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ivyficI noticed in my watching of NCIS that I find Abby, in the most recent season, disconcerting on screen. In an attempt to figure out why, I looked up the actress's age, and I got my answer. Pauley Perrette, who plays Abby, is 39. If I had to guess from the way the character is written, though, I would have put her at 22 or 23. And therein lies the disconnect.
Much of how Abby is characterized is tied to youth. She dresses like a high school or college student, and she acts and is treated on the show like the team mascot. She can get away with a whole lot more with Gibbs than anyone else. She is exuberant in everything she does, occasionally in inappropriate situations. She hugs everyone. People bring her presents. All of these are characterizations linked with a young character. She's the unusually gifted younger sister. Much of the other characters' indulgence of her comes with a protectiveness—that she's still so innocent of the world that they need to keep her from being hurt and, as a consequence, growing up.
She's written in a very similar way to Greg on CSI (without the Goth), though Greg has gone through a progression over the seasons, becoming a field investigator and getting his exuberance tarnished as a result. Eric Szmanda, however, is currently 33, so was 25 when the show started. Perrette, on the other hand, was 34 when NCIS started. This leads me to believe that the part was written for a character meant to be around 25 and was not changed when they cast an older actress. And though 34 for 25 is a fairly common age fudging for TV, as the seasons roll on, the disconnect between the actress's age and the character's percieved age only increases, especially since the show seems to have no interest in ever aging the character.
As I've mentioned before, I've still only seen a handful of NCIS episodes, but there seems to be another aspect to Abby's character. She's very much the den mother here. This leads me to see her character as having all the wisdom and experience of her age but having chosen to stay youthful in her outlook. There's this undercurrent in the interactions that makes it clear that, despite all the outwardly youthful attributes, Abby is more Gibbs's peer than anyone else on the show, save Ducky. It's as if she has chosen to wield her authority in this persona, and if the need ever arose (maybe it has on the show, I'll have to see), she could easily step into a fully adult (kick-ass) persona, to the shock and amazement of all.
She's kind of like Puck—simultaneously youthful and old beyond her years, and unchanged by the passage of time.
I haven't really read any stories focused on Abby (see previous post re OTP), but in the fic I have read, she is written as a 23-year-old—brilliant, perceptive, and well-liked, but with none of the steel of age behind it. Given what I see as a real difference between the percieved age hierarchy on the show and the actual ages of the actors, I'd be really interested in seeing fic that tackles that.
Just for reference, here are the current ages of the cast (this is the actual actors—I couldn't find character bios of how old they are supposed to be) of NCIS:
Ducky, 75
Gibbs, 57
DiNozzo, 40
Abby, 39
Kate Todd, 33 (yes, I know, she's off the show—this is for comparison)
McGee, 30
Ziva, 29
I find it especially interesting that DiNozzo and Abby are peers, though he treats her as a little sister (yes, I know, DiNozzo has his own immaturity issues), while McGee, the failed love interest, is presented more as Abby's peer (since romantic pairings on TV are almost always of similar ages), but is substantially younger than her.
Abby is simultaneously the show's kid sister and it's great turtle, since she's worked with Gibbs longer than anyone except Ducky. It's a really interesting dynamic that the show seems completely uninterested in exploring.
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trinityvixen, yes this post is for you, though I don't know if you watch NCIS and couldn't find a link to your previous post about age gap romances.
Much of how Abby is characterized is tied to youth. She dresses like a high school or college student, and she acts and is treated on the show like the team mascot. She can get away with a whole lot more with Gibbs than anyone else. She is exuberant in everything she does, occasionally in inappropriate situations. She hugs everyone. People bring her presents. All of these are characterizations linked with a young character. She's the unusually gifted younger sister. Much of the other characters' indulgence of her comes with a protectiveness—that she's still so innocent of the world that they need to keep her from being hurt and, as a consequence, growing up.
She's written in a very similar way to Greg on CSI (without the Goth), though Greg has gone through a progression over the seasons, becoming a field investigator and getting his exuberance tarnished as a result. Eric Szmanda, however, is currently 33, so was 25 when the show started. Perrette, on the other hand, was 34 when NCIS started. This leads me to believe that the part was written for a character meant to be around 25 and was not changed when they cast an older actress. And though 34 for 25 is a fairly common age fudging for TV, as the seasons roll on, the disconnect between the actress's age and the character's percieved age only increases, especially since the show seems to have no interest in ever aging the character.
As I've mentioned before, I've still only seen a handful of NCIS episodes, but there seems to be another aspect to Abby's character. She's very much the den mother here. This leads me to see her character as having all the wisdom and experience of her age but having chosen to stay youthful in her outlook. There's this undercurrent in the interactions that makes it clear that, despite all the outwardly youthful attributes, Abby is more Gibbs's peer than anyone else on the show, save Ducky. It's as if she has chosen to wield her authority in this persona, and if the need ever arose (maybe it has on the show, I'll have to see), she could easily step into a fully adult (kick-ass) persona, to the shock and amazement of all.
She's kind of like Puck—simultaneously youthful and old beyond her years, and unchanged by the passage of time.
I haven't really read any stories focused on Abby (see previous post re OTP), but in the fic I have read, she is written as a 23-year-old—brilliant, perceptive, and well-liked, but with none of the steel of age behind it. Given what I see as a real difference between the percieved age hierarchy on the show and the actual ages of the actors, I'd be really interested in seeing fic that tackles that.
Just for reference, here are the current ages of the cast (this is the actual actors—I couldn't find character bios of how old they are supposed to be) of NCIS:
Ducky, 75
Gibbs, 57
DiNozzo, 40
Abby, 39
Kate Todd, 33 (yes, I know, she's off the show—this is for comparison)
McGee, 30
Ziva, 29
I find it especially interesting that DiNozzo and Abby are peers, though he treats her as a little sister (yes, I know, DiNozzo has his own immaturity issues), while McGee, the failed love interest, is presented more as Abby's peer (since romantic pairings on TV are almost always of similar ages), but is substantially younger than her.
Abby is simultaneously the show's kid sister and it's great turtle, since she's worked with Gibbs longer than anyone except Ducky. It's a really interesting dynamic that the show seems completely uninterested in exploring.
trinityvixen, yes this post is for you, though I don't know if you watch NCIS and couldn't find a link to your previous post about age gap romances.