Brad & Jen and all that is important...
I enjoy Rebecca Traister, even when I disagree with her. And she's written a helluva piece for Salon, defending my dear Rachel - er, Jen while pilloring the annoying and too-pretty-to-be-a-real-man Brad.
posted by BabelBabe @ 8:18 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Ross would never do something like this to Rachel.
As I said in the post below that started with the Jude Law discussion, Brad is dead to me, but Jen is welcome to join me on the porch for smokes. This is not a problem, you see, as she is not pregnant! :-)
I wouldn't mind hanging out with Rebecca Traister, either. In fact, I include her in the porch invitation. Although she might want to bring her own chair.
As long as still get my chair, I think we should just have a party...or maybe a reality show, "Gina's Porch"
First of all, your mom's job is done. It's your turn to set an example for your daughter.
Secondly, I care about Jennifer Aniston because she embodies one of the the archetypes of our age for the career-driven, intelligent, strong woman. And whether she is that because she's famous or pretty or married to Brad Pitt or all/none of the above, matters not at all. There are certainly other women who also embody the archetype, but they are not as visible or newsworthy or whatever.
You can't blame popular culture for your mom's failure to live up to her potential. And being interested in only obscure foreign film stars or minor poets or indie rock stars is no less damaging or limiting or, for that matter, "good" in its way.
I also might add, if I must defend my interest in Jennifer Aniston (who I find attractive and charming and funny; ditto Lisa Kudrow, another Friends starlet) that in the past month I have also been following or reading stories about the following female-centric subjects: a woman doctor in the early 1970s - when it was not at all simple for a woman to become a doctor; the complex and compelling, if fictional, partner to Sherlock Holmes, Mary Russell; Jessica Mitford's life and writings; women from the 18th and 19th centuries who lived aboard whalers and merchant ships with their husbands, and how they coped with being a woman in that environment. I think an icon of the current age (what aphrase!), like Jennifer Aniston, who stirs up anywhere close to this much debate is a worthy companion to these. Just my oh-so-humble opinion. But also take into consideration that I watch ER every week, and check out Desperate Housewives and Medium when I can. So....take that for what it's worth.
My main point is that you can be an interesting, intelligent, and fairly discriminating person and still care about some superficial things. And that's ok. My idea of what's fun to divert myself with is completely different from how you choose to divert yourself, and I don't see what makes one diversion more worthy or valid than the other.
Now if focusing on only *one* thing - like whether or not you care if Jennifer Anniston is getting divorced - is defining your life, then you have a bigger problem. You can't really blame Judy Garland or Elizabeth Taylor for your mother's shortcomings. (Much as I'd like to blame Audrey Hepburn for my mother's shortcomings, but that's another story...)
And I am only saying that at some point our parents have done what they can and it's our turn to go on and try to develop ourselves. Not that we should not look up to them, but there comes a point where we have to be adult enough to discern what we need and want for ourselves, whether their example is all we want them to be or not. I believe that at some point parental obligation to live an exemplar life for the imitation/emulation of your children comes to an end. And it is probably sometime between Gwen's 14 years and your 34.
Or actually, what I meant to say, in my frenzied typing, is that poitn is probably somewhere between your 34 years and your mother's 56. Sorry for destroying the narrative of the point...I believe that at 14, any child still has a right to expect an example to be set.
Hey I was just going to comment that the important thing isn't about Jen and Brad, because it's not as if any of us really care although we got diverted easily enough - so change the tagline back, dammit - but the article I'd linked to was about Jennfier Aniston in that the author of said article was exploring women's views on pregnancy and motherhood, and I thought that the writer did a good job exploring society's expectations of a woman in regards to marriage and motherhood. It happened to be spawned by the Brad/Jen divorce was all. Not truly book-related other than that Rebecca Traister is a clever and amusing writer on a great website (Salon), and the topic affects us because we are all women and several of us are moms.
I appreciate books but I also appreciate what's going on in the world around us and since it affects what I read and how I read, think the politics part is valid.
But c'mon, you're being a tad extreme, no one here is obsessed with movie stars. Or Desperate Housewives for that matter - again, a case of a bit of popular culture being written about by a writer I respect - Ellen Goodman - spawning a topic of debate and honestly affecting some reading choices of mine, and then being wildly generalized. So cut us a break, change the tagline back, and I'll never write about Si's vomiting episodes again.
And calling me a devoted fan of anyone is a bit over the top, Suzanne, unless it's at the moment Laurie King.
Or maybe perpetually Salman Rushdie.
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