It definitely feels like people are trying to find things to do at this point in time when there’s already so much to do and experience, hence the confusion of the Brimley/Cocoon Line. Perhaps I’m missing something, but celebrating Malcolm-Jamal Warner is easy enough since his role as Theo on The Cosby show made him extremely popular, but stating that he’s now the same age as the late Wilford Brimley was when he was the first cast in the movie Cocoon falls short of a monumental moment for a lot of people. Maybe I’m being a spoil-sport or maybe like many others I’m failing to see the ‘wow’ factor here, but acknowledging that Wilford was 49 and playing a retiree in the movie isn’t that big of a deal. These days it’s tough to tell since there’s always something being celebrated because someone felt the need to do so, and hey, more power to people for finding ways to make life worth living. But something like this is hard to get excited about since creating a line to celebrate when other celebrities reach Brimley’s age when he starred in one of his greatest movies feels a bit silly.
It might not feel that way to others, but one has to remember that Brimley was known for more than just one movie since he was a great actor in his time, and Warner has been known for other acts as well. Off the top of my head, his brief but noticeable role in American Horror Story: Freak Show, was well done, as is his role in The Resident. As for Brimley, his roles in The Thing and in The Firm were only two among a stellar career that saw him become one of the most recognized stars in America and one of the most well-liked. Paring their careers down to the Brimley line isn’t what this is all about obviously, but it’s still an odd thing to be celebrating simply because the passage of time is something that many people usually celebrate differently and without having to compare to other celebrities. Whether it’s really caught on with a lot of people or not, which it appears to have done, is kind of hard to say, but the fact is that both actors mentioned have had decent to great careers, and celebrating them for their accomplishments might be a better idea than creating an arbitrary line that someone might have come up with in their free time.
It does kind of go to show that people decide to notice odd factoids now and then and decide to go forward with making them public, which is all well and good if people get behind them. Even if they don’t it’s not a huge issue since it’s something that people might not have thought about, to begin with, but are now being made aware of, which is interesting in and of itself and not a negative for anyone. It’s just odd, that’s all, and something that might not need to take precedence in a news feed, but could perhaps be a part of a Reddit or Quora thread rather than something that would be shared as an article online. But then, we can’t always pick and choose what is bound to be popular since the people that read these ideas and want to keep pushing them are often the ones that end up getting people interested, thereby allowing said ideas to keep moving forward.
To be certain, it is interesting that Wilford was only 49 when he was cast in Cocoon since, no offense to the man, he looked much older at the time. It could have been makeup, but it’s also kind of doubtful since he didn’t look like a young man in The Thing either, which means he must have aged quite a bit throughout his life. That’s an interesting note to think about though, as the aging process has been noticeably slowed in some people over the years, while some age quickly and might look far older than their peers. Malcolm has definitely aged, but not so much that he looks wizened beyond his years. It is intriguing to see how different people age at different rates, especially since Brimley did look like a retiree in Cocoon.
Whether the Brimley/Cocoon line is going to take off and continue to be pushed is hard to tell but it does sound as though it might have a chance simply because people want to give it one. It’s a strange thing to use as a measure of age, but oh well, if people want to do this then it’s harmless enough that it might just stand out as an interesting thing to follow. But if it dies out like a lot of trends it won’t be much of a surprise.
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