Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet: Why We Need to Unpack the ...
There's a new celeb couple on the block — and, unsurprisingly, people are being super weird about it.
The rumours are true. Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner are officially a thing. Reports of their relationship first began to circulate in April 2023 when an insider told People, they were “hanging out and getting to know each other”. At the time, another insider told Us Weekly, “Timothée is a total gentleman and treats [Kylie] with respect. He’s very charming and he makes her laugh, and he’s easy to talk to. He’s not like any of the other guys she’s dated before and although he may not seem like her type, they have really good chemistry.”
The initial reaction was largely one of shock. Many fans took to Twitter to joke that the news must be an April Fool's joke — because, it was implied, how could someone like him date someone like her.
Well, the unlikely pair are back in the news (and our Twitter feeds) thanks to new video footage captured by TMZ of Timmy and Kylie chatting, dancing and kissing at Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour — evidence that, no, their relationship was not a joke and, yes, they do seem to be dating.
Cue mass outrage and confusion. What do they talk about? What do they do together? Why her?
Perhaps it's time to take a step back and ask ourselves: what is actually going on with this backlash? Why are so many of us so upset at the idea of a Chalamet-Jenner relationship? And more importantly, why do we seem to think we know what ‘type’ of person another person should date?
The first thing to note is that the backlash to Kylie and Timmy seems to come down to the question of ‘types’ — namely, that they are not the same one.
Kylie and Timmy have, like most other celebrities, been distilled into their distinct types — categorised into comprehensive groups where they are expected to remain. In a word, they have become brands. Now that the two contradictory categories have met and started dating, the internet has gone into freak out mode. This isn't the first time that we've panicked over two seemingly incongruous celeb brands dating — just take “good girl” Taylor Swift's short-lived romance with the perpetually greasy, chain-smoking endless fountain of controversy that is The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.
In a culture obsessed with brands, it seems that people are expected to adhere to their brand when dating.
Let's dig a little deeper: what are their individual ‘brands?’ Well, Timmy is an indie film darling. We imagine that he's the kind of guy you might spy reading Foucault, wearing linen trousers and a carrying an understated bookshop tote bag. He's dishevelled, but in an intellectual way.
Then we have Kylie, the glossy reality star with a beauty empire. She is fast fashion and TikTok trends and Instagram filters and fake tan personified — or so we imagine her.
The subtext here is that she is too dumb, too simple for the lofty likes of Timothée.
Of course, there are several very big problems here: firstly, we don't know that Timmy is smart and we don't know that Kylie is dumb. However, in an era when our parasocial relationships with celebrities seem to be stronger (and often weirder) than ever, we seem to have convinced ourselves that we do.
In fact, many people have taken to social media to remind us all that, actually, Timmy might not be the cultured, bookish Frenchman we all take him for. There is even a meme going around in which people post videos of the actor next to the caption “Kylie doesn't offer Timothée anything on an intellectual level" showing him being well… a total goofball. It is a stark reminder: just because he has starred in several introverted, thoughtful films, it doesn't necessarily mean thoughtful and deep are his only personality traits.
And even if our perceptions of the pair are, on some level, correct (which, of course, they could be), it's extremely odd to suggest that ‘smart indie boys’ should only be dating women who present themselves as ‘smart indie girls’.
There's no way around it — the critiques of Kylie as a quote-unquote suitable partner for Timothée are, at their core, merely examples of the sexist attitudes that have long been ingrained and normalised in our culture.
Underneath each “why her” comment, there lies an assumption — that some women are lesser than others. An assumption that because Kylie Jenner likes makeup and Instagram, that that is ALL she is.
Sorry, but I thought we cleared this issue up… I don't know, 20 years ago at least. We all saw Legally Blonde, right? We all know that women can wear pink and be interested in beauty and — gasp — also be smart? It is ironic that society actually demands women look a certain way (namely, just like Kylie) while simultaneously judging them for being “not smart enough”. Do we all need to go back and watch America Ferrera's Barbie speech again, because as the Kylie-Timothée debacle illustrated yet again, women never seem to be good enough, no matter what they do.
It's also worth remember that sometimes, people do actually date people who are not exactly like them. And some people even date other people because it's fun. Sure, their relationship probably won't last forever (and if it does, also cool). But whatever happens, it's probably time we all stopped judging people and their relationships at face value.
