Angela Basset Has Now Played Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Mother & His Sister

Time is a social construct. The evidence? None other than Angela Bassett, who will surely outlive us all. In this season of American Horror Story, Bassett plays sister to Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character. In essence, the relationship is not that bizarre — the two actors are 10 years apart in age. (Not that age exists or anything. I maintain: Time is a social construct.) However, recall that once upon a time, Bassett portrayed Gooding's mother in Boyz in Da Hood, released more than 20 years ago. Take a minute and observe Bassett in the respective roles.

Either Bassett is Dorian Gray-ing us all, or she's just an incredibly beautiful woman whose talents outweigh her age (my money is on the latter). Women in Hollywood typically age into the mother role. Bassett has flipped this phenomenon on its ageist (and sexist) head by aging into sisterhood. The actress received a round of applause from the internet for this admittedly strange achievement. As they are prone to do, users on Twitter dubbed Basset a queen — the highest online compliment.

The point here is that age is of no consequence. When we die — and we all shall —Angela Bassett will stride past our graves looking just like this: