 Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in Whit Stillman’s “Love & Friendship.” (Ross McDonnell/Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions) Every Wednesday, I answer a question from Monday’s Washington Post Live chat in this edition of the newsletter. If you want to read this week’s chat, the transcript is here. And if you’d like to submit a question for next week’s chat (or for my Facebook Live chats on “Game of Thrones” with Style editor David Malitz), you can do that here. This week in the chat, a conversation about body standards for men and women prompted a really interesting observation from a reader about the traps that women can fall into: I feel like there is an interesting conversation about Kate Beckinsale’s career online right now. Actually Kate Beckinsale said in an interview promoting “Love & Friendship” (have you seen it yet?) about how [her] first [breakout] role was in BBC TV miniseries “Emma” and than nobody would see for the “badass” roles because they saw her as too dainty and fragile. So she got into the awful “Underworld” movies (awful is editorializing on my part) and then it became the opposite problem of too much correction where she wasn’t seen for the period films and viewed as just the action heroine roles. The role that body type — and that appearances in action movies — can play in typecasting for both men and women is really interesting. Comedy has been a route out of physical typecasting for a lot of men. The revelation that Channing Tatum was hilarious paved a career path for him that didn’t consist only of “G.I. Joe” movies, and I think ended up creating opportunities for him to play more serious dramatic roles, like his turn in “Foxcatcher,” because once directors knew he could do comedy, they assumed he could do other things as well. Dwayne Johnson hasn’t quite gotten to the point of starring in Coen Brothers movies and Oscar bait, but his faculty with comedy definitely means he gets to do more interesting work, whether in “Pain and Gain” or even “Be Cool,” which is otherwise awful. John Cena’s work in “Trainwreck” is an obvious attempt to follow a similar path. I would have to think carefully about whether I think action type-casting works for women in the same way, not least because so few women ever get the opportunity to be action stars in the first place. Michelle Rodriguez is one actress who I definitely think has ended up doing primarily action work, though whether that’s by choice or a result of what she’s offered is an open question. My guess would be, though, that there’s no perceived contradiction between having serious muscle definition and being funny, or being kind, and being dramatically interesting. But there is some perceived contradiction between physical strength and femininity. That this perception is silly doesn’t mean it’s harmless. Punching backwards and in high-heeled boots sometimes just means that all people think you know how to do is punch. Also, I am so excited to see “Love and Friendship”! I will report back! | 
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