get to know his fans, working with them on projects on his production company’s website: hitRECord.org. He’s a wonderfully talented actor who has JUST begun what is sure to be an absolutely outstanding career… I cannot wait to see where he goes. The sky’s the limit for Joe!
As far as I’m concerned, he’s the ONLY man worth lusting after. Good luck getting a date after this article, Daniel. FOR SHAME!
I loved JG-L in 500 days of summer and especially Inception. He doesnt have the typical build, but he’s slim. and he’s appealing in other characteristics. In interviews you can watch of him, he seems like a genuine personality. Not to mention is fantastic smile and looks! Yeah – to a thinking Woman, he is a Sex God.
He is not 5′ 2, he is averag height at 5 ft 9.5 and he weighs 140 lbs.
I thought he was cute when I was little and saw him in Angels in the Outfield. Then I fell in love with him when he was in 10 Things I Hate About You. I think he’s very hot.
Team JGL is awesome. ‘Nuff said.
The world has had enough Brando and Cooper.
C’mon sexy nerds, it’s your time to shine!
Although I agree with the Stewer comment :D
He’s awesome, he seemed like a decent actor and is incredibly attractive.
He’s a good actor, still got a long to go to be considered great. He really doesnt add anything to his roles that I can’t see many actors within his range of competition provide.
In Inception he was sort of flat.
Pay attention to how Tom Hardy outshines him in every scene. Hardy’s performance is very nuanced. Look at what he does with his face, hands, feet, whole body. And how he lets his voice go and hits many different intonations and inflections.
JGL was a bit restrained you can tell he was nervous to be around such an impressive cast. Cant hold it against him. Acting is hard.
I took that to be the personality of his character. I saw Arthur as an uptight, all-business kind of guy.
I think JGL is very good looking and manly.
Jon Hamm (from Mad Men) is handsome and masculine in the “classic” movie sense and he’s American.
At least JGL isn’t Michael Cera. Can we at least give him that? He’s not even twee, he’s just slim. I doubt we’d confuse him for a perpetually-young teen, he’s just got that slim-faced, 50s-style appeal. I’d say he was our Jimmy Stewart, if not Brando or Dean.
I thought about mentioning J-Stew here, because there is a sort of Jimmy Stewart Light quality to JGL. But then I remembered that Stewart actually gained 10 pounds so he could meet the Army Air Corps’ minimum weight requirement and go kill Germans in WW2. He retired from the Air Force Reserve 28 years later as a Brigadier General. JGL can’t be my Jimmy Stewart until he kills at least one Nazi.
Oh and as a straight male, Ill say this. He’s definitely not the alpha male type of figure. But he’s a kid who walks a fine line of embodying cool and quirkiness which makes him appear relatable and somebody you’d’ wanna chill with.