By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
What’s better than meeting Timothée Chalamet? If the recent fascination with celebrity look-alike contests is any indication, it’s finding 50 of his doppelgängers in one place — and some lucky attendees left having interacted with both.
A much-anticipated Chalamet look-alike contest took place in New York City at Washington Square Park Oct. 27, and it didn’t disappoint. Superfans and fascinated onlookers thronged to judge the competitors — along with Chalamet himself. What started with the “Dune” and “Wonka” star in New York snowballed into a global trend. More than normalizing fan behavior and raising questions about beauty standards for men, the recent obsession with celebrity look-alike contests reflects communities in need of distractions from political realities and gender-based tensions.
YouTuber Anthony Po, who organized the Chalamet look-alike contest, set in motion an event that has since gone viral. A Paul Mescal look-alike contest sprung up in Dublin Nov. 7. Two days later, fans in London congregated to crown the individual who most resembled Harry Styles. The next day: a Dev Patel contest in San Francisco. Just when fans thought the craze was fading, Chicago hosted its own look-alike contest Nov. 16. Yes, chef, it was in honor of “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White. A Zayn Malik contest followed in Brooklyn — and still, there are more celebrities to be impersonated.
In Boston, a Tom Holland look-alike contest took place in Boston Commons Nov. 24. A Chris Evans look-alike event followed shortly after. These contests are even pulling from the archives to honor attractive male idols: There is a John F. Kennedy look-alike contest scheduled for Dec. 8.
Zendaya marked the first female celebrity to have a look-alike contest thrown in her likeness Nov. 20 in Oakland. Rachel Sennott was the subject of a look-alike contest shortly after. However, they remain outliers among packs of male heartthrobs.
Perhaps unremarkably, all of these celebrities are cisgendered, able-bodied and conventionally attractive. The majority are white men. This is not a departure from Hollywood’s demographics — considering celebrities’ homogenous appearance, this beauty standard feels like nothing new.
However, the very action of look-alike contests, which involves men publicly showcasing their likeness to an attractive celebrity, indicates a change in priorities for men. Traditionally, taking pride in one’s appearance and the vanity that is associated with it is dubbed as feminine; it is still more socially accepted to see a woman touching up her appearance at a dinner table than it is a man.
The advent of look-alike contests, which function quite similarly to beauty pageants with how they crown the winner, may indicate that traditionally gendered beauty lines are blurring. Men across the world are thronging to these look-alike events and relishing the spotlight for their appearances, which may be the result of how commonplace it is for fans to lust after their favorite celebrities online.
The nature of these events also indicates a shift away from gender binaries. Gender non-conforming people are contestants for the likeness of many of these cis male celebrities. The normalization of performance-based look-alike contests was largely paved by the drag scene, which often hosts celebrity likeness events. Drag impersonators of celebrity icons — from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna — have been around for decades but are now becoming more mainstream.
To a public that is often unaccepting of drag, the majority of these performance-based events are community-centric and entirely harmless. At these celebrity look-alike contests, little kids were entered into the ring and cheered on by the joyous atmosphere. The participants seem as much focused on commitment to the costume and humor as they are to the actual likenesses. The goal is not to ordain the next Harry Styles — it is to gather with like-minded people in a community.
The timing of such events is no coincidence. After an incredibly divisive presidential election, as well as existing in a world fraught with global conflicts, many people may be using these events as a much-needed distraction — something drag has long advocated for. Considering the gendered wedge brought by the election results, it may be relieving for female-dominated fanbases to sink into the comforts of fan-girl culture, which projects the “written-by-a-woman” complex onto attractive male celebrities. If it’s the case that the men in their lives aren’t meeting their standards, at least they can cheer on dreamy Chalamet-look-alikes decked out in purple “Wonka” garb. The humorous elements of performance-based events such as these can provide escapism when people need escape most.
Ultimately, look-alike contests have become places for young people to gather and forget the harsh realities that may be present in their lives. For the time being, the contests aren’t going anywhere — after all, there is no shortage of celebrities to impersonate. The meteoric rise of celebrity look-alike contests was characterized by the community-based aspect; at least initially, these events were not hosted by any promotional entity. So long as these contests can stay that way, they will continue to foster camaraderie in a time that sorely lacks it.
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