Acorn

Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: photobucket.com

If you ask most mentally healthy teenagers if they would ever be attracted to or consider dating a 48-year-old man, they will probably respond with a resounding "No," and perhaps a gag or two.

Yet, a surprising number of girls tune in to FOX 5 every Tuesday at 9 p.m. for such a man: Hugh Laurie, the star of "House."

An evolutionary explanation for this old-man affinity is that women in some societies prefer older males because they are the only ones capable of providing for their mate and offspring.

It may be true that nature sometimes encourages women to be some type of golddigger, but then again, I don't often hear women fawning over Bill Gates as the man of their dreams. In the case of young women's somewhat strange attraction to Hugh Laurie, there are clearly other factors at work.

My own hypothesis relates more to Laurie's personality both on the program that made him famous in the United States.

How has a character with presumably wrinkled nether regions, a limp and little resemblance to Brad Pitt become such a sex symbol?

In the same way that some women are attracted to muscled, athletic types, others become weak in the knees for sharp wit and striking intelligence.

As the title character on "House," Hugh Laurie is undeniably brutal.

He is not the type of character you watch in order to lift your spirits, unless an incredibly dry sense of humor is the only thing that can touch your soul.

House's refusal to sugarcoat the truth coupled with obvious intelligence, vicious sense of humor, medical genius and Laurie's good looks causes younger women to flock to him-at least figuratively.

Loyal viewers show their love for both the man and the character through message boards, fan clubs, room decorations and general excitement every week when Tuesday rolls around.

You have probably experienced it on your own AIM buddylist-away messages involving various combinations of "HOUSE", hearts and kissy smileys, written by women less than half Laurie's age.

Imagine what the typical American dad would do if his daughter came home with a 48-year-old man.

The reaction would probably involve a serious display of violence and perhaps some mangled genitalia, but would the response change if the man was an acclaimed doctor or famous actor?

Or, to consider the opposite, how does Hugh Laurie somehow traverse the age boundary most of us have created in our minds?

Continued...

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