Having risen to fame as ‘Eleven’ in Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown has established herself as an A-List Gen Z celebrity, recently coming to the fore again on her press tour for The Electric State.
Admittedly, the film itself is somewhat of a car-crash, with an average rating of 2.1 stars on Letterboxd and an excruciating 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, regardless of how one might feel about Millie Bobby Brown and the nightmarish film, the press’ reaction to the Gen Z star over the course of her press tour has given rise to wider conversation on the issue of ‘dressing for your age’ and the constant policing of women’s clothing and bodies.
Google “Millie Bobby Brown”, and you’ll be met with a whole host of articles centred on the star’s looks, from “Millie Bobby Brown Shows Off New Thigh Tattoo In HAWT Bikini Pics!” to “What HAS Millie Bobby Brown done to her face?” – not even a look in for The Electric State. These two headlines illustrate the catch-22 nature of the criticism facing Brown – hyper-sexualised on the one hand, and yet met with disgust on the other for what can only be described as growing up; whatever Brown wears, she faces an unwanted commentary on her looks.
Even British comic, Matt Lucas, deemed it necessary to comment on Brown’s style, likening her to Vicky Pollard, a character from his infamous show, Little Britain. Although later issuing a public apology, claiming that criticising Brown was never his intention, the initial tweets highlight the overwhelming truth that women’s bodies are objects to be scrutinised by whomever and whenever. Inevitably, the rise of social media has only facilitated and exacerbated this.
In a recent interview on the Call Me Daddy podcast, Brown expressed that she is “disgusted” by the criticism that she, and other young women, face in the media, and that “it should never be okay”. In regards to her own personal experience, Brown stated that she is no longer bothered by such scrutiny, saying: “my face does grow, like I do wear a lot of makeup, like it’s just the kind of person I am. I like that, like it’s fun for me. You’re not going to tell me how to be a girl. You’re not going to tell me how to be a woman. That is not the world I live in”.
In a somewhat rare moment of Call Me Daddy profundity, host Alex Cooper affirmed that “there is a hyper-fixation on you…as a young woman it’s so much pressure. I’m so happy that, yes you’re saying you’ve gotten to a point where is doesn’t affect you, but it still doesn’t mean it should happen”.
Millie Bobby Brown also took to Instagram, calling out particular articles, and journalists, that only begin to highlight the swathe of hate that she has faced simply for the way she looks.
As a company owning, 21-year old, married actress, it is clear that Millie Bobby Brown has grown so much since she first appeared on screen, and it is evident that much of the media is unable to move past this. There is no doubt that Brown is in fact dressing for her age, as much as the press wants to dispute this, and even if she wasn’t (although it is impossible to measure this on any valid metric that isn’t purely based on opinion), it is simply none of the media’s business.
This is not to say that celebrities should be put on a pedestal devoid of criticism, but the complete dehumanisation of such figures should never be normalised, not least that of young women who are coming into their own. Whilst some might argue that Brown can’t have it ‘both ways’ – being famous and not being scrutinised – existing in the public sphere does not warrant such cruel examination.
The case of Millie Bobby Brown only begins to highlight the colossal issue of the treatment of women in the media, particularly for their bodies and their choices. You only have to head to the Daily Mail (though it’s a mystery why you ever would) to see this in action. It goes without saying that women’s bodies should not simply be objects that can be sold in exchange for headlines, although the state of modern media makes this hard to believe.
